Toro Rosso, AlphaTauri, Racing Bulls and the Unchanging Job

With most of the club teams I have been with there is a car set aside for those yet to be taught. It is fitted with an older engine and second-hand rubber, no one has any expectation of it winning and its true function is to show the team which of the two young ones in it can really drive. The only person who cares about the results is the one making the call on who will have the good seat next season.

Formula 1 has its own version of that. Under four different names it has been at it since 2006. In twenty seasons the Faenza outfit has put two Grands Prix to its name, a failure by normal standards, but as an operation built for what it does it is among the most successful on the grid.

From Minardi to Toro Rosso

Minardi was in Formula 1 from 1985 to 2005 and got by on small budgets and determination to end up near the back of the field each year. Red Bull put their hands on it and in 2006 it became Scuderia Toro Rosso, the Italian for the company’s name.

Red Bull had a main team already and wanted a place to put young drivers before deciding if they were worthy of it. The table above puts the name changes in order; they are as much a reflection of how the parent company views the operation as they are a change in practice.

Monza 2008, and when it all came together

In September 2008 Sebastian Vettel put in a wet pole at Monza and took the win from it, a result the team has not equalled. At twenty-one he was the youngest winner in the sport’s history at the time, and the car was a Toro Rosso with a Ferrari engine.

Then Vettel went over to Red Bull Racing in 2009 and put four championships in a row to his credit while the team that gave him his first victory returned to being eighth best. That is the whole point of the set up.

AlphaTauri, and another day at Monza

Scuderia AlphaTauri was the new brand in 2020 after a Red Bull fashion line. Franz Tost and Helmut Marko made out it was a step up from junior to sister team, but the difference was more of a corporate formality.

Pierre Gasly won at Monza that September for the team’s second win on the circuit in twelve years, the only other ones coming from there. He had been sent to Red Bull Racing in 2019 and put back where he came from in the same season, so the victory was down to a driver the parent team had done with. That fact tells you more about how the team works than the win itself does.

RB, Racing Bulls and now

The nomenclature has changed in a hurry. For 2024 it was RB, then the initialism was gone for 2025 and it is Racing Bulls these days with Visa Cash App on the full entry. But the staff and the factory in Faenza are where they have always been.

Alan Permane is in charge. The 2026 VCARB 03 is powered by the Red Bull Powertrains unit developed with Ford, meaning both Red Bull entries are running the same in-house power for the first time. Liam Lawson is the senior man, with Arvid Lindblad, this year’s only rookie and the twentieth from the junior program to make it to F1, alongside him. Yuki Tsunoda is reserve for both sides after being promoted and then put to one side.

What it is for

Look at the drivers in the table above and you have the story. Three have made long stints at Red Bull Racing, Hadjar has just begun. Some have been given the nod and sent back, one twice over. A seat here is an examination with a failure rate you would not see elsewhere.

It is the longest-running active team to have never taken either championship, which could be seen as an indictment but is more of a job description. The team is there to answer a question for someone else. It has done so well enough that Red Bull can put eight drivers’ titles to its name with the likes it has found.

My club’s development car did not win anything either. Two of the men who put their hands on the wheel are faster than I will ever be. That was the idea of it and no one in the paddock has ever put me on the spot to say how it finished.

Questions about Racing Bulls

01

What was Racing Bulls called before?

Minardi until 2005, Scuderia Toro Rosso from 2006 to 2019, Scuderia AlphaTauri from 2020 to 2023, RB in 2024, and Racing Bulls since 2025.

02

How many wins do Toro Rosso and AlphaTauri have?

Two in total. Sebastian Vettel won at Monza in 2008 and Pierre Gasly won at the same circuit in 2020.

03

Which drivers moved up from this team to Red Bull Racing?

Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, Daniil Kvyat, Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly, Alexander Albon, Yuki Tsunoda, Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar. Several were sent back again.

04

Where is the team based?

Faenza in Italy, in the same factory it has used since the Minardi years.

05

Who drives for Racing Bulls in 2026?

Liam Lawson and the rookie Arvid Lindblad, with Yuki Tsunoda as reserve driver for both Red Bull entries.

Jake Holloway is a club racer, track-day instructor, and motorsports editor based near Charlotte, North Carolina. He has raced karts, Legends cars, Spec Miatas, and amateur endurance cars, and he writes for GreenyCars about how racing actually works, from the rule book to the pit lane.