New Red Bull title sponsor deal worth a reported $500m

Henry Valantine 09 Feb 2022 11:45 PM

A close-up of the rear wing on the Red Bull RB18 as it's launched. February 2022.

Red Bull have announced a new title sponsorship deal with technology company Oracle, which has been reported to be worth a total of $500m (£369m) to the team.

A report from The Associated Press claims a source revealed the deal, which also changes the team’s name to ‘Oracle Red Bull Racing’, is worth $100m per year on a five-year basis, making it one of the largest commercial partnerships of its kind in all of sport.

The title sponsorship was announced at the same time as Red Bull launched the RB18 on Wednesday, with the team’s new challenger having been unveiled to the world with the No 1 on it, Max Verstappen opting to run with the World Champion’s race number in 2022.

Oracle had already been a team sponsor of Red Bull but have now taken over from Honda to become the team’s most prominent partner.

The team say they will be expanding their use of the company’s Oracle Cloud Infrastructure product to “further improve race strategy, engine development and projects within Red Bull Advanced Technologies”.

A closer look at Red Bull's new design, with the number 1 appearing on a car for the first time since Seb ran it in 2014 👀 #F1 #RB18 pic.twitter.com/yExtBdHFtG

— PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1) February 9, 2022

They used the product last season to a successful degree, with the team claiming it had enabled them to run 1,000 times as many simulations to help improve the accuracy of their findings, by a 10-fold increase in the speed in which simulations are run.

Team principal Christian Horner said their partnership has been “crucial” in their time together so far, and he thinks their work will improve Red Bull even further in 2022 and beyond.

“Oracle Cloud enabled us to make race-day decisions that helped Max Verstappen win the 2021 Drivers’ Championship,” Horner said upon the announcement.

“Discovering and reacting to opportunities quickly is crucial to our success on and off the track, and Oracle are integral in that effort. Every element of our performance is driven by data analysis.

“Having Oracle as our title partner shows the confidence we have in their expertise and their ability to deliver a true competitive advantage.”

Oracle executive vice-president and chief marketing officer Ariel Kelman added: “Red Bull Racing has been more committed than any other F1 team in its use of technology to gain an edge, and it is paying off.

“Our commitment to this partnership reflects our belief that OCI is a strategic weapon on race day, helps create the most exciting fan experience in sports and can define the future of F1.

“Oracle Red Bull Racing is, and will continue to be, the most forward-thinking and innovative F1 team in the world.”

Red Bull finished P2 in the Constructors’ Championship behind Mercedes in 2021, while Verstappen went on to win the Drivers’ title after his last-lap pass on Lewis Hamilton in a controversial Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.