They were so identifiable that Philip Morris handled out cease and desist letters on PM letterhead at later events preventing the sale of Marlboro merchandise, even if it was licensed and didn't say Marlboro. They called it the "red roof" design. I have one and plan to display it with my Marlboro converted models. Even Penske and Honda merchandise,promo items, and advertising couldn't use the paint scheme. They were still running the Marlboro livery and logos, but Honda promo poster from 2000 had all red cars with Penske logos and the IRL diecasts were all white with Penske logos.
I liked the Marlboro barcode. I thought it was a pretty clever way to sidestep the regs and yet somehow be recognizable.
I'm surprised we don't see a Dacia logo on the Red Bull too. I don't know if this needs mentioning so I will.... Renault and Nissan are "partners" with each owning a decent size stake of the other. Infiniti is a Nissan brand that was primarily in the US for some time. The idea with the Red Bull sponsorship is to take the Infiniti brand worldwide.
I remember the Mild Seven tobacco adverts on the Renault F1 cars. When they raced in a place that banned tobacco advertising they switch it up to say Wild Seven. Pretty brilliant.
I'm not disagreeing with your idea but that might be the last straw for Renault. They were already pissed because they didn't think they got enough credit when RB was doing well. It's even possible the Infiniti name on the RBs made it sting even worse since, despite the corporate connection with Nissan/Infiniti, Renault are in F1 to promote their own name. I think as Renault's works team RB get the engines free, thus increasing Renault's feeling of being snubbed when they didn't get the credit when RB was winning. Something tells me that contract wouldn't survive RB rebadging Renault's engines as Infinitis. RB may have already brought it up and had it shot down. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Renault think their name should be on those sidepods instead of Infiniti. As in, it's a Red Bull/Renault, not a Red Bull/Infiniti. Maybe if Nissan hadn't decided to spend their money going back to Le Mans prototype racing again RB might have been able to convince them to go in on an engine building/branding venture.
Well McLaren won't be winning (or finishing) the first four races anyway. Might as well relax and train for when the darn thing actually works. :fingerscrossed: Ah, the "joys" of being a McLaren fan.... :mad2:
I think that is a good call. I'd hate to see him take another knock to his head so soon. Might not of happened, but what if?
Bernie just keeps giving and giving. Ecclestone: Grid passes should be used for really glamorous ladies (grandprix247.com)
As much as I like F1 it is just becoming more irrelevant. I remember going to Indy 500 practice. You could walk around and see the teams. Everyone was friendly. Then when I went to the F1 race in Indy every thing was blocked off you couldn't get near the teams. It's odd I thought the fans were important to a race.
I guess Infiniti aren't quite only paying to have their name on the side of the RB. Infiniti Hosts Competition to Find Engineers for Formula One (autoguide.com) [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_1l0h4LuPo"]Infiniti Performance Engineering Academy 2015 - YouTube[/ame]
Ahhhh.....the CART races in the 80's and 90's. Meeting the drivers, shaking hands, autographs, sitting in a back-up car (did that in Lynn St. James car at PIR! ! !)