F1 team mocked after 'nonsensical' NAME CHANGE

David Coulthard and Red Bull in 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

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F1 team mocked after 'nonsensical' NAME CHANGE

Red Bull have chopped and changed with their sister F1 team's name

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Saturday 11 January 2025 13:54 Updated: 17:04

David Coulthard has hit out at Red Bull over the bizarre name change for their sister Formula 1 team that caused major confusion, ridicule and frustration for fans.

Since taking over Jaguar in 2005, Red Bull have for most of their F1 existence also fielded a junior team having bought out the Minardi team and rebranded it from 2006 to this present day.

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After initially giving the Italian-based outfit the name Toro Rosso, Red Bull pivoted towards AlphaTauri in a 2020 rebrand to promote a fashion line before making a controversial switch ahead of the 2024 season.

A new sponsorship deal saw the team officially become Visa Cash App RB, causing confusion over what the team could easily be referred to as.

VCARB had become a commonly adopted name as an acronym, but the initials RB were also used as fears about getting them confused with the Red Bull team were quickly avoided.

Red Bull's sister team were called VCARB

The team however have made a name change for 2025

What will Red Bull's junior team be called in 2025?

While Visa Cash App will still sponsor the team this term, Racing Bulls have officially replaced RB from the team name.

The change is seen by Coulthard as a positive step, with the former Red Bull driver and long time ambassador of the team praising the change as a satisfying conclusion to the team name saga.

"With Racing Bulls, we finally land somewhere that we can probably stick with," Coulthard claimed on his FFS podcast.

"I saw no issue with, going way back to, Toro Rosso. AlphaTauri...it made sense because of the clothing brand, which now seems to have been parked.

"VCARB made no sense whatsoever and as someone that's had a long relationship with the brand - everyone can see what a great job they've done with marketing - that was a compromise too far and was never taken seriously by the paddock so Racing Bulls it is, and we look forward to being to able to call them out on the performance this year."

Red Bull Formula 1 AlphaTauri David Coulthard Minardi Jaguar