Toro Rosso logo, Circuit de Catalunya, 2019

Toro Rosso planning name change to Alpha Tauri

2020 F1 season

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Formula 1 teams have been asked to approve a new name for Toro Rosso from the 2020 season.

The Red Bull sister team has requested to change its name to Alpha Tauri from next year. Alpha Tauri is the name of a fashion brand run by Red Bull.

RaceFans understands the sport’s commercial rights holder has already given permission for the change. In order for the change to go ahead it now requires the approval of the F1 Commission.

This has been requested via an ‘e-vote’. Teams have until Thursday next week to indicate their approval or otherwise.

The proposal would see Toro Rosso’s chassis name change from ‘Scuderia Toro Rosso (STR14)’ to ‘Scuderia Alpha Tauri’, and its team name change from ‘Red Bull Toro Rosso’ to ‘Scuderia Alpha Tauri Honda’.

Toro Rosso has run under its current name, the Italian translation of ‘Red Bull’, since it entered F1 in 2006 when Red Bull took over the former Minardi team.

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40 comments on “Toro Rosso planning name change to Alpha Tauri”

  1. We already have Alfas. It’s gonna get confusing if people start calling Toro Rosso Alphas. 😃

    1. The last thing we need is a hunch or Tauris running around… *British political joke*

    2. Kimi in 2020: “Get that Toro Rosso out of the way, or whatever the f it’s called”

    3. @kartguy07 Thanks. I had overlooked the obvious phonetic similarity between the contraction of AlphaTauri’s name (with no space between “Alpha” and “Tauri”) with the contraction of Alfa Romeo’s. I hope the race commentators can come to an obvious solution that’s agreeable to Red Bull’s marketing people.

      1. @drycrust I’d imagine their marketing department might not fancy “the Tauris” as a nickname. The UK is a large market and that name might have some negative connotations right now…

        1. @gongtong Ha ha! Yes, very good. Gosh, for once Red Bull’s marketing people have messed up a bit.

      2. I won’t be surprised if Alfa Romeo veto the proposal for this reason – causing confusion for the casual fan won’t help them.

  2. I was expecting ‘Punto Da Corsa’ rather than ‘Alphatauri’.

    But the real question of course is if Kvyat will be allowed to change his helmet to whatever new name they come up with ;)

    1. Why not Alpha cen-Tauri?

      1. Because a centaur is half man half horse, not a bull.

        Everyone calls the Alpha Tauri star by its name, Aldebaran. Maybe Redbull should have used that instead. Why would Alfa Romeo accept this name change? I wouldn’t if I was them.

      2. Alpha Centauri is a 3 star system. Maybe they were lacking stars?

  3. So all the merch sold this year to fans will become obsolete in a stroke. Excrement!

    1. Alpha Tauri is the name of a fashion brand run by Red Bull.

      Big brain time to drum up sales ;)

  4. Wow this is a terrible name for an F1 team, even more so for a fashion brand!

    1. I agree. A terrible name and logo

      1. @bukester – that made me go look for the logo, and TBH, I don’t mind the logo – there’s an A and a T (which blend into an infinity symbol – infinite potential and all that jazz), and they’ve snuck a bull in there as well. Can’t complain, and since it works well in monochrome, it will work with any livery. Maybe they’ll actually go for a black-and-white car?

        But the prices on that site. Not for my paycheque :)

        1. The prices don’t suit the hideous name, nor logo.

  5. Alpha Bull?… First Bull?

    They plan to beat RBR?
    With fashion?…

  6. Oh that’s not going confuse Crofty at all 😁

    1. Haha my thoughts exactly!

  7. Benetton anyone ??

  8. Team “Honda Rich Stroll Alpha Centauri Bull Wings in Hot Max Sauce” will win them all!

    1. …Hot Max Sauce….

  9. I rather like Alpha Tauri, though admittedly it doesn’t have quite the ring to it that Toro Rosso did. I wonder with this change it will change the way the teams are run? Will it remain a junior squad like Toro Rosso has always been, or will ‘Alpha Tauri’ be more independent?

    Either way I honestly was going to be getting a Toro Rosso shirt as I like the colours and am fond of the team but I guess I won’t now will I!

  10. AND THE ALFA TRIES TO BRAKE AROUND THE OUTSIDE OF THE ALPHA

  11. Mercedes should be called Tommy Hilfiger Racing……

  12. It’s working: I had never heard that name before. This greatly reduces my risk of accidentally giving them money. :-)

    Now, if Alfa Romeo, for obvious reasons, tell them to go love themselves, what other tacky name could they choose? Proxima Tauri?

  13. Alpha Tauri… What, like Boris?

    1. Nice. Quote of the day for sure.

  14. I didn’t see this coming even less so than the Mclaren-Mercedes reunion.

    1. the Mclaren-Mercedes reunion.

      was already a rumour for some weeks now.

      The recent political correct outburst by Seidl about Renault pointed the direction.

  15. Having two Lotus teams was confusing enough. So please, teams that aren’t Red Bull (or Red Bull affiliated), veto this!

  16. Please, will the other teams vote this crap down! I hope that Alfa Romeo and Ferrari kill it. Terrible marketing idea to start with.

  17. I spend a bit of time in Europe and Asia and more than a bit of time around the shops. And the Mrs used to work on a high end fashion/lifestyle mag. Neither of us have ever heard of Alpha Tauri. So the strategy of getting the name out there is sound but the scope for confusion is also huge.

    1. And people still consider RB & Co. racing teams. Just a glorified rich energy… ¯\_ (ツ) _/¯

  18. 60 euros ($65 us) for a T shirt ! … well they may have enough money to support a team

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