Audi F1 title sponsor issues criticism over Ferrari livery

Audi F1 title sponsor Revolut has criticised the livery design of Ferrari, which features a significant blue sticker belonging to its own title partner HP.

Ferrari and HP announced a title sponsorship deal almost two years ago, with the agreement spanning multiple seasons.

It prompted a noticeable livery change for the Italian squad as HP's blue logo against Ferrari's famous red livery.

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

“The brand identity is very important,” he said. “Revolut, 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.

“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.

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

Audi has taken over Sauber as it enters the sport for the first time, setting a goal of being a championship contender by 2030.

As Revolut sought to inject itself onto the F1 grid, Le Nel detailed that it naturally drifted to Audi as their values and wider goals aligned.

“The narrative is super-important,” he said. “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.

“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.”