EMBAGROED: RB launches first car of new era at Las Vegas event،
Red Bull's second Formula One team, now competing under the abbreviated name RB, launched its 2024 car at a nighttime event in Las Vegas.
The rebranded team, which competed as AlphaTauri between 2020 and 2023, revealed the new VCARB 01 with a revised blue, white and red colorway.
Performances by Kendrick Lamar and Baby Keem followed the launch, which took place at a venue on the Strip.
New title partners Visa and CashApp feature prominently on the car with sponsorship from Hugo Boss.
The team, which suffered an online identity crisis last month when it changed its name from Scuderia AlphaTauri to Visa Cash App RB, is trying to appeal to a younger audience while moving up the grid this year.
The name RB is an abbreviation of the team's new name, Racing Bulls SpA, but Red Bull's marketing strategy has been to promote the names of its sponsors and RB after the use of Racing Bulls met resistance in internal.
RB will have a closer relationship with the senior Red Bull team this year and will move some of its operations from its base in Faenza, Italy, to Milton Keynes in the UK.
The new car, which has only appeared in computer-generated images so far, features pull-rod front suspension from last year's Red Bull – a departure from the design at 2023 car push rod.
The change brings the team in line with the suspension layout favored by the senior Red Bull team since the current set of technical regulations were introduced in 2022.
Alongside the front suspension change, the VCARB 01 presents a clear evolution of the significant and successful updates that AlphaTauri introduced late last year.
However, until the car hits the track, it's the team's new look that is likely to get the most attention.
The new livery appears to be inspired by designs used on the team's cars between 2017 and 2019, when it last raced under the Toro Rosso name.
Daniel Ricciardo will continue alongside Yuki Tsunoda in the RB crew this year.
Ricciardo returned to the team in mid-2023 after being dropped by McLaren at the end of 2022.
Just two races after his return, he broke his hand during practice for the Dutch Grand Prix, forcing him to miss five consecutive races.
Despite the setback, the 34-year-old has made no secret of his desire to use his current role at RB as a launching pad to return to the senior Red Bull team if Sergio Perez does not see his contract renewed at the end of 2024.
Tsunoda begins his fourth season in F1 with the team this year, although his future is also uncertain because his career has always been linked to engine manufacturer Honda, which is due to leave Red Bull for Aston Martin in 2026.
RB has new management this season, with Franz Tost, who had been with the team since entering F1 as Toro Rosso in 2006, making way for Peter Bayer as CEO and Laurent Mekies as director team.
