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(Source: VCARB)
Red Bulls junior team VCARB (Alpha Tauri) had a promising start to their 2024 F1 season. Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunida were chosen as their main drivers with Liam Lawson as their reserve. In the 2023 season, they finished eighth in the constructor's championship behind Williams Racing. They entered this year full of hopes but again went to tragedy.
New Identity but old performance
Red Bull rebranded the team's name into Visa Cash App RB F1 team (VCARB F1). It also had a new blue, white and red livery resembling their old team, Torro Rosso. Only the name changed and the performance remained the same.
Upgrades that never worked
The team started the year, with many upgrades and a new pull rod front suspension layout one of Red Bull's most successful designs. It was introduced to improve performance and aerodynamic efficiency. But the team never took off and remained behind its main rivals Haas, Aston Martin and Alpine.
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Harsh treatment to Daniel Ricciardo
The biggest setback for the team was removing Daniel Ricciardo, which was a harsh move. Even the world champion Max verstappen was not happy about that. Before the season, Helmut Marko had given the Aussie driver one big task. That is to challenge his teammate Yuki Tsunoda and score more points than him.
But the Japanese driver was all over Ricciardo and dominated him the entire season. The team took the harsh call and replaced Ricciardo with newcomer Liam Lawson. In the Singapore Grand prix, Daniel was given one last chance to score points and left the team with the fastest lap of the race.
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Yuki Tsunoda shed some light
The only positive thing for the team was having Yuki Tsunoda. He delivered the team with maximum points and finished 9 times in the top 10. He is aiming for the senior Red Bull team to drive alongside Max verstappen. Next year will be very challenging because it will be the end of the current regulations. So every team will come with maximum knowledge about the current engine regulations and we expect a tough fight between VCARB and Williams Racing.
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What is up for 2025?
VCARB and Red Bull still haven't confirmed their driver's lineup for the next season. Liam Lawson showed some promise with 4 points in his six races, so he will continue with the team. Red Bull boss Helmut Marko said the decision would be made after the Abu Dhabi Grand prix. Yuki Tsunoda was given his long-awaited chance to test the Red Bull machine and let us see whether he makes it to the senior team, as Checo’s poor form this season frustrated the team management.
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