Tag: Visa Cash App RB

RB expects top five gap to take at least half of year to bridge

RB team principal Laurent Mekies believes his team has no chance of bridging the gap to the top five teams before updates arrive later in the season. The opening three races have shown a split in terms of race performance between the top five of Red …

RB team principal Laurent Mekies believes his team has no chance of bridging the gap to the top five teams before updates arrive later in the season.

The opening three races have shown a split in terms of race performance between the top five of Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes, and Aston Martin, and then the remaining five teams. Yuki Tsunoda’s eighth place at the Australian Grand Prix lifted RB up to sixth overall, but despite out-qualifying both Aston Martins and Lewis Hamilton, Mekies thinks just staying in sixth will be tough.

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“At the moment that gap is too big,” Mekies told RACER. “The first part of the season, you need to forget about it. It will already be a massive fight to stay in the fast part of that midfield group, and I think everything we are going to be able to bring to the car is probably going to be barely enough to stay there.

“So we are gearing for a tough first part of the season, and then hopefully in the second part of the year we are able to bring a little bit more.”

Tsunoda’s result in Melbourne was the first time RB has scored points this year and puts it ahead of Haas based on best finish, with the latter securing a highest of ninth. Mekies says taking advantage of every opportunity is crucial, as he feels the team has shown the qualifying pace to lead the bottom five teams at all three rounds so far.

“It’s clear that with the way the field is right now, with the top five teams quite a long way ahead of the bottom five teams, every point is going to be gold,” he said. “Because if these guys [ahead] don’t have a problem you’re going to finish P11, even if you top your group. So it’s very good to put four points in the bag.

“It was on the edge in Bahrain – were P11 in Bahrain, I think 0.007s from Q3 – and then we got Q3 in Saudi, we got Q3 [in Melbourne], so we are topping that group but with virtually zero margin. It’s on the edge all the time. It’s great for racing, it’s great for fans, and it’s great for us. But I think it’s about nailing every race weekend.

“If you nail the race weekend, you know that you are topping the group. After that, it’s going to be a development race that is going to start now.

“We will have a small update for Japan, I’m sure the other guys will as well, but it’s a combination between that development race and having to nail absolutely everything on the race weekends to be able to go home with some points.”

Mekies willing to play the long game with VCARB

Visa Cash App RB team principal Laurent Mekies says a slow start to the season could be on the cards as the team looks to put strong foundations in place for the future. The former AlphaTauri team – now known as VCARB – showed a clear step forward …

Visa Cash App RB team principal Laurent Mekies says a slow start to the season could be on the cards as the team looks to put strong foundations in place for the future.

The former AlphaTauri team – now known as VCARB – showed a clear step forward late in 2023 with upgrades that helped it surge from bottom of the constructors’ championship to finish eighth and threaten for seventh. Despite that momentum, Mekies says the rebranded team has a lot of departments it needs to develop and is not afraid of starting the season towards the back of the field once again.

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“My job so far has been about understanding the team, it’s about understanding the people, and it’s about understanding where our strengths and weaknesses are,” Mekies told RACER. “It’s very much the activity of this first weeks, and then once you do that you then start together to reinforce the team in all the areas where you feel a step is needed.”

“The truth is we want to see improvements in every single area, and we think this is how we will achieve a real step in competitiveness. So it’s not the shortest route but we feel it is a route that will take us consistently to the sharp end of the midfield, where we want to compete.

“We have the approach to build these foundations – it may take us a bit of time and it may mean that the first part of the season is a bit more difficult, but we feel it is the right approach if we want to be serious about our mid-term targets.”

Mekies himself brings with him recent experience from a front-running team in the form of Ferrari, but says he has been eager to get started at VCARB given the potential the refreshed team has.

“It has been a long wait, with the gardening leave. And then it’s been some incredible weeks starting with the team here. It’s about the birth of a new team – that’s how we look at it. It’s very concrete, and of course it’s a very special new team because it’s one that’s going to be built on an incredible basis and an incredible history that we proud of. But equally we look at it with the freshness of a brand new team.”

