The Red Bull Formula One team has signed a new title sponsorship deal with Oracle for over $500 million, making it one of the most lucrative commercial arrangements in sports.
The five-year partnership gives the team a boost ahead of the 2022 F1 season, which starts next month and will see Max Verstappen defend his world title in a new Oracle Red Bull Racing car, which was also unveiled on Wednesday.
The financial terms of the arrangement were not released, but a source close to the situation told The Associated Press that it was worth roughly $100 million each year. To discuss sensitive conditions, the person spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Oracle officially joined the team in March of last year, when it was revealed as a multi-year deal.
The Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) supported Red Bull’s efforts in 2021 in helping Max Verstappen win the drivers’ title, according to team boss Christian Horner.
According to Red Bull, OCI improved the accuracy of their predictions and refine their decision-making, raising the number of simulations they ran by 1,000x. The team also increased simulation speed by tenfold, giving race strategists more time to make the proper decision.
“We’re all about speed and the speed of response,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said in an interview with The Associated Press at the team launch
“We’re pushing the Oracle technical guys. But they’re responding in the best possible way. And that’s what makes this partnership very exciting.”
Oracle’s cloud computing is also considered as a method to stretch the budget further, with a new cost cap of $145 million for teams imposed for the 2022 season.
“We’ve got a brand new set of regulations, a new technical challenge,” Horner said.
“We’ve got financial regulations that are driving and forcing efficiency, which is again where this partnership helps us to make sure that we’re as efficient and productive as we possibly can be.”
