AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost has issued a statement denying rumours the Red Bull-owned Formula 1 team will be put up for sale.
Since the death of Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz in October last year, there have been several changes enacted in the leadership of the energy drink brand and also its expansive sports franchises.
Oliver Mintzlaff, former chief executive of the RB Leipzig football team owned by the brand, assumed the position of CEO of Corporate Projects and New Investments at Red Bull last November which gave him responsibility over its media and sports investments including F1.
A media report last week claimed the future of the AlphaTauri F1 team was uncertain due to its lack of financial value to Red Bull. It claimed the company was looking to either sell its second F1 team or relocate to the United Kingdom.
Tost refuted those stories in a statement issued by the team today. “I had some very good meetings with Oliver Mintzlaff, who confirmed that the shareholders will not sell Scuderia AlphaTauri, and that Red Bull will continue supporting the team in the future,” he said.
“All these rumours have no foundation, and the team has to remain focused for the start of the season to perform better than last year.”
The Faenza-based team has been under Red Bull’s ownership since the end of 2005, and it entered F1 as Toro Rosso from 2006 to 2019 as a feeder team to the main Red Bull team based in Milton Keynes. In 2020 it was rebranded to AlphaTauri, the name of Red Bull’s fashion brand.
It has scored two wins during that time, both at the Italian Grand Prix, in 2008 and 2020. However it fell to ninth in the constructors championship last year, a result Tost has admitted was not good enough.
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