Red Bull says its new title sponsor Oracle will help them improve their race strategies and power unit development over the coming seasons.
The technology infrastructure provider joined Red Bull ahead of last season and has agreed an expanded tie-up under which it has become the team’s title sponsor. Its logo also appears on the sidepod of the new RB18.Red Bull began using Oracle’s cloud services last year to improve the race simulations which inform its strategic decisions during races. According to the team, the number of simulations it ran increased a thousand-fold in 2021, and the simulations were conducted 10 times faster. That “enabled us to make race-day decisions that helped Max Verstappen win the 2021 drivers’ championship”, said team principal Christian Horner.
It ran billions of such simulations over the course of 2021 at considerably reduced costs. This provided a particular benefit as last year was the first season teams had to operate within a budget cap.
Red Bull will also harness Oracle technology in its new Powertrains division, which will produce power units designed to regulations which are under development for the 2026 season. This will be focused on the modelling of the new engine combustion chambers.
The new title partner’s analytics will also be used in to help develop Red Bull’s junior drivers and esports team competitors and train them in the use of data to improve their performances.
The team has not confirmed the duration of the deal, however the Associated Press reported it is worth $500 million (£369m) over five years.
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Zann (@zann)
9th February 2022, 18:54
So if they have a technology partner that can do stuff for them, it’s not counted for the budget cap? Nice!
Mark (@blueruck)
9th February 2022, 19:05
I doubt that is how it works. In my experience a deal like this would be structured to have a cash portion and a services portion, for example $50M a year in cash and $50M a year in services i.e. running simulations. Oracle will count the services at their commercial rate and Red Bull will report the services against their F1 spend cap.
IMHO, the way the services are reported will be in a way that is favorable for both parties. :)
BasCB (@bascb)
9th February 2022, 19:07
If the provider offers better prices for this bulk buying, then that is legit @zann.
Zann (@zann)
9th February 2022, 20:27
Bulk buying @bascb? They can set what prices they like, it won’t be hard to make it unique. But I’m not saying it’s illegal, it’s an interesting quirk of the budget cap, which was always going to have teams looking for workarounds. So now sponsors who do and make useful things will be more valuable than ever.
BasCB (@bascb)
10th February 2022, 10:36
Thing is though @zann, the pricing for these services WILL be benchmarked vs. what others pay as well as experience the FIA/Liberty now got from the modelling work they did on the 2022 rules (see the articles saying how using cloud services from their sponsor helped achieve what teams cannot even get under the current regulations) – all it would take is for say a Ferrari, or Mercedes to show that THEIR prices are more than double and that would initiate an investigation into infringement of the budget cap. So i think the risk of them overdoing it on those low prices is not that high (although they are sure to try and find the limit of what they can do, as F1 teams all do)
Zann (@zann)
10th February 2022, 13:57
Mmmm okay @bascb perhaps I overestimated the advantage, let’s see how things evolve and if any news comes up. Feels like a shrewd move by Red Bull anyway.
Johnny
9th February 2022, 19:37
Oracle’s recommended strategy is “get Masi to change the rules mid race, it worked last time”.
LOLz it never get old.
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
9th February 2022, 19:45
So they’ve switched from last year’s main sponsor, Michael Masi?
Dale
9th February 2022, 22:07
Yawn.
You run out of tissues yet?
gpfan (@gpfan)
9th February 2022, 22:38
Bazinga!
Jelle van der Meer (@)
10th February 2022, 9:13
+1000 ROTFL
Becken Lima (@becken-lima)
9th February 2022, 19:56
Wow… huge, huge money.
At least now we know why Red Bull thought that would be worth to fool their fans with that fake car.
Aapje (@aapje)
10th February 2022, 10:50
@becken-lima
The car that Mercedes will present will be unrepresentative as well. Your bias is showing, as usual.
mazdav8
9th February 2022, 21:51
You have to wonder how many of these Masi-bashers have personally done a job anything like it, with similar levels of pressure and responsibility. I would be happy if they would all shut up and let the guy do his job.
Mooa42
10th February 2022, 1:49
So for one round each year, the race director and stewards will be made up of a selection of loud mouth, keyboard warriors drawn from F1 websites around the world! It would certainly make it interesting.
Couldn’t be any worse than fanboost.
Zann (@zann)
10th February 2022, 6:44
Max fans and anti Hamilton types would love everyone to shut up about it. F1-affiliated accounts too. I see Martin Brundle is also peddling the narrative that it was a mistake by Masi while honourably trying to get in a racing lap.
But Masi’s original decision was going to have a finish under green.
So where does that leave us? Brundle knows his narrative is a falsehood. The entire F1 media including Keith is toeing the F1 line, pretending it was a mysterious mistake under pressure, when clearly something happened to make Masi change his decision. And given the time lag involved, it’s pretty inescapable that he got a call, from a body that can control the media, Bernie style.
Noframingplease (@)
10th February 2022, 11:52
If you can get the evidence for your theory your better make a call to the Daily Mail. Cuze this is what Great Britain want to hear though?
bookgrub (@bookgrub)
10th February 2022, 4:05
Oracle’s main area of expertise seems to be litigation. Might be a truly strategic partnership after all!
juan fanger (@juan-fanger)
10th February 2022, 6:28
:)
DavidS (@davids)
10th February 2022, 6:48
Every time they ask whether they should pit, Oracle requires them to submit a variation, as that wasn’t included in the original scope.
pastaman
10th February 2022, 13:05
Did Oracle sponsor this article as well?