RB F1 Team

RB F1 Team is the Faenza-based Red Bull-owned entry that has long doubled as the sport’s most productive finishing school. Now branded RB and running Red Bull Ford Powertrains hardware, it is climbing the constructors’ order again, sitting fifth in 2026 with 90 points and no wins so far.

Faenza roots

The team’s lineage runs straight back to Minardi, the stalwart Italian privateer founded by Giancarlo Minardi and entered in Formula 1 from the mid-1980s. Based in Faenza, Minardi built a reputation for extracting the most from limited means and for handing debuts to future stars, notably Fernando Alonso in 2001 and Mark Webber in 2002. At the end of 2005 Red Bull acquired the outfit, securing its place on the grid and preserving the Faenza base that remains the operation’s heart. That transaction created the framework for a fully fledged second Red Bull team, with Faenza becoming the proving ground for drivers and staff bound for the senior Milton Keynes squad.

Toro Rosso years

Rebranded as Scuderia Toro Rosso for 2006, the team’s mission was clear: race hard in the midfield and develop talent for Red Bull Racing. Its landmark breakthrough came at Monza in 2008, where a 21-year-old Sebastian Vettel took a shock pole and then the team’s first victory in wet conditions. That remains one of the defining upsets of the modern era and underlined what a sharp, opportunistic operation Faenza had become. The years that followed saw a procession of future front-runners pass through: Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen all learned the ropes at Toro Rosso before moving up.

Even after Vettel’s departure, the team remained adept at striking when the opportunity arose. In 2019 it scored two podiums in a single season, Daniil Kvyat finishing third at Hockenheim and Pierre Gasly taking second at Interlagos, confirming a knack for making strategy and execution count in chaotic races. By then the Toro Rosso identity was a byword for industrious, detail-led racing, grounded in the Faenza workshops and delivered by a compact, committed staff.

AlphaTauri era

For 2020 the team was rebadged as Scuderia AlphaTauri, reflecting Red Bull’s desire to align the entry with its fashion brand. The competitive heartbeat remained the same and the biggest result of this phase came swiftly: Pierre Gasly’s victory at Monza in 2020, achieved with calm execution as the race turned on safety car timing and penalties for others. It was the team’s second grand prix win and its first under the AlphaTauri name. The outfit continued as a consistent midfield presence, nurturing drivers and engineers with an eye on Red Bull’s wider programme, while keeping its Faenza identity and Italian manufacturing base intact.

AlphaTauri also became the F1 home for Yuki Tsunoda from 2021, another example of the Red Bull pipeline feeding the Faenza car. The operation’s value to Red Bull was clear: it provided race miles, data and pressure situations for emerging talent, and delivered the occasional headline on Sundays when circumstances aligned.

RB and the present

The team adopted the RB F1 Team branding for 2024 and has moved forward in the standings. The constructors’ table supplied tells the story clearly: eighth in 2024 with 46 points and no wins, up to sixth in 2025 with 92 points and no wins, and currently fifth in 2026 on 90 points with no wins as the season continues. That progression reflects a more consistent points-scoring return. The Faenza base remains the team’s centre of gravity, combining experienced Italian engineering with the resources made available by its Red Bull ownership.

The 2026 season is the first with Red Bull Ford Powertrains listed as the power unit partner for RB, aligning the Faenza entry’s hardware with the new-generation hybrid regulations. Steady improvement without a race win and a current standing of fifth make for a credible platform from which RB can measure itself against rival midfield squads while feeding the broader Red Bull ecosystem.

Driver pipeline

RB’s enduring purpose is as much about people as points. The roll call of alumni who graduated from Faenza to Red Bull Racing is unusually strong for a single organisation: Vettel went on to become a multiple world champion; Verstappen made his Formula 1 debut with Toro Rosso and was promoted to Red Bull Racing in 2016; Ricciardo, Sainz, Gasly, Daniil Kvyat and Alex Albon all used Faenza as their launch pad. The team has also been the place where drivers rebuilt form or retooled their approach, making it a flexible instrument for Red Bull’s wider competitive aims.

That function extends beyond the cockpit. Faenza has long been a training ground for race engineers, strategists and mechanics, who cut their teeth in a fast-moving, resource-conscious environment before some step across to the senior team. The balance struck by RB F1 Team today is essentially the same as it was in the Toro Rosso and AlphaTauri eras: compete hard as an independent constructor out of Italy, and serve as a vital pathway in the Red Bull system. With its base in Faenza and the current Red Bull Ford Powertrains package, the team’s identity is intact while its recent results show a tangible upward line.