What’s in a name? In F1, it’s all about the money

Formula One is gearing up for a new season with two “new” teams on the grid, at least in name: Stake F1 and Visa Cash App RB. Only, these are two existing teams under a whole new guise.

The former is the new name for the long-running Sauber entry, which was rebranded as Alfa Romeo in 2019 in a deal that ran until the end of last season. The latter is the new identity for Red Bull’s second team, which previously raced as Toro Rosso — Italian for “Red Bull” — before taking on the name of the energy drinks company’s fashion brand AlphaTauri in 2020.

Unsurprisingly, the names (especially Visa Cash App RB) have had overwhelmingly negative reactions from F1 fans.

On the surface, and when compared to the other eight teams set to compete in 2024, the names are ridiculous and borderline farcical, but both represent a key injection of big money at key points in the lives of these two outfits. They are perhaps the biggest indicators of just how enormous the commercial opportunities have become in the global boom F1 has experienced in recent times.

Sources have told ESPN both naming rights deals are worth between $30 million and $35 million per year. To put that into perspective, MoneyGram’s title sponsorship of Haas is worth around $20 million a year.

The different types of sponsorship in play here — title sponsorships such as MoneyGram’s and naming rights such as Stake and Visa Cash App — are important to differentiate. The reigning world champions are technically known as Oracle Red Bull Racing, while the team they overtook as F1’s lead outfit are officially Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team. Despite their official titles, these teams are referred to as Red Bull and Mercedes by fans and media alike, a distinction from the new identities of Stake and Visa Cash App, who will have everyone following the sport tripping over every word in conversations surrounding these teams.

At a time when F1 used brand awareness as one reason for rejecting Andretti’s bid to join the sport — “While the Andretti name carries some recognition for F1 fans, our research indicates that F1 would bring value to the Andretti brand rather than the other way around,” a statement read — the introductions of Stake and Visa Cash App RB are particularly galling. What, then, do these new identities mean for their teams and F1 going forward?

Stake F1

Stake will have a…