Horner Addresses Concerns About Close Collaboration Between Red Bull And AlphaTauri

Wednesday, 29 November 2023 at 18:00

Christian Horner addressed concerns about "too close' collaboration between Red Bull Racing and its sister team AlphaTauri.

AlphaTauri F1 team struggled with performance greatly from the beginning of the 2023 season. However, the team started bringing upgrades, moving closer to Red Bull's concept and has made huge progress towards the end of the season.

As is usually the case in sports, multiple competitors do not like the big steps forward made by AlphaTauri, and some people are starting to fear the close collaboration between AlphaTauri and its sister team, Red Bull.

Asked whether the collaboration between the sister teams could narrow the gap in performance, Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner said:

"I have no idea. It's down to the quality of people that will be in the team. Of course, there are certain components that we can supply, as is the case with Ferrari and Mercedes who supply two Grand Prix teams with gearboxes, suspension, simulation tools and wind tunnel."

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When the Haas F1 team entered the sport, it bought many components of its cars from Ferrari. The team has then been accused of too close collaboration with the Italian manufacturer back then as it started gaining speed on its closest competitors.

Horner says Red Bull has an identical relationship with AlphaTauri as Ferrari and Mercedes have with their customer teams.

"That's an identical relationship between the companies. Of course, it's then down to them how they use those tools and you can see that McLaren has used the tools in certain respects better than their supplier has done in the second half of the year."

Horner reassured the media Red Bull will supply its sister team only with components that are permitted by regulations. He explained:

"There are some transferable components that are clearly listed within the regulations that you're allowed to supply and that's what they get."

What's more, Red Bull's team principal teased some of its competitors saying their cars resemble Red Bull more than its sister team.

"When you look at the car, there's quite fundamental differences between that car and a Red Bull racing car. Arguably, there are other cars on the grid which are far closer in concept than the AlphaTauri is."

While every single team always adds their own spice to it, in general, every single F1 team on the grid moved closer to Red Bull's concept of the car as it proved to be the best by far.

"You just have to look at Aston Martin or even McLaren. If you look around the rear suspension of the McLaren, it’s very close in concept to that of our own."

CEO of AlphaTauri Peter Bayer recently said everyone is now following Red Bull's philosophy, but he thinks his team arguably does it the least. What do you think?