F1 mid-season review: AlphaTauri enters transitional period

With just three points on the board it's fair to say that AlphaTauri has not had the best start to the 2023 season.

Its pre-season was filled with promise after signing 2020/21 Formula E World Champion, Nyck de Vries as team leader to replace Pierre Gasly, following his impressive debut with Williams at the 2022 Italian Grand Prix.

Franz Tost also declared in an exclusive interview with RacingNews365 the team had solved much of the problems that plagued their 2022 season, namely their car being overweight and saving space underneath the bodywork.

The AT04 was meant to be the car that could finally enable them to score points regularly without having to worry about reliability, with De Vries leading the midfield charge and Yuki Tsunoda providing rear gunner support.

After 12 races it has been Tsunoda that has scored all the points, De Vries was sacked after 10 races and Daniel Ricciardo drafted in as a last-ditch effort to finish higher up than ninth in the Constructors' Championship.

Yuki Tsunoda

It has been an impressive start to what has turned out to be Yuki Tsunoda's season as 'Team Leader' at AlphaTauri.

After coming close to points finishes in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, the fiery Japanese driver was finally rewarded after a mad restart the second red flag in Melbourne.

A contentious five-second penalty from the stewards after an on-track clash with Zhou Guanyu robbed him of another deserved points finish in Spain.

Despite the difficult races at Austria, Silverstone and Hungary, he did well to cope with unique circumstances in Belgium to drive home to a points finish ahead of the summer break.

It's not been easy for Tsunoda with all of the management changes behind the scenes, topped off with one of his close team members leaving after the Canadian Grand Prix. But he has shown the leadership qualities one would expect after three seasons in F1.

Nyck de Vries

It was clear that it was going to be an uphill struggle for De Vries after the first round exposed the inherent tyre degradation and drag problems that exist in the AT04.

The biggest challenge for any rookie to F1 - regardless of their prior success - is understanding the complicated Pirelli tyres, which is much easier to do in a compliant car.

De Vries was praised for his technical feedback by Tost, but he ultimately conceded that he was not ready for the hot seat during what has turned out to be an important year for the future of AlphaTauri.

An embarrassing run of crashes in Azerbaijan was topped off with lacklustre performances at circuits on the European leg of the tour, with a best finish only of P12 at Monaco.

This run of pointless finishes turned out to be the final straw for the unforgiving Helmut Marko, who later admitted that his decision to put De Vries in the car was not supported by Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner.

Will this poor decision making reflect in the points standings at the end of the season?

Daniel Ricciardo

It's tough to gauge whether Ricciardo will flourish on his return to the Faenza squad.

This is essentially a stop-gap for him to audition for a seat with Red Bull from 2025, when it is expected they will make a decision on whether to commit with Sergio Perez or another young driver.

Like anything in life, you don't realise what you had until it was taken away from you. It felt like this was plastered on the smiley facade of Ricciardo when he was spotted on the pit wall with Red Bull at a couple of races.

This is probably why he is the best fit for where AlphaTauri are at the moment, as evidenced by his drive to P13 in Hungary. A circuit notorious for being difficult to overtake, he probably would have scored points had it not been for the first lap incident with Zhou.

The tricky conditions in Spa Francorchamps are tough to draw to any conclusions given the limited practice time and Parc Ferme conditions, but it is encouraging that the right car setup can yield results.

Sign of things to come

Red Bull top management has elected to completely revamp the team behind the scenes by letting Franz Tost go after 18 years and replacing him with former FIA executive Peter Bayer and Ferrari Sporting Director Laurent Mekies.

It is the largest management shakeup for the Faenza squad since they joined the grid as Toro Rosso in 2005, after Red Bull bought out the Minardi team.

RacingNews365 also revealed this week that the team is in talks to be brought by fashion brand Hugo Boss in what could be the fresh start that is badly needed.

Red Bull feel the team has the resources to be competing for podiums with their World Championship team, now it is up to the personnel to show they are capable.