Ferrari livery under fire from Audi F1 title sponsor

20:01, 15 Jan

byDrew Murphy

Ferrari’s livery has come under fire from Audi F1 title sponsor Revolut, who criticised how they have incorporated their title sponsor, Hewlett-Packard (HP).

“How can you put blue on a red car? This is not good."

- Antoine Le Nel, Revolut's chief marketing officer.

Ferrari and HP revealed their multi-year title sponsorship deal almost two years ago.

Photo: RacePictures

It led to a noticeable blue logo of HP on the car against Ferrari’s famous red livery.

Revolut's chief marketing officer Antoine Le Nel, was speaking on the Business of Sport podcast and voiced his disapproval of the design.

He said: “The brand identity is very important. We are very committed to design, we’re very committed to the user experience and so on, and it needs to fit with it.

“No offence, but I think what HP and Ferrari have done to their cars is not good from a design perspective.

Photo: Race Pictures

“How can you put blue on a red car? This is not good.

“I’d say big kudos to Mastercard and McLaren, I think that is a great branding thing.

“[Google] Chrome as well, what they’ve done with the wheel and so on, I think there are brands that are doing a really good job and that works really well.

Google Chrome on the MCL39. Photo: RacePictures

“Then, when I look at the Audi and Revolut brand identity, it felt very natural. So that’s the first element.”

Taking over from Sauber, Audi revealed that it is targeting championship contention by 2030.

Why Audi?

As Revolut looked to enter the F1 grid, Le Nel said the company was naturally drawn to Audi due to aligned values and long-term ambitions.

He added: “The narrative is super-important. We at Revolut are here to disrupt banking and to win against incumbents.

“And Audi is this. Audi is amazing from that perspective because they are entering a sport that is arguably the hardest sport on the planet at the moment.

“They come from zero and they are building their car themselves. It’s not like Cadillac, who is buying the whole car and so on, Audi is building everything.

An early Audi F1 design concept. Photo: Audi MediaCenter

“The whole chassis, the whole engine, the gearbox, the power unit, everything is made by themselves.

“It’s exactly like Revolut. We build everything ourselves: we go from the ground and we build up. That’s exactly what Audi is doing.

“The alignment was super natural for us. The important part, as well, is talking to the team. With Audi, the stars were aligned.

“We were working towards the same goal, and it felt like such a natural sponsorship.”

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