Visa Cash App RB F1 Team became a new name on the Formula 1 grid in 2024 when Red Bull GmbH rebranded its junior team AlphaTauri, previously named Toro Rosso.
The parent Red Bull company bought a second Formula 1 team in 2005 to run Toro Rosso as a junior squad. Toro Rosso stayed the name of a team that started out as Minardi until 2019. But what became AlphaTauri in 2020 turned into Visa Cash App RB – or simply RB – in 2024.
A new name was not the only change in Faenza, either. Franz Tost retired following the 2023 season after 18 years in charge. Laurent Mekies left his role as sporting director of Ferrari to replace the Austrian and make RB more than Red Bull Racing’s junior team for the first time.
Visa Cash App RB F1 Team name
Visa sealed a deal with Red Bull GmbH in January 2024 to share the naming rights for the F1 team called AlphaTauri from 2020 to 2023. It also marked the San Francisco-based payment card services corporation’s first new global sports sponsorship agreement struck in 15 years.
Red Bull GmbH also finalised its contract with Cash App to share the naming rights with Visa in January 2024. Visa and Cash App pay over $20m (£15.5m) a year between them to name the Red Bull B-Team. But the team simply goes by RB, as the company is called Racing Bulls.
Visa Cash App RB F1 Team founding year
Technically, the parent Red Bull company founded the Visa Cash App RB F1 Team before the 2024 Formula 1 season. But changing the team’s name from the fashion label AlphaTauri to VCARB was the only material alteration for a squad that started life as Minardi back in 1985.
Visa Cash App RB F1 Team current team principal
Red Bull announced in April 2023 that Laurent Mekies would replace Franz Tost as the team principal of Visa Cash App RB F1 Team from the 2024 season. It marked his return to Faenza for Mekies, who served as a race engineer and head of vehicle performance for Toro Rosso.
Visa Cash App RB F1 Team current drivers
Visa Cash App RB F1 Team employ Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo as their two full-time Formula 1 race drivers. Tsunoda joined the Faenza outfit for the 2021 season as AlphaTauri straight out of F2. Ricciardo replaced Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri at the 2023 Hungarian GP.
What engine do Visa Cash App RB F1 Team use?
Honda make the engines Visa Cash App RB F1 Team use as part of the Japanese giant’s deal to supply Red Bull Racing with power units. But RB will stop using the Honda 1.6L V6 turbo-hybrid power unit in 2026 as Red Bull will join forces with Ford to design their own engines.
Team lineage
Visa Cash App RB can trace their team’s lineage back to their routes in 1985 when Giancarlo Minardi entered his Formula 1 team using his family’s name. Minardi continued to compete in the pinnacle of motorsport through 2005, when Paul Stoddart sold the squad to Red Bull.
The Minardi team’s routes even date back further to 1980 when Giancarlo first founded his racing outfit. Backing from Piero Mancini allowed Giancarlo to establish a team to compete in Formula 2. Giancarlo had raced in various championships and with various teams before.
Stoddart took Minardi over in January 2001 to save the team from bankruptcy. But he could not take the Faenza outfit to success in the next five seasons. So, Stoddart finalised a deal in September 2005 to sell the team to Red Bull GmbH, which rebranded them as Toro Rosso.
Minardi entered 340 Grand Prix during their time as a Formula 1 team but never won a race, took pole position or finished on a podium. Their best finishes were all fourth place, coming in the 1991 season at the San Marino GP and Portuguese GP plus the 1993 South African GP.
Red Bull bought 100% of the shares in the Minardi F1 team from Stoddart but then sold 50% to Gerhard Berger in early 2006. Yet Red Bull would buy Berger out in November 2008 to get total control again. It followed Sebastian Vettel winning the 2008 Italian GP with Toro Rosso.
Vettel became the youngest-ever F1 pole sitter at Monza at 21 years and 72 days old, before converting it as the youngest race winner. Max Verstappen took the youngest winner record at the 2016 Spanish GP when he won on debut for Red Bull aged 18 years and 228 days old.
Toro Rosso stayed on the Formula 1 grid through the 2019 season before Red Bull elected to rename its junior team AlphaTauri to promote the energy drinks giant’s fashion line. But the move did not yield the marketing gains Red Bull GmbH hoped, so it sought title sponsorship.
But while two payment service corporations, Visa and Cash App, bought the naming rights for the team, the Faenza natives simply go by the name RB for the 2024 Formula 1 season. Visa Cash App RB F1 Team officially made their debut at the Bahrain GP on March 2, 2024.
The 2008 Italian GP with Vettel would prove to be Toro Rosso’s only race win before Red Bull GmbH renamed the team after 268 F1 entries. But Monza would even play home to the only race win for AlphaTauri over 83 entries. Pierre Gasly won the 2020 Italian GP for AlphaTauri.
Visa Cash App RB F1 Team drivers’ championships
Visa Cash App RB F1 Team are yet to win a drivers’ championship since joining the Formula 1 grid in 2024. The Faenza natives also never won a title as Minardi, Toro Rosso or AlphaTauri.
Visa Cash App RB F1 Team constructors’ championships
Visa Cash App RB F1 Team have not won a constructors’ championship since Red Bull GmbH rebranded AlphaTauri for 2024. They also never won the teams’ title using a previous name.
Visa Cash App RB F1 Team factory base
Visa Cash App RB F1 Team primarily work out of their factory in Faenza, Italy, which Minardi first opened. But the outfit also moved part of their operation into Red Bull Racing’s factory in Milton Keynes after changing names in 2024 to bring the two operations closer together.
Faenza is the operational hub of RB’s F1 operation and is where the team build their F1 cars. But Red Bull GmbH sought to have closer ties between its two teams with Visa Cash App RB using as many parts from Red Bull Racing as are allowed in Formula 1’s technical regulations.
Additionally, RB have a small facility in Bicester, England that focuses on their aerodynamics and concept design. It also houses a part of their design office. But RB moved into the site in 2009 to be closer to the small wind tunnel the F1 team used whilst operating as Toro Rosso.
Visa Cash App RB F1 Team switched to using Red Bull Racing’s larger wind tunnel in 2022, to make their Bicester base sub-optimal. So, the Faenza outfit are building a new facility beside Red Bull’s Milton Keynes factory for their aero team. They aim to move in by the end of 2024.
Factory address
Visa Cash App RB F1 Team: Via Boaria, 229, 48018 Faenza (RA), Italy
Visa Cash App RB F1 Team contact details
Website: visacashapprb.com/en/
General enquiries: info@racingbullsf1.com
Commercial enquiries: partnerships@racingbullsf1.com
Media enquiries: media@racingbullsf1.com
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