Red Bull’s Faenza-based sister team hardly impressed fans or critics with its new name, V-CARB. Besides, it also received heavy trolls, to say the least. The name that spells out as Visa Cash App RB comes with a price. Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda’s team received an amount of $150 million as sponsorship for the 2024 season, all thanks to this name change.
The team has a long history when it comes to nomenclature. Initially, they were known as Minardi. After the late Dietrich Mateschitz bought the team, he rebranded it to Toro Rosso, Red Bull in Italian language. After running with that name for over a decade, the team was rebranded to AlphaTauri in 2020.
AlphaTauri was named after Red Bull’s fashion brand and the name stayed in F1 for four years. But coming into the 2024 season, Red Bull’s sister team changed the name and they now have $150 million as a result. Visa and Cash App, the two prominent sponsors paid the team the reported sum, as per Business F1.
Since the name reflects these two brands’ names more prominently, the sponsorship charge was relatively higher. Compared to them, Orlen, Hugo Boss, and Tudor paid a combined $50 million. Interestingly, all these five brands are very prominent on the new blue-white and red livery of the V-CARB for the 2024 season.
Despite the $150 million amassed, marketing experts are far from being impressed with this deal. The new bosses Peter Bayer and Laurent Mekies have little experience with marketing as they faced their first ‘hurdle’ in the post-Franz Tost era.
How will sponsorship money boost V-CARB?
V-CARB has mostly been an extended version of Red Bull Racing till date, which the Austrian team uses to test their drivers. Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, Sebastian Vettel, and many more drivers tried their trade in the Faenza-based team before making the big jump. However, in 2024, the team wants to move away from the shadows of its sister team.
This is where they can bank on the $150 million they have at their disposal. They will have $15 million left to spend after putting $135 million aside for the season development, mandated by the FIA. In a grid that’s so tight down the order, such an amount is surely going to give them a much-needed impetus.
V-CARB is in enormous search of performance this season. After finishing 2023 in P8 with 25 points, Ricciardo and Co. would look to steer clear from the bottom of the standings this time around.
However, their Bahrain and Saudi Arabian race results showed that they still have a long road ahead. In Bahrain, the V-CARB cars finished in P13 and P14, whereas in Saudi Arabia, their final positions were P14 and P16.
