Everything you need to know about Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team from team principal to Red Bull relationship

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Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team became a new name on the Formula 1 grid in 2024 when Red Bull GmbH renamed its junior team AlphaTauri, previously called Toro Rosso.

The parent Red Bull company bought a second Formula 1 team in 2005 to run Toro Rosso as a junior squad. Toro Rosso stayed the same until it became AlphaTauri between 2020 and 2023, before Visa Cash App RB in 2024 and then Racing Bulls in 2025.

A new name was not the only change in Faenza, either. Franz Tost retired following the 2023 season after 18 years in charge. Laurent Mekies left his role as sporting director of Ferrari to replace Tost and make Racing Bulls more than just Red Bull’s junior squad for the first time.

Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team name

Red Bull GmbH decided to rebrand the energy drink brand’s junior Formula 1 team ahead of the 2024 season after using them to promote its fashion brand AlphaTauri for four years. Yet doubts often surrounded what the Faenza crew were actually called during the 2024 season.

Technically, the Faenza outfit adopted the company name Racing Bulls for the 2024 season but operated simply as RB. But questions followed the team around the world over what RB stood for. So, the team rebranded slightly from the 2025 season to operate as Racing Bulls.

Red Bull GmbH even agreed title sponsorships with Visa and Cash App in January 2024 that generate £15.5m a year, thus creating the name Visa Cash App Racing Bulls Formula 1 Team. Visa’s deal was also the payment service brand’s first global sports sponsorship for 15 years.

Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team founding year

Technically, the parent Red Bull company founded the Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team in 2024. Yet changing the team’s name from AlphaTauri to RB, and later to Racing Bulls, was the only material alteration Red Bull made to the squad that started life as Minardi in 1985.

Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team current team principal

Red Bull GmbH confirmed in July 2025 that Alan Permane had been promoted to the role of team principal of Racing Bulls, following the decision to also move Laurent Mekies across to replace Christian Horner as the team principal and CEO of Red Bull Racing at the same time.

Permane had held the role of racing director since he joined Racing Bulls at the start of 2024 after leaving Alpine midway through the 2023 season. The Briton had begun his F1 career in Enstone in 1989 as Benetton’s test electronics engineer. He also stayed in Enstone over eras as Renault, Lotus and Alpine as a race engineer, chief technical officer and sporting director.

Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team current drivers

Visa Cash App Racing Bulls currently field Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad as their full-time F1 race drivers. Lawson returned to Racing Bulls in March 2025 after just two rounds at Red Bull, who later placed Lindblad in their junior team for 2026 to then promote Isack Hadjar.

What engine do Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team use?

After Honda decided to leave the Red Bull family ahead of the 2026 F1 regulations, Red Bull decided to create their own engine division (Red Bull Powertrains) who supply power units for both their main team and sister squad Racing Bulls in a technical partnership with Ford.

Team lineage

Visa Cash App Racing Bulls can trace their team’s lineage back to their roots in 1985 when Giancarlo Minardi entered a Formula 1 team under his family’s name. Minardi continued to battle in the pinnacle of motorsport until 2005, when Paul Stoddart sold them to Red Bull.

The Minardi team’s roots even date back further to 1980 when Giancarlo first founded his racing outfit. Backing from Piero Mancini allowed Giancarlo to establish a team to compete in Formula 2. Giancarlo had raced in various championships and with various teams before.

Stoddart took Minardi over in January 2001 to save the team from bankruptcy. But he could not take the Faenza outfit to success in the next five seasons. So, Stoddart finalised a deal in September 2005 to sell the team to Red Bull GmbH, which rebranded them as Toro Rosso.

Minardi entered 340 Grand Prix during their time as a Formula 1 team but never won a race, took pole position or finished on a podium. Their best finishes were all fourth place, coming in the 1991 season at the San Marino GP and Portuguese GP plus the 1993 South African GP.

Red Bull bought 100% of the shares in the Minardi F1 team from Stoddart but then sold 50% to Gerhard Berger in early 2006. Yet Red Bull would buy Berger out in November 2008 to get total control again. It followed Sebastian Vettel winning the 2008 Italian GP with Toro Rosso.

Vettel became the youngest-ever F1 pole sitter at Monza at 21 years and 72 days old, before converting it as the youngest race winner. Max Verstappen took the youngest winner record at the 2016 Spanish GP when he won on debut for Red Bull aged 18 years and 228 days old.

Toro Rosso stayed on the Formula 1 grid through the 2019 season before Red Bull elected to rename its junior team AlphaTauri to promote the energy drinks giant’s fashion line. But the move did not yield the marketing gains Red Bull GmbH hoped, so it sought title sponsorship.

But whilst two payment service corporations, Visa and Cash App, secured the naming rights for the team, the Faenza natives simply went by the name RB in the 2024 Formula 1 season and officially debuted at the 2024 Bahrain GP before they later became Racing Bulls in 2025.

The 2008 Italian GP with Vettel would prove to be Toro Rosso’s only race win before Red Bull GmbH renamed the team after 268 F1 entries. But Monza would even play home to the only race win for AlphaTauri over 83 entries. Pierre Gasly won the 2020 Italian GP for AlphaTauri.

Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team drivers’ championships

Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team are yet to win a drivers’ championship since joining the Formula 1 grid in 2024. The Faenza natives also never won a title whilst operating as either Minardi, Toro Rosso or AlphaTauri having been perennial midfield runners since their debut.

Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team constructors’ championships

Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team have not won a constructors’ championship since Red Bull GmbH rebranded AlphaTauri in 2024. They also never won a title with a different name.

Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team factory base

Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team primarily work out of their factory in Faenza, Italy, which Minardi first opened. But the outfit also moved part of their operation into Red Bull Racing’s factory in Milton Keynes after changing names in 2024 to bring the F1 teams closer together.

Faenza is the operational hub of Racing Bulls’ F1 operation and is where the team build their F1 cars. But Red Bull GmbH sought to have closer ties between its two teams with Visa Cash App Racing Bulls inheriting as many Red Bull Racing parts as are allowed in Formula 1’s rules.

Additionally, Racing Bulls have a second, smaller facility in Bicester, England that focuses on their aerodynamics and concept design, plus part of their design office. Racing Bulls moved in to be closer to the small wind tunnel the F1 team used in 2009 whilst named Toro Rosso.

Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team switched to using Red Bull Racing’s larger wind tunnel in 2022 to make their Bicester site sub-optimal. So, the Faenza crew built a new factory at Red Bull’s factory in Milton Keynes for Racing Bulls’ aerodynamics department to work from.

Factory address

Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team: Via Boaria, 229, 48018 Faenza (RA), Italy

Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team contact details

Website: visacashapprb.com/en/

General enquiries: [email protected]

Commercial enquiries: [email protected]

Media enquiries: [email protected]