Infiniti confirm Red Bull deal but no engine branding

2011 F1 season

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Infiniti has confirmed a two-year deal which will see their branding appear on Red Bull’s F1 cars.

However there has been no announcement of the rumoured plans for Infiniti to brand Red Bull’s Renault engines.

Infiniti is a premium car manufacturer owned by Nissan, which is part of an alliance with Renault.

A press release issued by the team said:

Infiniti, the global luxury automotive brand from Japan, announced today a marketing agreement with Formula One World Champions, Red Bull Racing Renault, covering the 2011 and 2012 F1 seasons. Leveraging the co-operative power of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, a unique triumvirate has been created with Red Bull Racing, focused on high-profile marketing and technical activities around Formula One.

As part of the agreement, Infiniti will have a high-profile branding presence on the racing car, drivers clothing and related team uniforms and equipment. In addition to the branding and marketing relationship, Infiniti will work with Renault to forge future technical collaboration with Red Bull Racing. The Red Bull Racing team will continue to utilise the Renault F1 engines in 2011 and 2012 that powered them to their maiden Formula One World Championships last season.

Team principal Christian Horner said: “Red Bull has always taken a different approach, so when the Infiniti executives outlined their innovative plan to us we were very open to working with them.

“Coming off the back of our 2010 Drivers’ and Constructors’ World Championships, we feel even more excited to be starting the 2011 season with a new and committed partner like Infiniti.”

Infiniti also said it would “work with Renault to forge future technical collaboration with Red Bull Racing”.

Red Bull Infiniti branding pictures

Infiniti produced the following images to show how the branding will appear on the Red Bull cars and drivers’ overalls:

2011 F1 season


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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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54 comments on “Infiniti confirm Red Bull deal but no engine branding”

  1. polishboy808
    1st March 2011, 0:20

    Now Im seriously confuzzled. What on Earth are they doing? Is it a technical alliance between RB and Inifiti or what or is it a Lada Lotus Renault type deal?

    1. For the moment, it’s like the Lada Lotus deal at Renault, however, in the future, there could be a technical alliance.

    2. It’s the Lada thing. I wonder how “major” this involvement is, is 7million enough for a deal announced as “big”.

      1. 5% of their £140,000,000 budget – enough for a driver’s wages!

  2. Wow a new sponsor!

    Nail me to the chair and spank my eyeballs, it’s just as well they NDA’d that announcement or the competition would have robbed 3 years worth of development work.

    Big round of applause, guys. Sterling Marketing work there.*

    *NB: Bill Hicks has a message for you.

    1. You’re going for the angry dollar I see, ;-)

      1. That’s a big dollar, he’s doing a good thing.

  3. So, let me get this straight. This is just exposure for the brand. I can hardly see this woring, having Infiniti written on the car, but all the offcial live timing stating thqat the thing making it go is, a Renault – not an Infiniti – engine. For the layman, who may never have heard of the brand, how are they gonna know that theyre a car company and not anything else?! Its high profile branding on a Red Bull-Renault.

    No layperson who may have seen a grand prix last year thinks Lada were anything other than a random company sponsoring the Renault!!

    1. I mean rebranding the engine may have fooled some people into thining that Infiniti are a car company, but this is useless

    2. This has happened before….Jaguar didn’t build the Jaguar engine as far as I know…

      It’s not that big of a deal, Renault and Nissan are one in the same from a board room perspective.

      1. thatscienceguy
        1st March 2011, 7:55

        well no, Ford built the Jaguar engine – but Ford owned Jaguar and owned the team, just used the Jaguar brand for the racing team.

        1. thatscienceguy
          1st March 2011, 7:57

          and just to follow up, from memory they never badged the engine as a Jaguar, it was always badged as a Ford or Cosworth or whoever.

    3. I had no idea Lada sponsored Renault last year. What a waste of money…

  4. on another note, I afraid i’ve become somewhat of an F1Fanatic fanatic. No round-up so far today and I’m getting withdrawal symptoms!

  5. US Williams Fan
    1st March 2011, 0:42

    Well Infiniti’s primary market is America – and they have (somewhat) recently announced a grand prix in Texas – could bring in more exposure for that market.

