"We have to be an attractive employer" - Red Bull sister team set to shift base to Milton Keynes 

AlphaTauri F1 team CEO Peter Bayer confirmed moving their UK base from Bicester to Milton Keynes, closer to the Red Bull F1 team headquarters. The Austrian felt they needed a better facility in the UK as their team plans work more closely with the sister team and would need to become a more attractive prospect as an employer.

The Faenza based team, which is speculated to be renamed Racing Bulls for the 2024 season, prefers moving their UK base to the Milton Keynes campus. With a lot of changes and expansion plans on the horizon, the Italian team would be working more closely with Red Bull as confirmed by Christian Horner and Bayer.

Speaking to the Motorsport Network, Bayer explained the shift saying:

“The Milton Keynes Performance Centre is necessary because the Bicester facility is becoming too small already. We don't have any parking spaces, we have no canteen. We have to be an attractive employer.

"First of all, it obviously starts with the team as such, with the identity, but then there's also the facilities and the opportunities for people to have a career path. And that's why those facilities will be extremely important. Also, the lease in Bicester is running out, so we had to make a move anyway. And the advantage of obviously being closer to Red Bull Racing and their campus is that it will be easier for us when it's about wind tunnel work, about simulator work. So that's all will make life easier for all the engineers.”

Bayer added:

“In terms of moving people we have anyway aerodynamicists and designers, and the model shop is in the UK. But we are currently running quite an intense recruiting campaign and we are now happy to offer top British talent a workplace in the UK. Because for them, I hate to say that, Faenza is beautiful, but it's an issue.”

Commenting on the move closer to Red Bull, Alpha Tauri’s technical director Jody Egginton said:

“We're moving to a larger facility in Milton Keynes, we're sort of outgrowing where we are now. And there are opportunities that come with that as well. The amount of activity we're doing in the UK is similar, but we're expanding the size of that operation, so it's positive.”

According to Bayer, their current UK base lacks basic facilities such as proper parking and canteens. The AlphaTauri boss said they needed a better work facility in terms of employee amenities and state-of-the-art engineering equipment.

Bayer stated that better facilities at the Milton Keynes Performance Center make working at AlphaTauri a more attractive prospect for employees and job seekers. Red Bull sister team technical director Eggington suggested their size of operation would be bigger in 2024, needing a better facility. The Faenza team CEO confirmed that the team is heavily recruiting new personnel as part of the new changes.

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Red Bull sister team CEO cites difficulties of AlphaTauri’s Faenza base

AlphaTauri CEO Peter Bayer felt that the Faenza base is not an attractive prospect for UK personnel who work at the team. The Austrian said the small Italian town can be difficult to live in for non-Italians or non-Italian speaking personnel. Citing his own example, he felt it is a difficult town to live in with children as it lacks schools.

Outlining the challenges for employees living in Faenza, Bayer said (via Motorsport Network):

“I give you my own example. When I started, I took my wife, we drove to Faenza. She said, 'Oh, it's beautiful.’ And we had pizza, and drove out to the sea. And then she said, 'So, what about the school?' I said, ‘I don't think there is one.' ‘And what about potential job opportunities for me?' I don't think there [are any].’ If you don't speak Italian, and if your children aren't babies anymore, the move is very difficult, to be honest.”

Further explaining the move to the Red Bull campus at Milton Keynes, he added:

“I think we have a couple of British engineers who will go back now to Milton Keynes. We offered the opportunity to Italians who want to move to they can, but there's no must. But clearly the bulk of the new hires are British.”

It is understood that most of the British engineering personnel at the AlphaTauri team will move back to the UK, along with their Italian counterparts. With a series of changes, the Red Bull sister team is expected to work closely with the main team for the 2024 season and beyond.

Red Bull senior advisor Marko had confirmed that the junior team will work closely with the Milton Keynes squad to develop their cars, triggering speculation of the AT05 being developed on the lines of the RB19. Bayer confirmed that the team's aerodynamics division would be working closely with Red Bull to develop their car.