Remember the RB Honda F1 team, now they’re called Racing Bulls

To team owners and sponsors, the name and naming rights are a huge deal.

By Bruce Brown Published December 30, 2024 11:26 AM

Visa Cash App RB Honda F1 race car on the track. — Courtesy of Visa Cash App RB

Formula 1 race car drivers that changed teams weren’t the only transition at the end of the 2024 F1 season. RB Honda also announced that the team would henceforth be called Racing Bulls. This was not the first name change for the Red Bull organization’s second team in the F1 roster of ten teams, and it likely will not be the last.

The history of the Racing Bulls team name

Visa Cash App RB Honda F1 race car direct frontal view on race track.
Team names may not seem a big deal, but to team owners and sponsors, the name and naming rights are a huge deal. Red Bull Racing bought the former Jaguar works team and began competing in the F1 World Championships in 2005. In 2006, Red Bull bought the Minardi team, headquartered in Italy, and renamed it Toro Rosso, which is Red Bull in Italian — and Spanish. The current HQ is located in Faenza, Italy.

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Red Bull wanted a second team as a pathway for new drivers to earn a seat driving for the senior team. F! drivers who started with Toro Rosso and moved up to Red Bull include Carlos Sainz, Jr., who just moved from Ferrari to drive for Williams, and two four-time world Champions, Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen.

Toro Rosso served as the team name from 2005 until 2019. In 2020, the game was changed to Scuderia AlphaTauri, usually shortened to AlphaTauri. In 2024, the name changed for the second time to Visa Cash App RB F1 Team, a long, cumbersome name that was quickly reduced to VCARB, an acronym that was equally inelegant.

Closer to the end of the 2024 season, the team was often listed as RB Honda, but that was often confusing to fans because both Red Bull and RB Honda use Honda engines.

Shortly after naming Isack Hadjar as the driver to fill Liam Lawson’s spot to drive with teammate Yuki Tsunoda on the second team, the Red Bull organization announced that for the 2025 F1 season, the team would be called Racing Bull.

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A Digital Trends Contributing Editor and Contributor for TheManual.com, Bruce Brown writes e-mobility reviews and covers…

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