Alphataurif1team.Com February 2021 Franz Team Principal Tost
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ALPHATAURIF1TEAM.COM FEBRUARY 2021 FRANZ TEAM PRINCIPAL TOST How was the first year of collaboration with Talking about drivers, this year you will have an AlphaTauri? experienced one in Pierre Gasly, who won a race and knows the team’s dynamics very well, and a Franz Tost: “We have a fantastic relationship with complete rookie in Yuki Tsunoda, who made it to AlphaTauri and we cooperate very closely. Our F1 after only one year in F2, who’s got a lot to learn. philosophies are quite similar, namely to strive for Why has it been decided to go for this line-up? functionality and innovation. At Scuderia AlphaTauri we pay a lot of attention to the development of the FT: “For this season we are running an interesting car, always aiming for high technology and innovation. driver pairing. We have an experienced driver and This means constantly researching new ways to a rookie. I reckon Pierre is one of the strongest improve, something AlphaTauri also does with their drivers in F1 nowadays. Pierre’s good technical products. Our way of thinking is very similar, which understanding allows him to get the best out of the makes our teamwork really easy.” car. Pierre has been with the team for some time now, so he is familiar with all procedures and with our way The first year as Scuderia AlphaTauri has been a of working, he will be a good leader, helping Yuki in good one: highest number of points ever, a record his development. He knows how to win a race - as he of 10 races in a row in the points and we have proved last year in Monza - and if we provide him with scored in 15 out of the 17 races last season. Even a competitive car, I expect him to be very successful if the team was aiming for a higher final position in this season. Then, we have Yuki, who finished third the Constructors Championship, are you satisfied in the F2 Championship and watching his races last and ready for more? year in F2 I must say he did a fantastic job, winning races and carrying out many impressive overtaking FT: “We had a reasonably good season in our first manoeuvres. Yuki has already completed some tests year as Scuderia AlphaTauri and we improved in with us in an F1 car and I’m convinced that he will many aspects. The aerodynamic side has made have a successful start in his F1 career, due to his good steps in the right direction but also the design natural speed and his talent.” office enhanced all procedures to smoothen the workflow and achieve targets better and quicker. On “The decision to go for Pierre and Yuki in 2021 was the operational side, we have again made a big step taken because Scuderia AlphaTauri’s philosophy forward and had very fast pitstops, which helped us is still to give talented young drivers from the Red to achieve quite good results throughout the year. Bull Junior Programme the opportunity to step up to Thanks to all this work we could achieve the highlight F1 and to educate them – this is why Yuki now gets of our season in Monza, with Pierre Gasly’s maiden his chance. With Pierre on Yuki’s side we have an victory. Nevertheless, I can’t forget that we retired four experienced driver, who can help our Japanese rookie times, three of them due to reliability issues and once to develop faster, but at the same time we can aim because of an accident Pierre was involved in, which for good results. I think this pair is the best possible means we missed four opportunities to score points. scenario to achieve both our targets and I’m also We definitely have to avoid finding ourselves in certain confident this will be a successful one.” situations, so there is still some work to do ahead of us but the team is focussing on this to prepare in the best possible way for the new season. I hope that the new car will be as good as we expect it to be, because if our drivers get a competitive car I think we can have an even better season this year.” ALPHATAURIF1TEAM.COM FRANZ TEAM PRINCIPAL TOST Why Yuki and how can he benefit from having It has now been announced that Red Bull Pierre as a team-mate? Powertrains Limited will take over the Power Unit technology from Honda at the beginning of 2022. FT: “Pierre is a very high skilled driver and he now What does this mean for Scuderia AlphaTauri also has the necessary experience to be a leader moving forward? in the team and for Yuki. Every driver compares themselves with their teammate so the better the FT: “Honda has invested tirelessly and intensively latter is, the more you are pushed to improve yourself. in hybrid technology to achieve a highly competitive Yuki can learn a lot from Pierre in all aspects, for Power Unit, our relationship has always been both example comparing the lap times, the set-up of very efficient and enjoyable, and that’s why their the car, the driving lines - this is all very important, decision to pull out at the end of 2021 was quite especially on those tracks that are new to Yuki. If you disappointing for the team. Today, we are very pleased have a strong and experienced teammate you can to hear that this cooperation will not end, as from compare many different parameters, which help to the beginning of 2022 we’ll continue using Honda improve your own performance.” Power Unit technology through the new born Red Bull Powertrains Limited. I would like to thank the FIA and “When he was driving in the Japanese F4 Formula 1 Management, together with all the teams, Championship he was selected by Honda, who for having unanimously agreed on the engine freeze supported him. In 2019 he also became a Red Bull from the start of next year, which has enabled this Junior driver. He moved to Europe to compete in agreement to be reached. We believe this is the best the F3 Championship and in 2020 he was running solution for the future of both Scuderia AlphaTauri in the F2 series. We expect his learning curve to and Red Bull Racing, until the next generation engines be quite steep, so he should be able to achieve a are introduced in 2025. It’s also a great incentive good performance quite quickly. Of course, he will to achieve the best possible results in Honda’s last have some crashes, that’s part of the development season in the sport.” programme, but what is very extraordinary on his side is the car control, his strength on the braking and his Is there anything else you would like to say? speed in fast corners. If he continues his learning process, like he did at the tests in Imola and Abu FT: “In 2020 Scuderia AlphaTauri was a midfield team, Dhabi last year, I’m sure we will see some fantastic we were fighting successfully against the other teams races.” like McLaren, Renault and Racing Point but our target for this year is to consistently be at the top of this This is going to be Honda’s last year in F1. Can you midfield pack and to improve further. To achieve this, please tell us about their development so far and we have to avoid reliability issues and finish all races your expectations for this year? in the points. This can only happen if we do not make any mistakes, so we have to be 100% concentrated on FT: “It’s a shame that Honda stops at the end of our job, race after race, on and off the track, because this year because the engineers in Sakura did a our competitors are hard to fight. We will do our best fantastic job over the past years and currently the to provide a good show for all the F1 fans, who I hope Honda Power Unit has reached a really high level of to see back at the track filling the grandstands soon, competitiveness, while also being reliable. This year and for our partners, who continue to believe in us: we get a further development of Honda’s PU and I Red Bull, AlphaTauri, Honda, MyWorld, Casio Edifice, expect that this will also improve the performance of Randstad and RDS – to mention a few – deserve this both Scuderia AlphaTauri and Red Bull Racing.” from us.” ALPHATAURIF1TEAM.COM GRAHAM TEAM MANAGER WATSON The 2020 season saw an additional logistical especially true in the garage, where we have people challenge, and that was dealing with the Covid-19 working on the car, under strict time pressures, so a pandemic restrictions. It seems that the 2021 large part of my job was finding ways to manage this season will start under similar circumstances. without stopping the team remaining competitive. What lessons were learned last year that can be The reality is that going racing under these conditions applied to the coming season? becomes more tiring - the additional PPE and restrictions can make the job more difficult, but Graham Watson: “In 2020 we learnt a tremendous everyone understands the importance of why these amount about how to handle all the risks faced during protocols need to be followed.” the pandemic and how best to keep our staff safe while traveling around the world - we started the year 17 races last year, 23 this year, despite the not knowing what Covid was and now it’s something pandemic: a great achievement and big we live with every day.