What are Red Bull Racing to do after Aston Martin's departure?

Early years of Red Bull

After taking over from Jaguar, Red Bull started their journey in F1 in the early 2000s. Many saw it as a publicity stunt from the energy drink manufacturer, but the team turned out to take the sport very seriously. 

Of course, results didn't come instantly, but with an infrastructure for young talent to come through and with a designer like Adrian Newey on board, the team had big potential. In 2009, they properly challenged for the title for the first time. They just about missed out as BrawnGP famously won it because of their excellent start to the season, but they bounced back stronger in the following years.

The Bulls would win four double championships on the bounce between 2010 and 2013, with Sebastian Vettel winning all four drivers' titles.

No help needed

Red Bull's rise through the grid was entirely their own doing. They have more than enough budget and can compete with the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes, as was made clear at the start of last decade. Up until and including 2012, the team never had a title sponsor. They rather used the livery to promote their own fizzy drink.

In 2013, car maker Infiniti, who were already sponsors beforehand, became the title sponsor, with a massive logo and name on the sidepod of the RB9. That very year was the most dominant title win of Vettel and Red Bull, so it seemed a wise investment from the Japanese company!

However, when the turbo-hybrid era started in 2014, it quickly became apparent the Renault engine wasn't going to let them challenge for more titles. At the end of 2015, Infiniti left Red Bull and switched to Renault. To this day, their logo is visible on the yellow-and-black livery.

Wanted: new sponsor

After the departure of Infiniti, Red Bull quickly started negotiating with other companies for potential sponsor deals. In 2016, they struck a deal with Aston Martin, immediately kick-starting rumours whether the British supercar maker would provide the team with power units as well. These rumours only grew stronger as in 2018, Aston Martin became the title sponsor.

Those rumours turned out to be nothing but that, however, with Red Bull announcing an engine partnership with Honda from 2019 onwards. Aston Martin remained the team's title sponsor but will now depart at the end of 2020. With Lawrence Stroll reportedly having bought a stake in Aston, the carmaker will now properly will now return to F1 in its own racing colours in place of Racing Point.

What does the future hold?

History has taught us Red Bull are more than capable of surviving and even winning championships without a title sponsor. Their whole come-up up until the end of 2012, including the three double titles, were all achieved without a title sponsor, and they won races in their sponsor-less years in 2016 and 2017 too. They will not need a new title sponsor, but you'd think plenty of companies will be queueing up to appear on the livery of the Bulls in years to come.

In cooperation with GPblog.com/nl (Tim Kraaij)