FEBRUARY 26, 2024

Bosses defend F1 team's awkward new name

New team CEO Peter Bayer has defended the decision to give the former Alpha Tauri team an awkward and controversial new name for 2024 and beyond.

Officially, Red Bull's second F1 team - originally renamed Toro Rosso after the Minardi acquisition - will be known as 'Visa Cash App RB' from now on.

We are actually very satisfied, Bayer told the Austrian portal motorsport-magazin.com.

We had the incredible 'problem' that Visa and Cash App wanted to support us and help the team reach the next level, he said. The reality is that we simply needed sponsors to make this whole thing work.

Bayer said the team has been relying almost completely on owner Red Bull for funding until now.

We get money from our stakeholders and from Formula 1, he explained. "But not enough to operate within the budget limit.

"How can we close this gap? We have to sell ourselves.

It may be controversial because it is of course easier to be Ferrari than RB. But in the medium term we believe that our RB Racing Bull identity is strong enough to cope with a strong advertising partner, Bayer said.

He admits that the awkward renaming is currently highly unpopular among many F1 fans.

It's like choosing a child's name, Bayer said. Some people say 'Oh my God, how could you come up with such a thing?' Others think it's fantastic.

Laurent Mekies, RB's new team boss, also said the team renaming is good news.

A few years ago we would have dreamed of having Visa or Cash App on board, said the Frenchman. "And now they have not only chosen us, but they want to be part of our identity. That is a very good problem, although it is also a lot of responsibility.

And it also presents us with a few challenges as to how we can get the whole thing together, Mekies added.

So how will RB cope with the challenge of establishing a new image?

We're adding a bit of the original Red Bull spirit, said Bayer. A bit more music. We want the team to be fun.

(GMM)