Racing Bulls: from junior team to Red Bull’s little sister
Since its takeover from Minardi in 2005, the Racing Bulls team, formerly known as Toro Rosso, has undergone many changes. From its reputation as an under-performing junior team, it now leads the middle of the pack and has established itself as a veritable little sister to Red Bull.
The alliance between Racing Bulls and Red Bull seems stronger than ever. After years of uncertainties under the name Toro Rosso, where some drivers failed to secure a seat at Red Bull, like Carlos Sainz, who chose to join Renault, or Jean-Eric Vergne, forced to turn to the endurance championship after three seasons at Toro Rosso with no prospect of promotion, Red Bull finally seems ready to offer a real opportunity to young talents through Racing Bulls, now truly seen as the little sister team of the Milton Keynes-based team. However, the beginnings were quite different.
The buyout of Minardi and the birth of Scuderia Toro Rosso
In 2005, the Italian team Minardi faced serious financial difficulties. Unable to support the team due to lack of sponsors, Australian entrepreneur Paul Stoddart decided to sell the team to Dietrich Mateschitz, the boss of Red Bull. He then transformed it into Scuderia Toro Rosso, with the ambition of making it the junior team of Red Bull. Toro Rosso then used chassis provided by Red Bull, but modified, because unlike its Austrian sister team, it used Ferrari engines.
From 2010, Toro Rosso started designing its own cars, with new facilities in Faenza, marking a certain distancing from Red Bull. However, this independence did not translate into spectacular results, especially at a time when Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel were winning multiple world titles. When Toro Rosso was renamed AlphaTauri in 2020, it took on a new role, becoming a sister team to Red Bull, focused on developing young drivers from the academy, with the aim of integrating them into the main team led by Christian Horner.
From AlphaTauri to Racing Bulls
This link has been strengthened even further with the transformation of AlphaTauri into Racing Bulls. The team now benefits from new facilities in Milton Keynes, which are twice as large as those it had in Bicester, according to Jody Egginton, the team’s technical director. This development symbolizes the rapprochement between the two teams. Racing Bulls is also increasingly present on the Red Bull technology campus, closely monitoring the work of the site’s 2,000 employees, particularly the manufacture of crucial parts.
However, despite rumors of a possible reproduction of the RB19 for 2023, Racing Bulls, under the leadership of Peter Bayer and Laurent Mekies, who recently arrived from Ferrari, have opted for their own design of the car, illustrating a technical differentiation between the two cars. According to the analysis, Red Bull seems very competitive in high-speed corners while Racing Bulls excels more in low-speed corners. The team led by Peter Bayer nevertheless uses some elements of the Red Bull, such as the engine or the rear suspensions which had actually allowed the team to raise the bar after a difficult start to last season.
On a sporting level, the bond between Racing Bulls and Red Bull has strengthened, with Bayer stating that the main goal remains to prepare young drivers to join Red Bull. However, this goal has yet to materialize, as Red Bull currently prefers to keep Sergio Perez rather than giving a chance to drivers like Liam Lawson or Yuki Tsunoda, the latter having been with Racing Bulls for four years. Meanwhile, promising talents from the Red Bull academy, such as Isack Hadjar and Arvid Lindblad, are waiting for their turn.
Thus, for Racing Bulls to truly become the little sister of Red Bull, significant changes will have to be made, especially in terms of managing the drivers. Without this, Red Bull could find itself in a tricky position. One of their drivers, Liam Lawson, has a clause in his contract allowing him to leave the team to join another if Red Bull does not find him a seat in 2025.
