Peter Bayer: We change the culture in Faenza

Visa Cash RB's CEO Peter Bayer sounded a positive note when he assessed his team's performance in the opening stages of the season, and claimed that the team is currently going through a culture change.

Peter Bayer took up the CEO role at the Scuderia AlphaTauri F1 Team in June 2023. The Austrian has a busy CV having worked most recently with the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile, albeit he was also involved in other disciplines such as winter sports and sailing, and also enjoyed spells with the International Olympic Committee – IOC.

The Austrian was pleased to have the opportunity to work with Franz Tost who led the Faenza-based outfit from 2006 until the end of last year, making him as one of the longest-serving team boss in Formula One. Reflecting on the past months, Bayer stressed that the team is changing its approach and culture to improve the organisation.

"Look, it has been an amazing year, as I had the chance for six months to work with Franz Tost, who has built an amazing legacy in Italy, in the UK, in Bicester, and together with Laurent Mekies, who joined us on the 1st of January, we had the honour of taking over the keys to the team.

"And since then, we've been pushing, making sure that we are a team that stands on its own two feet. I think the main focus really was on changing the culture in the team, changing the mindset. which I believe we're making step by step progress on. It has also allowed us to attract some new people, new talent to the team that perhaps previously would not have considered us as a potential employer. So I think that's great to see.

"And it's also good to see that we have two drivers who are finding performance, helping us to move forward. And perhaps on a personal note, it's just, as an Austrian, it's a great honour to be part of the Red Bull family. And yeah, it's been an enjoyable year. I can't believe actually that it's a year, but it's a great time," added the Italian.

Following Pierre Gasly's exit from the team, he Visa Cash RB outfit started last season with Yuki Tsunoda and Nick de Vries, albeit the Dutchman was ousted after a tough start of the year. Daniel Ricciardo was called back to the Faenza-based outfit, but he suffered a crash at the Dutch Grand Prix.

He was replaced by Liam Lawson until Ricciardo recovered. The team ended the year with Tsunoda and Ricciardo, and the driver pair remained unchanged for the current season.

Following two tough races in the opening two rounds, Tsunoda has stepped up his game, and has scored in five of six races since then. His team-mate Ricciardo endured an up-and-down season so far, but a chassis change in Shanghai appeared to have helped his performance.

However, it has emerged that RB is assessing its opportunities in terms of drivers with Lawson having been considered as Ricciardo's potential replacement.

"I think we're very happy with both of our drivers. And honestly, we're not wasting time with discussing ifs and whens. We have a very strong line-up. We have a great reserve driver. We have great talent coming through F2, F3. And currently, it's all about focusing on performance. And perhaps the focus is more on Aston Martin in front of us than on driver discussions.

"Liam is an extremely valuable member to the team. He's with us every weekend, obviously. He's doing a lot of work in the simulator. But as I said before, currently we have two drivers in the cars. We are finding performance with the two.

"And we really do not discuss the 2025 situation, perhaps because we're in a luxury situation of having that strong grassroot pyramid behind us. And so the focus is really on track and on the next couple of races until definitely the summer break," said Bayer.