re: 2023 Formula 1 season Thread

AlphaTauri is ready to unveil their new identity. The F1 entry list has to be finalized early December so we'll find out in the next couple of weeks.

The full official name is going to incorporate the names of two American sponsors. So no "BOSS" title sponsorship.

They also want to return to a generic team name like "Toro Rosso" instead of the name of the title sponsor like "AlphaTauri".

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“The identity will be generic,” Bayer told Motorsport.com. “The identity is what Toro Rosso would have been, and it’s moving closer to the Red Bull family again. But then it will appear with the naming rights partners. "We will change the company name, we will change identity, logo, everything, a complete relaunch, complete rebrand.

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Bayer said that the team’s profile in the United States, clearly helped by the presence of Drive to Survive star Daniel Ricciardo, has played an important role in attracting new backing.

“We're on a good trajectory,” he said. “And because we have such good traction in the US at the moment, we found these two companies who like each other.

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This makes sense, and it's funny because Danny wants to get to Red Bull soon, and it sounds like Horner would like for that to happen as well—but if the sponsors are on board because of Danny's popularity, then it sounds like he's staying put!

motorsport.com/f1/news/alphatauri-ready-to-announce-new-f1-name-for-2024-as-us-sponsors-join/10549856/

For reference, here are the currrent official team names:

Oracle Red Bull Racing
Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team
Scuderia Ferrari
McLaren Formula 1 Team
Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team
BWT Alpine F1 Team
Williams Racing
Scuderia AlphaTauri
Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team

Some full team names don't incorporate any sponsors: Ferrari, McLaren, Williams.

Some teams have completely lost their team identity to sponsors: Stroll/Racing Point (Aston Martin), Toro Rosso (AlphaTauri), Sauber (Alfa Romeo). Not sure if Alpine fits this category since it's a brand of Renault.

Would be funny if Netflix was one of the sponsors

I wonder how much a title sponsorship costs. I could see the company I work for doing this depending on how many million.

Oracle deal with Red Bull was 500 mill over 5 years. I believe that’s the most expensive sponsorship deal.

Strikes me for a company like Oracle it's not the best avenue. I would expect the most bang for the buck from brands that are mostly consumer goods.

No tech executive looking for their database upgrade is going to pick Oracle because they saw their name on the side of an F1 car. But, a consumer brand like Harman Kardon would likely sell a few more bt speakers and headphones with JBL blazoned the side of a McLaren car.

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I’d be interested to see the ROI on that deal. I don’t have the details in front of me but believe the Petronas deal with Merc/AMG is in a similar ball park but a longer term. Would have loved to know what Marlboro was paying back on the day for McLaren/Ferrari

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The tobacco sponsors used to throw the cash around. Benson and Hedges went ahead and paid Damon Hill’s salary when he was at Jordan.

shite, I didn't realize until this morning that the race is this weekend.

I thought it was first weekend of December

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shite, I didn't realize until this morning that the race is this weekend.

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I just realized that yesterday. Kind of amazing they can get from Vegas to the ME in a week.

F1 logistics are insane. The F1 Explains pod did an episode on all the travel stuff a few weeks ago, really interesting if you get a chance.

Toro Rosso was awesome, especially when they hand painted the bulls on the cars.