AlphaTauri’s Milton Keynes shift critical to its F1 success, says Bayer

The soon-to-be-renamed team has long had an aerodynamics department in Bicester, but as part of its ongoing expansion its British base will be moved to Milton Keynes, close to the home of sister squad Red Bull.

The new facility, which will also house vehicle dynamics staff, will be larger and better equipped than its predecessor.

Bayer believes that the move will help the team to compete for top talent in the UK’s busy F1 job market.

“The Milton Keynes Performance Centre is necessary because the Bicester facility is becoming too small already,” Bayer told Motorsport.com. “We don’t have any parking spaces, we have no canteen.

“We have to be an attractive employer. First of all, it obviously starts with the team as such, with the identity, but then there’s also the facilities and the opportunities for people to have a career path. And that’s why those facilities will be extremely important.

“Also, the lease in Bicester is running out, so we had to make a move anyway. And the advantage of obviously being closer to Red Bull Racing and their campus is that it will be easier for us when it’s about wind tunnel work, about simulator work. So that’s all will make life easier for all the engineers.”

Bayer acknowledges that it’s always been difficult to get British engineers to move to Italy.

“In terms of moving people we have anyway aerodynamicists and designers, and the model shop is in the UK,” he said.

“But we are currently running quite an intense recruiting campaign and we are now happy to offer top British talent a workplace in the UK. Because for them, I hate to say that, Faenza is beautiful, but it’s an issue.

“I give you my own example. When I started, I took my wife, we drove to Faenza. She said, ‘Oh, it’s beautiful.’ And we had pizza, and drove out to the sea. And then she said, ‘So, what about the school?’ I said, ‘I don’t think there is one.’ ‘And what about potential job opportunities for me?’ I don’t think there [are any].’

“If you don’t speak Italian, and if your children aren’t babies anymore, the move is very difficult, to be honest.

“I think we have a couple of British engineers who will go back now to Milton Keynes. We offered the opportunity to Italians who want to move to they can, but there’s no must. But clearly the bulk of the new hires are British.”

Technical director Jody Egginton agreed…