VCARB 01 breaks cover in Las Vegas

The first car under the new Visa Cash App RB name – the VCARB 01 – has been revealed at a lavish event in Las Vegas. The former AlphaTauri team has been rebranded under the ‘Racing Bulls’ moniker this season, with Visa and Cash App joining forces as …

The first car under the new Visa Cash App RB name – the VCARB 01 – has been revealed at a lavish event in Las Vegas.

The former AlphaTauri team has been rebranded under the ‘Racing Bulls’ moniker this season, with Visa and Cash App joining forces as title partners. Due to Visa’s partnerships with the NFL and the Super Bowl being held in Las Vegas on Sunday, the team launch took place on Thursday night on the iconic Strip.

The VCARB 01 showcases the team’s new identity, that has aspects of the former Toro Rosso colors due to the blue and silver elements, but white and red additions stand out in the design.

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In contrast to Alpine’s launch a day earlier, the team did not offer too much detail in terms of the technical developments made to the car over the winter, although aspects of the all-conquering Red Bull design can be seen in the sidepods. VCARB is taking a number of components from its parent team where permitted in the regulations.

Drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda were joined by the team’s CEO Peter Bayer and new team principal Laurent Mekies who replaced Franz Tost at the end of last season. Also present was the team’s F1 Academy driver Amna Al-Qubaisi, while F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali also made an appearance.

While the team name has not been universally welcomed, Ricciardo says fans are overlooking the importance of sponsors to a team.

“Let me say this, people have to understand one thing,” Ricciardo told RACER. “They say ‘Ah, the name, what is that? Why would you call it that?’ All these things. It’s like, you understand what partners do, right? They pay money, to support the team, to help us go forward, and therefore they can call it whatever they want! Quite frankly, their support is awesome and I love it! So I’m totally fine with the name, I love it. That’s how it works!”

In its former guise of AlphaTauri, the team finished eighth in the constructors’ championship last season, recovering from a slow start that saw it score just five points in the opening 17 rounds to finish strongly and end up with 25 points in total, three adrift of Williams in seventh place.

New additions will take VCARB to the next level – Mekies

Visa Cash App RB team principal Laurent Mekies believes the hiring of three experienced senior personnel will help take the team to the next level in Formula 1. Mekies himself has only started work ahead to the 2024 season after joining the former …

Visa Cash App RB team principal Laurent Mekies believes the hiring of three experienced senior personnel will help take the team to the next level in Formula 1.

Mekies himself has only started work ahead to the 2024 season after joining the former AlphaTauri team as team principal from Ferrari, and after the new team name was confirmed last week there have been further key figures announced. Tim Goss will join as chief technical officer in October following as spell as FIA technical director and at McLaren, while former Red Bull, McLaren and Lotus engineer Guillaume Cattelani is also bolstering the technical team and Alan Permane arrives as racing director.

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“The appointments of Tim, Guillaume and Alan add a vast amount of winning expertise to the team, and I have no doubt that they will help take the team to the next level in F1,” Mekies said. 

“We already have a very strong and hugely experienced group at the team and bringing onboard highly-skilled individuals like Tim, Guillaume and Alan will boost our capability and help us meet the highest technical standards at Visa Cash App RB F1 Team, both at the factory and at the track.”

Mekies reports to Visa Cash App RB CEO Peter Bayer, who believes the additions are central to the future structure that he wants the team to take on within F1.

“These appointments represent a strong step forward for Visa Cash App RB,” Bayer said. “The appointments of Guillaume and Alan will boost capability in design and development of our cars and in performance at the track. Then, with Tim’s arrival in October, we will have put in place the key elements of a structure designed to take us on the next phase of our journey and ensure the long-term success of the team.”

While Cattelani and Permane are expected to start work immediately, Goss is unable to do so until October due to rules governing FIA members moving into team positions, given their potential exposure to future regulations and rival team information. 

Permane, Goss among latest Visa Cash App RB hires

Visa Cash App RB – the team formerly known as AlphaTauri – has announced the hiring of a number of key personnel including Tim Goss and Alan Permane. Goss was most recently at the FIA as technical director but his departure was announced earlier …

Visa Cash App RB – the team formerly known as AlphaTauri – has announced the hiring of a number of key personnel including Tim Goss and Alan Permane.

Goss was most recently at the FIA as technical director but his departure was announced earlier this month with the former McLaren head of vehicle performance planning a return to a team role. Goss will become chief technical officer at VCARB in October after completing gardening leave after leaving the governing body, working with existing technical director Jody Egginton.

