Following its first Hollywood tie-up with the blockbuster Twisters, Red Bull’s sister team RB hopes to go much further to mix sport and entertainment, with the lofty goal of democratising access to the series.
Its name change from AlphaTauri to RB, Racing Bulls or VCARB was not without controversy, with its new moniker confusingly similar to the main team despite the aspirations to carve out its own image.
Red Bull was F1’s original fun team when it first joined F1 in 2005, known for its lavish parties and memorable PR activations. That includes its pit crew dressing up as clone troopers at the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix to promote Star Wars Episode III, and one year later David Coulthard donning a Superman cape to promote Superman Returns.
David Coulthard, Red Bull, retires from the race
Since then, Red Bull has grown into a winning machine, keeping most of its stunts away from the paddock while the race team gets down to business.
But in its new guise, sister team RB is trying to pick up the baton and run with it, after seeing the popularity its drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda enjoy among young F1 fans and landing blue-chip partners Visa and CashApp as title sponsors.
As the team unveiled its new identity in a Las Vegas launch, CEO Peter Bayer announced the outfit would try and use its young and fresh identity to marry F1 with off-track entertainment.
It held a car wash event at the Miami Grand Prix in Miami’s art-friendly Wynwood neighbourhood to launch a colourful one-off livery, and ahead of the Silverstone Grand Prix it landed a deal with Warner Bros. to promote the blockbuster Twisters, in the tradition of its parent team.
This is just the first step of Bayer’s off-track ambitions with the team, not just to give its partners value for money, but also to expand the team’s own following among the younger and more diverse demographic F1 as a whole is actively pursuing.
«The car wash in Miami was probably – really – the best example of what we’re trying to achieve,» Bayer tells Autosport.
«We want to make sure that we democratise the sport with activities where everybody is invited to join, which is a combination of Formula 1 content mixed with music, art, culture.
«We continued with the movie Twisters and we have a couple of other movie partnerships coming, but we will also keep pushing on everything that’s music, because we believe it’s one of those universal languages that everyone understands.
Yuki Tsunoda, RB F1 Team, Daniel Ricciardo, RB F1 Team
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
«We try and do things outside of Formula 1 because a lot of people cannot come to the races, either because it’s sold out or because it’s too expensive. So we believe there is that young target group that is not yet served to the extent that I think we should.
«We have young female fans joining us and that’s exactly what we believe is a huge opportunity.
«I actually spoke to Daisy Edgar-Jones, the lead actress from Twisters, and she told she meets with all her friends to watch the Netflix series, and follow the results and the drivers.
«That’s something which, honestly, a couple of years ago was unheard of. Formula 1 would have been guys like me with five friends and a couple of beers!»
So why does Bayer believe RB – or VCARB, as he prefers the team to be called – has been so attractive for sponsors and Hollywood activations?
«I think it’s because there is a new kid on the block, doing things differently and trying to reach out to different audiences we have,» he explains.
«Formula 1 is giving us all these insights and data and from what I remember, we are the team with the most balanced fan base between male and female, we have the youngest time base. And that is the perfect target audience for the movie as well.»
Yuki Tsunoda, Visa Cash App RB F1 Team, signs autographs for fans
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
When pointed out to him that this kind of partnership would have been a Red Bull one just a few years ago, not one for its sister team, he nods: «Yeah, it’s true. Obviously, it’s part of that Red Bull DNA. Red Bull could have done the partnership, but it simply fits better with us.
«We always refer to Red Bull as the bigger brother, which is true in many ways. They’re fighting for the world championship. They have a couple of big corporate partners as well and they probably have, in some areas, less freedom to accommodate this.
«Also everything had to happen very quickly [in Silverstone] and we still have that space, not only physically on the car, we also have the ability to adopt to a partnership like Twisters, which is a win-win situation.»
«A lot of people were talking about the synergies and how we can help each other and work together. The truth is, on the technical side there is not that much to gain, but on the communication and marketing side there are lots of opportunities to collaborate in a very meaningful way.»
The initiatives the team has taken on a commercial level have also impressed F1 and its CEO Stefano Domenicali, Bayer says, as it is exactly where Liberty Media wants to take the series.
«We’ll continue with our off-track activities, we have a couple of exciting livery changes and launch events coming,» he added.
«Formula 1 has been extremely supportive and appreciative of what we do. I speak a lot with Stefano. He loves it because it’s exactly how he and Liberty Media see the sport growing.
«Look at the event in Silverstone, where you have the fan fest that’s simply incredible. You have live bands and there’s more and more that’s coming.
«A grand prix is so much more than just a race weekend nowadays.»
