AlphaTauri CEO Peter Bayer has emphasized the significance of relocating the Faenza outfit's UK facility to a new site in Milton Keynes for the team's future endeavors.
Red Bull’s sister outfit, which is in the process of changing its identity, remains head-quartered in Faenza in Italy, but within the context of its closer collaboration with Red Bull Racing, the team has opted to increase its UK resources.
While the team has maintained an aerodynamics department in Bicester for an extended period, it has opted to shift its British base to Milton Keynes, in proximity to Red Bull Racing’s campus, is part of an ongoing expansion initiative.
The upcoming facility, set to accommodate both aerodynamics and vehicle dynamics staff, will surpass its predecessor in Bicester in both size and state-of-the-art capabilities.
Bayer is optimistic that this strategic move will position the team to actively compete for top talent within the competitive F1 job market in the UK.
And the enhanced facility in Milton Keynes is expected to play a pivotal role in attracting and retaining skilled professionals crucial to the team's success.
“The Milton Keynes Performance Centre is necessary because the Bicester facility is becoming too small already,” Bayer told Motorsport.com. “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.
AlphaTauri CEO Peter Bayer with former team principal Franz Tost.
“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 admits that one of the drawbacks of having its headquarters in Faenza is convincing British engineers to migrate to Italy.
“In terms of moving people we have anyway aerodynamicists and designers, and the model shop is in the UK,” he said.
“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.
“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.
“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.”
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