Alpha Tauri confirm launch date for 2020 F1 car

Alpha Tauri, the new name of the Toro Rosso team, will unveil its 2020 Formula 1 car at an official launch event on February 14.

The rebranded Faenza squad has become the second outfit to announce its 2020 launch plans, after Ferrari revealed it will present its new challenger on February 11th.

Alpha Tauri’s 2020 launch will take place at Red Bull’s Hangar-7 facility in Salzburg, Austria, five days prior to the start of pre-season testing at Barcelona’s Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Toro Rosso’s name change to ‘Scuderia Alpha Tauri’ – the name of Red Bull’s fashion brand – was confirmed on the official provisional entry list for next season, which was released by the FIA ahead of the 2019 Abu Dhabi finale in November.

The change was given the green light in October when all 10 teams agreed to approve on the name in a vote.

Toro Rosso, which means Red Bull in Italian, has been the banner used by the team since it took over from the former Minardi outfit back in 2006. It will subsequently disappear from the F1 grid from 2020.

Toro Rosso scored its highest-ever points total (85) and claimed two podium finishes as it secured sixth place in the constructors’ championship, just six points shy of the factory Renault squad.

Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly will continue to drive for the team in 2020 and will be the first drivers to race under the new Alpha Tauri banner.

Both managed a podium apiece for the team in 2019, with Kvyat claiming Toro Rosso’s first rostrum in a decade in Germany, before Gasly sealed a remarkable second-place finish in Brazil.