    Also, in the last few years, Nissan has tried to expand the marketing of the Infiniti brand into the Middle East and Europe….. between the two regions there are what 9? 10? grand prixs?

    I’m just saying that it could be a good move for Infiniti – a least in terms of exposure in new markets.

  6. Big embarassment for the BBC and Andrew Benson… this has done their credibility no favours. They do seem to be getting a bit too big for their boots I reckon, especially since they’re effectively the new kids on the block in terms of F1 reporting

    1. Even worse, I don’t see any kind of corrective retraction, unless I’m being my usual blind self.

    2. Ned,

      Even Joe Saward said the same thing. But I still wasn’t sure because Autosport hadn’t mentioned it and it would be stranege and silly to re-brand the engine. This is a more sensible piece of news – that Infiniti is a major sponsor and technical collaborator.

  7. I like how they’ve incorporated it into the livery, especially in front of the sidepods, it’s made them ugly stripes much more subtle.

    1. Can’t say I agree. It just messes up what’s already a fairly messy livery. Plus I really just don’t care for the Infiniti logo. The Renault badge on the nose looked much better.

      1. wha-what…the renualt badge is terrible

        1. Didn’t say I liked it, just that the Infiniti badge is far worse.

          1. That infiniti badge looks like pacman on the nose.

            Red Bull to eat its yellow balls?

            I like the way it says infiniti on the rear wing, just think about Alonso or Lewis chasing infiniti on track! Nice one.

            But those images are simply photoshop jobs, aren’t they. It is pretty clear in the picture of Seb and Web, as they do not move with the overalls.

          2. thatscienceguy
            1st March 2011, 7:59

            try as they might, they’ll never reach infiniti.

  8. I starting to dislike this practice of car manufacturers sponsoring F1 cars.

    Lotus-Lada–Renault F1 Team. And now Red Bull-Infiniti-Renault.

    I would have prefered an engine branding.

    1. The good news is that no one will refer to them as such. It’s still Renault and Red Bull.

    2. Won’t that be Infiniti Red Bull Renault? With infiniti as the sponsor?

      1. No, Infiniti is a sponsor, but not a title sponsor. You don’t see us calling the team Red Bull Infiniti Total Rausch Pepe Jeans Racing, do you? Red Bull is the title sponsor. Infiniti simply have space on the car. I don’t understand why this is so difficult for people to comprehend when teams have taken on multiple sponsors for years without including them all in the official team name.

        1. But not all of those deals have been in a highbrow announcement talking about a high-profile presence on the car.

          Fact is, I am not stupid, even if you might think so or at least behave like that.

  9. So it is nothing but sponsor. Even I got confused why will Renault won’t like to have it’s name on one of the best car on the grid.

    1. True, Renault isn’t so suicidal as to remove their logos from the reigning champions’ team. Infiniti is just getting some extra (and much needed) exposure in the European market, while Renault (the group’s biggest seller in Europe) takes the technology credit.

      1. Still, I love the horrid photochop in the press release photos…

    2. dude, they’re the same company

      1. No, they’re not. Renault and Nissan own shares in one another as part of a joint partnership. But they still compete with one another and operate independently. Infiniti is Nissan’s luxury car marque, an extension of Nissan designed to target a certain demographic. Infiniti have entered into this arrangement with Red Bull because of their connection to Renault through Nissan, but they are certainly not the same company. If not for the Renault connection, it’s unlikely that Infiniti would be working with Red Bull at all.

        It’s the same story with Lada and Lotus Renault GP. As a part of the arrangement with Vitaly Petrov, the Russian government is subsidising the team. Renault have purchased 25% of AvtoVAZ, the state-owned holding company that the Lada name falls under. In exchange for giving Petrov a drive, Renault have bought into Lada and are working to renew the brand and are looking to improve their image in the future. Likewise, I believe Lotus Cars is affiliated with Renault because they are looking to use Renault engines in their new line-up of cars unveiled at last year’s Paris Motor Show.

