Ferrari announced a blockbuster deal on April 24 as they confirmed that they had signed tech giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) to become the team’s title sponsor. F1 expert Will Buxton revealed that this deal itself will help the Prancing Horse cover almost two-thirds of their team’s budget cap. Although Ferrari announced such a huge $90 million deal, F1 fans are far from happy.
Many of them such as Mari took to social media and explained how a team as big as Ferrari does not need a title sponsor. They believe that having one will just “ruin” the Italian outfit’s “legacy name”. This is because the team will now be known as Scuderia Ferrari HP from the Miami Grand Prix onwards.
I kinda expected a title sponsor from anyone but Ferrari. You’re THE Scuderia Ferrari, you’re supposed to be the iconic team, the iconic brand. Why ruin a legacy name https://t.co/z0JI83PE6S
— Mari (@very_berry99) April 24, 2024
Meanwhile, other fans such as Lexi believe that Ferrari‘s new title sponsor’s logo will just “ruin” the team’s pictures.
that hp ugly logo is gonna ruin pics like this pic.twitter.com/UPDwAy9ZbH
— lexi (@SED1CI16) April 24, 2024
Then, there were also some fans such as Kaz who mocked Ferrari for getting the wrong “HP”. They state that when fans urged Ferrari for more HP, they meant “horsepower” and not Hewlett-Packard as a title sponsor.
When we asked you for “hp” we meant horsepower not this. https://t.co/ip1YWURb8C
— kaz (@kazrrari) April 24, 2024
And then there were fans such as Morg who creatively attempted to find “what HP actually stands for”.
it’s ok guys i figured out what HP actually stands for pic.twitter.com/7m8SA2dwbI
— morg (@16predestinatos) April 24, 2024
Considering the frustrations of several F1 fans, it seems fair to say that many have not appreciated Ferrari’s signing of HP as the team’s title sponsor.
Before Ferrari, experts mocked RB’s title sponsor
Racing Bulls (previously AlphaTauri) made headlines at the start of this season not for their results on track but because of the title sponsors the company had signed. Since RB signed Visa and Cash App, the team’s full name is now Visa Cash App RB (V-CARB).
Among the experts, it was Sky Sports’ Craig Slater who enjoyed himself in mocking V-CARB’s name. To take a dig at the Faenza-based outfit, he came up with several creative puns.
As quoted by Planet F1, Slater said, “What about the Visas? And I’ve been thinking about this because just think about this, if they gain or lose places off the line, they’d be either Visa debit or credit”.
No words
Nothing we could have done about that one. That’s racing sometimes. pic.twitter.com/4zpE3kh6bH
— Visa Cash App RB F1 Team (@visacashapprb) April 21, 2024
After stating the same, he also came up with another pun as he added, “If they get really fast and hit top speed on the streets, they would hit the Visa limit”. However, Slater’s puns just did not end there. He revealed that if either Yuki Tsunoda or Daniel Ricciardo fail to crash over the course of the 2024 season, then they would be “Visa contactless”.
Considering how many puns Slater came up with, RB indeed did become the laughing stock of the F1 paddock. Ferrari will now hope that they can avoid the same.