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“I am delighted to join Visa Cash App RB at the start of its new era of competition,” Goss said. “It’s a team with great pride and heritage, with some exceptional people already in place, and I’m looking forward to working with Team Principal Laurent Mekies and alongside Technical Director Jody Egginton. There’s an exciting challenge ahead of us but I think the team is well-equipped to meet that head on.”

Also working with Egginton and Goss will be the new deputy technical director Guillaume Cattelani. Moving from Red Bull Technology but also with prior experience at Lotus and McLaren, Cattelani will focus on aerodynamics, vehicle performance and technology.

“It’s fantastic to have this opportunity to take the Visa Cash App RB team to the next level of competitiveness,” Cattelani said. “I’m really looking forward to working with Jody and all of the other members of the technical team to create machinery that drives the team forward and takes us towards the front of the grid.”

Another former Lotus team member is heading to the rebranded Red Bull-owned team, with Permane joining as racing director after leaving Enstone – where he was sporting director – last summer, after more than 30 years as part of the set-up.

“After a few months of downtime, it’s great to return to racing again with the Visa Cash App RB team,” Permane said. “From long experience, I know how professional, driven and competitive the people within this race team are and I can’t wait to see where that spirit can take the team in the future.”

VCARB will officially launch its new car and team image in Las Vegas next week, as part of the build-up to the Super Bowl.

AlphaTauri officially becomes Visa Cash App RB

The new name for AlphaTauri has been confirmed, with the Formula 1 team rebranding as “Visa Cash App RB” as part of a major new Red Bull partnership. Visa is becoming a global partner of both Red Bull teams and as such will have branding on Red Bull …

The new name for AlphaTauri has been confirmed, with the Formula 1 team rebranding as “Visa Cash App RB” as part of a major new Red Bull partnership.

Visa is becoming a global partner of both Red Bull teams and as such will have branding on Red Bull alongside the title deal for Visa Cash App RB and support both F1 Academy entries. The rebranding is described as “Visa’s first new major global sports sponsorship in more than 15 years” and the new look for the team will be fully unveiled as part of an event in Las Vegas on February 8.

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The Faenza-based team was known as Toro Rosso ever since Red Bull took it over in 2006, up until 2020 when it became AlphaTauri. Now looking to capitalize on the popularity of Formula 1, the title rights to the team have been sold in a deal that team CEO Peter Bayer says marks a push to be even more competitive.

“It’s fantastic to reveal the new identity and to welcome new partners as we embark on the next phase of the team’s Formula 1 story,” Bayer said. “Faenza is entering a new era of racing, staying true to our roots as a hothouse for talent but now with an even greater focus on competing for the biggest prizes in F1.

“We have a bold vision for the team lead by myself and team principal Laurent Mekies and having future-focused partners such as Visa and Cash App alongside us on that journey is hugely exciting.”

The multi-year agreement will see Visa cardholders provided with opportunities to get closer to the team, with Visa CMO Frank Cooper III saying F1 is a sport that offers brands a chance to tap into a heavily engaged fan base.

“This is a groundbreaking partnership, and a great opportunity for the Visa brand to engage one of the fastest-growing sports communities on the planet,” Cooper III said. “This alliance resonates strongly with Visa’s vision to inspire individuals to ‘make it,’ striving to take small steps for improvement each day, during every race or event.”

The head of brand at Cash App, Catherine Ferdon, is more specific on the pull of the American audience that has been growing when it comes to F1.

“We’re thrilled to embark on this journey with Visa and Red Bull,” Ferdon said. “The Visa Cash App RB team and Cash App are dedicated to connecting people and communities, and there’s no greater unifier than sports.

“With the continued growth of Formula 1 in the U.S., this sponsorship allows us to deepen our relationship with Formula 1 fans and furthers Cash App’s commitment to supporting and growing the culture of F1 fandom in the United States while offering more value to our customers. We have a history of elevating emerging talent and look forward to sponsoring a team known for developing incredible up-and-coming drivers.”

Visa Cash App RB will run Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda in 2024, with Liam Lawson a reserve driver for both Red Bull teams after a number of impressive substitute performances for the injured Ricciardo last season.