Toro Rosso’s name change confirmed for F1 2020

Toro Rosso’s planned change of name to Alpha Tauri for the 2020 Formula 1 season has been confirmed.

An official provisional entry list for next year has been released by the FIA, in which the Toro Rosso name has been replaced by ‘Scuderia Alpha Tauri’.

It follows the planned re-brand from energy drink giant Red Bull, with Alpha Tauri the name of its fashion brand.

The change was given the green light in October when teams agreed to approve on the new name in a vote.

Toro Rosso, which means Red Bull in Italian, has been the name used by the Faenza outfit since it took over from the former Minardi outfit back in 2006.

From 2020, the Toro Rosso name will disappear from the F1 grid altogether.

Toro Rosso has acted as the junior team for Red Bull outfit ever since, with a number of drivers including the likes of Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen all graduating to the senior team.

The Italian team is on course to match its best-ever result in F1 and currently sits sixth in the 2019 constructors’ championship, just eight points behind fifth-placed Renault heading into the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit.

Toro Rosso has scored 83 points from the opening 20 races, which is the highest total it has ever achieved.

The team switched to Honda engines in 2018 with Red Bull following for this year, and both will continued to be powered by the Japanese manufacturer until at least 2021.

Current drivers Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kvyat have been retained for 2020 and will be the first drivers to race under the new Alpha Tauri banner.