Inifiniti/Nissan sponsor Red Bull for 2011

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Yes this year Red Bull will save around £7m over the year by getting free engines from Nissan, branded Infiniti to promote the name. Of course Nissan is 50% Renault, and the engines are in fact exactly the same as before this name change and provider change.
 
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So they're basically getting the same engines for free just because their rebranded?

Red Bull-Infiniti: Works for me!
 
I'm waiting for a Team name change now from Lotus Renault to Lotus Nissan.
 
blaaah
Yes this year Red Bull will save around £7m over the year by getting free engines from Nissan, branded Infiniti to promote the name. Of course Nissan is 50% Renault, and the engines are in fact exactly the same as before this name change and provider change.
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You got a source for this?
 
blaaah
I'm waiting for a Team name change now from Lotus Renault to Lotus Nissan.
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Not likely, the very reason its still called Renault is because the team signed up under that name in the current Concorde Agreement. Otherwise they would be called just "Lotus". They lose TV money if they change the name unless they can get all the other teams to agree with the change...but considering Team Lotus is in a legal dispute with them, its unlikely.
Even if they could change it without loss of money, Renault doesn't own the team anymore. So there isn't much of a connection left for Nissan to use.
 
PeterJB
So they're basically getting the same engines for free just because their rebranded?

Red Bull-Infiniti: Works for me!
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For me too! 👍
 
Ok if no Lotus Nissan then perhaps, Nissan Team Lotus?
Renault are currently affiliated to Team Lotus. If they chose Infiniti for Red Bull they might choose Nissan for Team Lotus?
 
I doubt it, there isn't as much appeal as sponsoring the current champions is there? Also, they are only doing this in the first place to promote Infiniti in Europe as its being launched this year. Europe already knows Nissan.
Its possible though, if that happens it will probably be the same - Infiniti branded engines. But I think this is probably an exclusive deal with Red Bull and almost entirely because they are the reigning champions.

It might be that Mecachrome (the company which builds the Renault F1 engines) will have all of their engines re-branded Infiniti. So then we end up with the even more rediculous Lotus-Renault-Infiniti (sponsored by Lada and Proton) :lol:.
 
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Nissan isn't going to suddenly start sponsoring teams or supplying them with engines. The Infiniti engine is just the Renault RS27-2011 under a different name. It's a marketing exercise as Infiniti try to break into the European markets. It was a bit like the time Williams ran Renault engines dubbed as Mecachrome back in the late 1990s.
PeterJB
So they're basically getting the same engines for free just because their rebranded?
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Yes. Nissan pay the money to Renault.
 
Because you buy the rights to rebrand the engine from the engine supplier. I can't just pay a team however much money it takes to rebrand an engine and expect they'll do it - it has to go through the engine supplier first, because the supplier has the right to have their name displayed on the car; if the engine name is changed, the supplier name is removed. At the very least, you would pay the team and get it approved by the engine supplier.
 
Whoever it goes through, its not Renault, as they are effectively the same company. It either goes straight to Mecachrome or they simply offer the engines for free to Red Bull. Renault is only involved in the sense that they are no longer naming the engines..but as they are the same effective company/corporation its pretty irrelevant.
But simply put, the money goes to Red Bull as they are the ones saving/gaining the money here.
 
It's in Renault's interest to promote Infiniti, Renault gets half the profit for every Infiniti car sold. So they might not be taking money from Nissan to change the name. If they decide they would get more profit in that year from Infiniti sales rather than sales of Renaults promoted by the Engine name.
 
Sort of, Nissan gets the profit, but as they are joined as a company (they don't actually own one another, they basically just own shares in each other and run as a partnership), so yes, effectively Renault also gain. But Renault still have their own profits to worry about and their own image. They still gain from having Team Lotus run with "Renault engines".
 
Yes, so better then to have any combination rather than all Renault brands when they could promote others that would give them profit. Ideally they should use all 3 names within F1.
 
so Lotus-Dacia next year then? :)

Maybe James May as driver, the quotes from his pit-radio chat would be endless. British Grand Prix:" GOOD NEWS! I Wrecked the pit girl & the Sandero-R while watching the red arrows fly over!" Goodwood: " GOOD NEWS! I rammed the Sandero-R into the hay bails while that cock in the wrather excellent Vulcan Bomber flew right between the crowd and the trees!" Any Foreign GP: Chaps, firstly there are no beef Hula Hoops or pies down the shop & secondly stop letting jermey design next years "Hammerhead i-Eagle thrust Geoff Sandero-R GTi" Get steve and the Top Gear Technology Centre handle it, Although let TGTC & FIA know I'll only race on tracks made out of Scalextric in cars made out of Meccano."
 
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Can the thread title and first post be updated as Infiniti have denied engine-rebadging and are simply sponsoring Red Bull in a deal which effectively helps pay for the Renault engines?
So basically Red Bull just have a new sponsor.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89677

There is a possibility of Nissan/Infiniti producing an engine for Red Bull in 2013 with the turbos though.
 
Done.
I wonder where the £7m figure came from which represents the "free" engine supply connotation?
By the way how long will the Renault team be forced to call it Renault? Until 2013?
Ardius
There is a possibility of Nissan/Infiniti producing an engine for Red Bull in 2013 with the turbos though.
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It would tempt Toyota and Honda to make engine also.
 
BBC
Red Bull were the only title-contending team who had to pay for their engines. The price for such deals is fixed at 8m euros by an agreement between all F1 engine manufacturers through the teams' umbrella group Fota.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9409120.stm

And yes, Renault can only be called Renault until 2013 when a new concorde agreement is signed or if they can get all teams to agree to a change or if they are happy to lose the TV money. Which is partly why Lotus Cars look a little foolish trying to market themselves like they are...by 2013 Team Lotus may well be ahead of Renault.
 
The BBC:
"Renault is now officially in F1 only as an engine supplier - to Red Bull, Renault and Team Lotus - and now, through Infiniti, as a sponsor of Red Bull. "
So they are supplying engines and sponsoring a team, one could take that to be almost an manufacturer backer, just not officially or wholly.
 
Not really, as Tata sponsor and carry out CFD work for Hispania (and Ferrari before that), I don't really consider that manufacturer support.
Paying for/supplying engines doesn't really count in my opinion. Not unless said manufacturer is pouring quite a bit of money into developing the engines or supporting the team.
Just like supplying a car isn't really "manufacturer support" either like in GT, Rally or Touring Cars.

The same goes for ordinary sponsorship - Lotus Cars sponsor KV Racing in Indycar. Is this manufacturer backing? Not really, its just sponsorship, they don't own the team or supply anything different to anyone else.

There is a relationship there, quite obviously, but its not at a point we can really call it manufacturer backing.
 
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