The rumored name is one RayBan mention away from landing in your spam folder.
Remember the simplicity and elegance of Toro Rosso? Remember how Red Bull jettisoned that entirely to prop up its designer clothing brand not one person would know about, had it not been emblazoned on their Formula 1 cars? Silly as AlphaTauri was, we all got used to it, but now the Austrian energy drink/motorsports empire has given up on that experiment. We knew the team’s name was due to change a third time this coming season, and a recently registered domain has, unfortunately, given fans a view of what to expect. Prepare for Visa CashApp Racing Bulls.
As Twitter/X account RBR Daily pointed out early Wednesday, for a while, racingbulls.com was redirecting to visacashapprb.com. That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore as of 10 a.m. ET, but the latter domain still lands on an active page.
The name “Racing Bulls” has been rumored for quite some time, and F1’s sponsor interest currently being what it is, it wouldn’t be terribly surprising for Visa, nor CashApp to tether itself to the Red Bull machine. We can all wish it didn’t sound like the subject line of a phishing attempt delivered directly to your junk folder, but this is what happens when money starts flowing in fast and free: team names become ever-longer parodies of themselves.
Never forget the electric blue stunner they took from us. Mark Thompson/Getty Images
If nothing else, Visa CashApp Racing Bulls sounds more identifiably like an F1 crew, I suppose, than Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber. And almost anything’s better than parading around Saudi Aramco as your title sponsor. I still think Andretti Cadillac would sound pretty badass, but I’d wager the paddock disagrees. The Racing Bulls can recover some good faith if they show up for winter testing with a really sweet livery, as Toro Rosso used to have. But something tells me it’s going to be hard to elegantly work in CashApp green, like when Aston Martin was supported by that one water company that has quickly overtaken global motorsport. At least pink goes slightly better with Alpine blue.
The team formerly known as AlphaTauri hasn’t yet publicized when it plans to reveal its 2024 challenger, but considering there’s an entire brand relaunch wrapped up in there, too, it’s possible we hear official word on the team name ahead of the car’s introduction. Maybe there’s even enough time to give a third payment platform top billing.
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