New Audi F1 title sponsor takes swipe at ‘not good’ Ferrari livery
Audi's F1 title sponsor has criticised a rival team's livery design.
The marketing boss of Audi’s new F1 title sponsor has criticised Ferrari’s livery design from last season.
The incorporation of Ferrari’s title sponsor HP on their 2025 F1 car divided opinion among fans when the SF-25 was revealed last year, with many claiming it spoiled the look of the car.
Antoine Le Nel, the chief marketing officer of Audi’s title sponsor Revolut, questioned the decision from Ferrari.
“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,” Le Nel told Business of Sport.
“While I’d say big kudos to Mastercard and McLaren, I think that is a great branding thing. [Google] Chrome as well, I think what they’ve done with the wheel and so on, so 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.”
Why Revolut picked Audi
Le Nel said Audi instantly appealed to Revolut.
“Audi became the favourite choice very quickly,” he explained. “The alignment happened super-quickly.
“First, from a brand perspective, if you look at the Audi brand, it’s premium, but relatable. Ferrari is very premium, Aston Martin is very premium, McLaren is very premium and so on, but can you actually relate to Ferrari?
“It’s very different. Audi, you can really access it – it’s an accessible luxury in many ways.”
Le Nel 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 [that] 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.
“Exactly like Revolut. We build everything ourselves: we go from the ground and we build up and that’s exactly what Audi is doing.”
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