What started as a cure for hangovers and jet lag in Thailand is now one of the farthest-reaching sponsors for everything from airplane racing to soccer to Formula One (F1). The history of Red Bull is as crazy as the stunts it posts on Instagram.
Turns out, the company does not even manufacture the drink it is famous for, rather it markets the beverage and owns/sponsors sports teams. Confusing, right?
At first, it made no sense that an energy drink company would get as deep into owning multiple sports teams as Red Bull has, until it is understood that it, in fact, is not an energy drink company. It is an energy drink marketing company that sponsors a multitude of athletes and sporting events that just so happens to own the rights to the branding of the mysteriously-flavored beverage.
In 1987, Red Bull began marketing its drink as a premium beverage at ski resorts, targeting young people with a beverage that “gives you wings,” per its ad slogan. This started the snowball effect of pouring money into sports sponsorships, eventually leading up to the brand’s entrance into F1.
In 1995, Red Bull made its first move into the sport by sponsoring the Swiss motorsports team, Sauber. This lasted until 2004, when the company purchased the Jaguar F1 team from Ford for a whopping $1, with a commitment to invest $400 million into the team over three seasons.
After the team’s first full season in 2005, it was ranked sixth for most points of the season in the Constructors’ Championship, garnering more points than Jaguar had in its previous two years in the sport.
Red Bull hired former McLaren driver, David Coulthard to lead the effort and brought in a pair of drivers later in the season to pilot the team’s second car: Ex-Jaguar driver Christian Klien and Formula 3000 driver Vitantonio Liuzzi. Red Bull got Scott Speed to drive in both the Canadian and United States Grand Prix races in its debut season, adding Speed to the list of the first batch of drivers for the new team.
In 2006, F1 required all competing teams to utilize a 2.4 liter V-8 engine, which led Red Bull to purchase customer racing engines from Ferrari. The team placed third at the Monaco Grand Prix, earning its only podium finish for that season.
From 2008-2010, the team continued to prove its competitive worth in the Constructors’ Championship by placing seventh in 2008 and moving all the way up to second in 2009, when Sebastain Vettel joined the team. Vettel was able to give the team its first pole position and victory in China.
Finally, in 2010, Red Bull placed first in the championship after earning pole positions at six consecutive races and garnering nine victories.
Renault bestowed upon Red Bull the full-works partnership status for the 2011-2015 seasons, during which all teams faced another powertrain change. The marketing company’s team was starting to look unstoppable.
Red Bull used Renault-built engines from 2009-2018 and then signed a two-year deal with Honda which spanned the 2019-2021 seasons. Honda officially ended its participation in the sport after the 2021 season, resulting in Red Bull creating a corporation titled Red Bull Powertrains that purchased Honda’s engine facility, signing them for another three years. These powertrains were labeled as RBPT and are still used today.
The Webber-Vettel tag team lasted from 2007 until 2013, coming to an end when Webber moved to the FIA World Endurance Championship. Daniel Ricciardo joined Vettel and the reign of Red Bull grew stronger. Vettel joined Ferrari at the end of 2014 and was replaced by Daniil Kvyat, who was swapped for Max Verstappen only four races into the 2016 season. Ricciardo left for Renault at the end of 2018, making way for Pierre Gasly until he was dropped, passing the job to Alexander Albon. Albon was demoted to reserve driver at the end of 2020 and the team brought in veteran championship driver, Sergio Perez.
Today, Red Bull is currently placed first in the Constructors’ Championship and as of writing this, 42 points ahead of McLaren Mercedes. The company took a sponsorship as far as it could go, resulting in the ownership of a dying F1 team. All the company does is market a product.
As such, it throws as much money as it can at all the athletes and sports in its portfolio. Red Bull are masters of moving the pieces around the chessboard without actually owning any of them, the pieces merely covered in Red Bull logos.