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The names of both teams have been criticized, with some fans taking to social media. “Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber might be the worst name for a team in F1 history,” a fan wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“When you try something new, and when you have a team name that is different from other team names, it’s always easy to be critical,” Alunni Bravi said. “Of course, there was criticism from those close to the Sauber name, and maybe they expected something different.
“Maybe we went too extreme, but we wanted to do something new and attractive for our fan base. When Drake announced our name, we had 22 million impressions, a number we never achieved with a single post on our social media platforms. It was huge.”
For Bayer, landing Visa was as big a coup. “You see the growth rate of F1 in the United States, a country that is a huge market for sports marketing, and Visa is an amazing brand,” he said.
“They do Super Bowl, Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup and now a Formula 1 team, which is an honor for us and a huge opportunity. They’ll bring so many fresh ideas.”
Kendrick Lamar, the American rapper, performed at the team’s introduction in Las Vegas earlier this month. “We’re mixing sport with entertainment, bringing in new fans, activating new fan groups with a new way of communicating,” Bayer said. “It’s an amazing opportunity for Formula 1.”
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