        1. Ah, so is this ‘Renault’ thinking that Red Bull are going to be a better advertising medium than their own racing team?
          Considering the various connections you mention, it could quite easily be a ‘Lotus-Nissan’ or a ‘Lotus-Infiniti’ we see on the tracks this year.
          But instead the French and Japanese PR gurus have decided to stick the logos on a rival team?
          Is that mad or is that mad?

          1. Renault no longer own the Renault F1 Team.

  10. I just read another article on the subject and Infiniti, who make quite a nice car, are going to assist on the battery and KERS technology. But they definitely will not get their logo on the front of the nose. Those photoshop images are just wishful thinking by Infiniti at this point.

    1. As in, rebadging the KERS unit? Clever idea, as it leaves Renault to take credit for the engine. And Nissan does a lot of the development of the electrical things for Renault so that fits.

      The only nice photoshop image is the Infiniti on the rear wing. Now imagine the challenge for the guys chasing infiniti each weekend!

    2. Actually, I believe they will get their logo on the nose, but as a sponsor and not an engine supplier (which is what they’re showing now).

      1. I just read an article and you are correct, I was wrong. As for why Renault would allow Infiniti to share the advertising, Through the alliance partnership, Renault owns 44 per cent of Nissan and Nissan owns 15 per cent of Renault.

  11. I think the Red Bull/Infiniti arrangement – not to mention the Marissia/Virgin and Lotus/Renault ones – opens up some interesting possibilities for the future of the sport to get manufacturers involved. I can see a scenario where manufacturers start sponsoring teams rather than buying them outright. They could get the same exposure as if they established a team, but for a fraction of the price. In return for sponsoring a team, they’d get their name on the side of the car, plus access to new technologies like KERS. The teams would get money pouring in and the backing of a major manufacturer. The problem is that for now, they can only really keep things in-house. Renault teams could would be limited to being Renault, Nissan or Infiniti; likewise, Ferrari-powered teams could only be Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Lancia or maybe someone like Chrysler or Dodge. And if Volkswagen entered, then they could only be Volkswagen, Audi, Lamborghini, Porsche, etc. But if there was some way to get the manufacturers interested in this, I think it would really benefit the sport: maximum manufacturer presence and no manufacturer arms race. Maybe the 2013 regulations could offer standardised parts – like the engine block – with engine suppliers able to develop their own systems on top of the base componentry, kind of like the Indycar ICONIC project. That way, manufacturers would develop “their own” engines, or have someone do it on their behalf and rebadge them.

    1. Right, bring on the Ferrari DODGE and the Sauber Chrystler as well as the Toro Rosso Lancia!

      1. US Williams Fan
        1st March 2011, 18:54

        I agree with Prisoner Monkeys 100%

        Also, BasCB – it would be quite nice to see a “Ferrari Dodge” …. it would be just about the only way a fan like me would cheer for them. :)

        1. Would be a nice ty in for raising its profile, wouldn’t it?

          And to think of a Dodge with a Ferrari engine in the front, …
          I’m sold.

  12. Anything that channels Pac Man can only be a good thing in my eyes. Just stay away from branding the engine (unless it’s going to the Red Bull Wakka Wakka

    1. Beat me – the angle of the photo makes the logo look like a Pacman on the nose!!

  13. Renault take another further step back from F1 – and there will probably be no further evidence of Renault after the new engine regs – they will surely be Infiniti Nissan engines.

  14. Just like the Benetton Playlife Days.

  15. Ah, that’s better. Rebadging a Renault engine to Infiniti is deceptive, to say the least. It’s not even a Nissan!

    1. and what about BMW Sauber Ferrari? That was more deceptive…

  16. Infiniti, Nissan and Renault are so uncool lol. Red Bull think they are cool but they’re not really.

  17. John Cousins
    2nd March 2011, 12:34

    This could be quite interesting actually. At the moment Infiniti will just be a sponsoring gimmick, but as of 2013 as formula 1 swaps to direct injection and turbocharging the F1 engines too may change to infiniti to “link” the luxury brand to the newer more high-tech and “environmentally concious” engines. Just a thought?

  18. Infiniti tec is far more advance .

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