Written by Jake O’Callaghan, Edited by Vyas Ponnuri
After a much-anticipated wait, following the announcement of an imminent name change earlier this year, Scuderia AlphaTauri has officially revealed the name change, and will compete under the name ‘Visa Cash App Racing Bulls’ from 2024.
Having teased their new shades on social media, the team will launch their new 2024 Formula One car on February 8th, revealing their brand new designs at Las Vegas.
Expect the team to be referred to as VCARB, than their full name. This name will be used by the Faenza-based team for all their motor racing exploits in 2024, including the all-female F1 Academy series.
The Red Bull-owned team had earlier announced that they will undergo a complete change in branding across the Italian-based outfit. Incoming Team CEO Peter Bayer had stated earlier: "We will change the company name, we will change identity, logo, everything, a complete relaunch, complete rebrand.”
Their new logo was also revealed, incorporating the Red Bull logo as they have done in the past. While Cash App already had a place on Red Bull's car earlier, they will now feature front and centre on the junior team's logo in 2024, while Visa is the new arrival on the block.
Apart from the arrival of the former steward of the sport, Laurent Mekies moves over from Ferrari to take over the team principal role from Franz Tost, the Austrian stalwart having run operations at the helm for 18 seasons, bidding an emotional farewell to the sport at the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
This partnership is set to run into the long term, with both parties having signed a multi-year agreement. The team also announced new partnerships with various US-based companies, expected to play major roles in supporting the team, and will appear in the team’s branding.
As announced a few months ago, Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda will compete for the Visa Cash App Racing Bulls team in 2024, with Liam Lawson reprising his role as reserve driver.
The team had started competing as AlphaTauri at the beginning of the 2020 season, in a move to advertise the Red Bull companies’ clothing range of the same name. They competed as Toro Rosso (Red Bull in Italian) earlier. from 2006 to 2019.
The team was founded in Faenza, Italy, in 1979, originally named Minardi, and have achieved five podiums, including two Grand Prix victories, the most recent of them being Pierre Gasly’s heroics in the 2020 Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
A number of drivers have stepped up from Red Bull's junior team earlier, with four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, three-time champion Max Verstappen, and race winners Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz, and Pierre Gasly too having bedded themselves into the sport with Toro Rosso, and later AlphaTauri.
AlphaTauri were less of a prominent entity during 2023, languishing at the other end of the standings to their senior Red Bull team, before a series of late-season upgrades put them in the running for seventh in the standings. Ultimately, the team wound up eighth in the standings, only a handful of points behind Williams Racing in the standings.
They will be looking to build on a strong end to 2023, and start 2024 on a strong note, and achieve former team principal Franz Tost's long-standing goal of fifth in the constructors standings.
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