The Red Bull RB8 which carried Sebastian Vettel to his third world championship title has reappeared since then in many of Red Bull’s different liveries.
However for its latest showrun in Houston, Texas last week the team took the unusual step of repainting it in the colours of its second team: RB.
Teams regularly run old cars in current liveries to reflect their current sponsors. But for obvious reasons it is extremely unusual for a team to paint its car in the colours of a rival. However Red Bull’s relationship to RB is unlike any other on the grid.
Uniquely, the Red Bull drinks company owns two Formula 1 teams. RB is the third identity it has given its second team.
RB originally competed as Toro Rosso between 2006 and 2019, then became AlphaTauri, then was rebranded again this season. While Red Bull won the constructors’ championship and Vettel clinched the drivers’ title in 2012, Toro Rosso ended the season ninth out of 12 teams with its STR7.
Red Bull Junior Team member Arvid Lindblad, who finished fourth in Formula 3 this year, had his first run in an F1 car at the Houston event. Former Red Bull driver David Coulthard also appeared in the car’s successor, the 2013 championship-winning RB9, painted in the team’s current livery.
Red Bull’s latest rebranding of its second team was partly done so that it could benefit from sponsorship deals struck by the world champions. Cash App, one of RB’s title sponsors, previously appeared on Red Bull’s cars, where it had a much smaller presence.
RB’s principal sponsors are especially targeting the US market where F1’s owner Liberty Media is seeking to expand, having increased the number of races there to three. The team launched its latest car in Las Vegas and ran a special livery for the first of this year’s US rounds, the Miami Grand Prix in May.
Some of Red Bull’s rivals have raised concerns over the potential advantages they may gain by owning multiple teams.
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Pictures: Red Bull Houston showrun
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