RaceFans Round-up: Ninth place “not acceptable” for AlphaTauri

In brief

AlphaTauri must raise their game, says Marko

AlphaTauri sank to ninth in the championship this year, its worst result since 2018 when it competed as Toro Rosso. Marko said the team were “beaten below their value” in an interview with Auto Motor und Sport.

“For the potential, technically and financially, ninth place is not acceptable,” said Marko. “They made a lot of mistakes in strategy. The car had too little downforce. At the moment we are in the process of taking stock and looking at which screws we have to turn.”

Oliver Mintzlaff, who has taken charge of Red Bull’s sports division following the death of Dietrich Mateschitz in October, sees the need for improvement at the team, said Marko.

“Initial talks have been held with our new boss, Mr Mintzlaff, and everyone agrees that it wouldn’t make sense to rebuild a successful package like Red Bull Racing.

“Where there is a need, there is AlphaTauri. This was not satisfactory in the past year.”

Kaylen Frederick moves teams for third FIA F3 season

Kaylen Frederick will drive for ART Grand Prix in FIA Formula 3 next year, his third season in the championship.

The 20-year-old raced for Carlin in his rookie season in 2021, but had his campaign curtailed by injury and COVID-19. For this year he joined Hitech GP, and with a full campaign was able to score points seven times to come 17th in the standings.

Previously the American was a frontrunner in USF2000 in his home country, and won the BRDC British F3 championship in its last year before being renamed renamed GB3.

Australia launches new open-wheel series

Australia already has S5000, Formula 3 and Formula Ford but another national single-seater series will start next year with the arrival of Australian Formula Open (AFO).

Formula Open already existed as a state championship in Victoria, then relaunched as AFO last month with a one-off event at Phillip Island featuring old F3 cars formerly driven by Valtteri Bottas and Romain Grosjean as well as previous-generation Toyota Racing Series and F4 cars.

AFO will have six rounds in 2023, racing at Winton Motor Raceway, Sydney Motorsport Park, The Bend Motorsport Park, Queensland Raceway, Sandown and Phillip Island. The series is being fronted by three-time Australian F3 champion Tim Macrow.