It was being heaving rumoured in the paddock during the Belgian GP that AlphaTauri could run Red Bull’s RB19 for the 2024 campaign.
Such a move, if true, would see a massive performance boost for the team with the current car, the AT04 being the slowest car in the grid.
Just taking the RB19 and painting it is AlphaTauri’s colours isn’t an option.
The FIA banned such practices in 2010 and the Listed Team Components on the car must be a teams own work and can’t just be copied from Red Bull. It’s why Racing Point’s Pink Mercedes turned so many heads in 2020.
Even if AlphaTauri do design the listed components by themselves which includes the survival cell, front impact structure, roll structures, brake ducts and bodywork they would still have a huge advantage over their closest rivals if they use the RB19 as base for the 2024 car.
If the rumours are true and the car is approved by the FIA it could catapult AlphaTauri to finishing consistently in the points in 2024.
So why didn’t they already do this? For their supposed ‘sister team’ its a very weird strategy to go it alone when they didn’t need to.
The sister team wanted to try and develop and stand on their own, it hasn’t worked out and so red Bull is taking over the shop to straighten things out