RB F1’s valuation hits a billion, yet CEO Bayer confirms the team remains off the market.
Throughout much of last season, AlphaTauri was resigned to finishing last in the constructors’ standings. However, a strong performance in the final races allowed the team to secure an eighth place finish.
Today, despite very promising winter testing, RB F1 is lagging behind—overtaken by both Aston Martin F1 and Haas F1.
Yet, Peter Bayer, CEO of RB F1, is not disappointed with his team’s competitiveness. Especially as RB F1 is also planning for the long term, notably with the recruitment of Alan Permane, former Sporting Director at Alpine F1.
“Last year was tough. My bosses joked when I started; they said: ‘Listen, now that we’re 10th, you’re in luck, anything you do will be a step forward!'” he told Planet F1.
“Jokes aside, by rebooting the team, we managed to recruit some very important new people right from the start. Alan Permane, to name just one, immediately took a very proactive role and literally integrated into the existing team within days.”
“Our new setup has galvanized the team and, as it operates like a small commando unit, we’ve managed to focus on the very important elements of the car and to meld external experience with what we already had internally. This unlocked performance and we are very cautious with changes to the car because it’s very finicky.”
“If you change just a little, you no longer understand the car. I even heard James Allison (Technical Director at Mercedes), who is probably the engineer of engineers, say that he feels these cars, if pushed too far, don’t reward you with lap time.”
Regardless of sporting results, RB F1 is also poised to be a financial success: the profitability of being in Formula One today is substantial, especially with capped budgets. Peter Bayer values RB F1 at one billion today, possibly two in a few years.
“We have several strategic goals, and as long as we are ticking those boxes, there’s absolutely no reason not to believe that this team has a bright future ahead.”
“F1 has undergone this transition, which is tremendous. What has also happened is that these teams have become capital assets, which was never the case before. Teams have been sold for 1 dollar (Force India, for example), and teams have been sold for 150 million dollars, but you’ve seen the valuations from last year when Alpine brought in investors. They basically said: ‘We think the team is worth 900 million or a billion.'”
“That’s a real value. I believe if we applied market procedures, our team would be worth well over a billion. For these teams, the trajectory is very clear… if it’s a billion today, it will be two in two years.”
“Why sell that? At the same time, there’s the passion, and the opportunity for young drivers, so everything is in place.”
This is why RB F1 is not for sale, even to Andretti!
Has the name VCARB truly caught on?
Officially, RB F1 is not… RB F1, but is supposed to be called Visa Cash App Racing Bulls. A name that has convinced very few, from the press to the general public.
The official car name VCARB is also relatively unpopular – but not according to Peter Bayer, who is naturally selling his original idea.
But how could he have thought that the name Visa Cash App Racing Bulls would catch on?
“I was convinced it would work, you know? The beginning wasn’t easy.”
“But we’re seeing a lot of momentum now and I’m super happy because, to give you an idea, in Melbourne, all our merchandise was sold out. There wasn’t a single t-shirt left. So, we sold all the merchandise – it was certainly the Ricciardo effect. But the same thing happened in Japan. People contacted me and spoke to me in the subway, in Japan. As if something was happening! [but there’s also the Yuki Tsunoda effect in Japan].”
“Many of them call us Visa Cash App Racing Bulls, but I think the fans have decided to call us VCARB, which we’re very pleased about.”
“We had an extraordinary opportunity with Visa. Visa is one of the most significant brands in the realm of sports marketing, everyone knows Visa.”
“The CEO of Visa was in Monaco and he said: ‘Peter, everything we do, we do long-term, we do it big. We handle the FIFA World Cup, the Olympics, the NFL, and Formula 1.”
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CEO Bayer: RB F1 Hits Billion Mark, Remains Unsold CEO Bayer: RB F1 Hits Billion Mark, Remains Unsold
