The Red Bull team recently earned a whopping $224,800 after they made their presence felt in Madrid for an event. This is after Sergio Perez took to the streets of the Spanish capital for a controversial Red Bull showrun this past weekend.
He drove two of the championship-winning cars of Sebastian Vettel, the RB7 and the RB8. According to reports, this event was a huge success as over 85,000 fans gathered to watch it.
🎥: RedBull driver Sergio Perez, was at a Red Bull event in Madrid 🇪🇸 earlier today. #F1 pic.twitter.com/uJzw3721WY
— F1 Naija 🇳🇬 (@f1_naija) July 15, 2023
While this event was not short of controversy, it is also pertinent to note that Red Bull took part in this event amidst reports that the city of Madrid wants to host an F1 race sometime in the future. While there is already a Spanish GP on the calendar, that race takes place in Barcelona and not in Madrid.
How did Sergio Perez help Red Bull earn $224,800?
According to soymotor.com, Red Bull’s showrun event had a polarizing effect in the Spanish community. While many lauded the event, there were also several others that criticized it.
Most of the people who slammed this event were unhappy because of how much it costed. As per ElDiario.es, the Community of Madrid paid Red Bull $224,800 for the showrun.
This included the arrival arch for single seaters ($2,060), a screen to follow the event ($9,960), and also the live broadcast for it ($61,680). And this is not it, as the Community of Madrid also paid $27,000 for the radio promotion of the event, and another $32,620 for the purchase of 20 Mini Cooper cars.
While many considered this event as a sheer waste of money, the Autonomous Community believes that they will receive a long-term benefit from the same. And this is because they carried out this showrun with the intention of launching a bid for an F1 race in the future.
Madrid is close to hosting an F1 race
Following the conclusion of Red Bull’s showrun, the Community of Madrid issued a statement to reveal why they hosted such a huge event. As quoted by soymotor.com, their statement read, “As the host of this event, the Community of Madrid continues to postulate its candidacy for the World Championship, aware of the economic and tourist potential of this sport“.
And it seems that Madrid are not far away from hosting an F1 race as per the recent claims made by José Vicente de los Mozos, the president of the executive committee of the IFEMA fairgrounds and convention centre. De los Mozos recently stated in an interview (as quoted by motorsports.com) that he is away about when his city will sign a deal with F1 to host a race in the future.
However, these remarks come in contrast to the comments made by F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali. While speaking on the Beyond the Grid podcast, Domenicali acknowledged that while it is true that Madrid is keen to host a race, he made it clear that no decision has been taken place so far.
Hence, it will be interesting to see if Spain does host a second race in the future or not, with the city of Madrid keen to host one.
