Red Bull-TAG Heuer: F1 Sponsorship in 2016

Calibre11 · Nov 17, 2015

Credit to @rage2 who noted here that TAG Heuer will move its F1 Sponsorship to Red Bull in 2016, ending the relationship with McLaren after 30 years.

JC Biver was asked here about moving TAG Heuer's sponsorship to Red Bull: "Oui, nous venons de signer Red Bull Racing en F1 pour la saison prochaine...."

"Yes, we have just signed Red Bull Racing in F1 for next season. It is a young, dynamic, go-getter, perfectly consistent with the TAG Heuer strategy"

Sorry to see the end of the McLaren relationship, but I'm a big Ricciardo fan

AussieAlex · Nov 17, 2015

Very interesting. What does that mean for Ron Dennis? Does he still have an interest in TAG Heuer, or did that end when LVMH took over?

Calibre11 · Nov 17, 2015

AussieAlex
Very interesting. What does that mean for Ron Dennis? Does he still have an interest in TAG Heuer, or did that end when LVMH took over?

He sold his shares when TAG Heuer was floated in 1999

WernerBoeinck · Nov 17, 2015

D.C
He sold his shares when TAG Heuer was floated in 1999

A very interesting Tuesday. I would never have believed to see
a "divorce" between TAGHeuer and McLaren. I also didn't know
that Ron Dennis had sold his shares earlier. Nevertheless he
certainly will have said "Ouch" hearing of the TAGHeuer decision. A relationship lasting 30 years is a monument these days. I also understand that TAGHeuer did not want to see their logo in the cellar of formula 1 any longer. (Sorry)
A little curious the situation with Red Bull for 2016:
They have an engine for next year, but they "do not yet know" the name of the manufacturer. At least they now know the name of their watch manufacturer. Something to rely on.
Will they also have a TAG eingine in their cars?
Once upon a time......

Cheers
Werner

elbeik · Nov 17, 2015

I really wish Mercedes-Benz didn't go with IWC. I kind of miss those limited editions.
Not a fan at all of the IWC Ingenieur.

dsio · Nov 17, 2015

The new Renault engine Danny Ric was using last race, which Renault spent all year working on, 11 engine tokens to bring to track, and in rejection of Mario Illien's advice which Red Bull paid for, is apparently... 20hp less than the previous Renault. They developed it all year and made an engine worse than the one they already had, which was in turn worse than the 2014 engine. Really want Dan to get a WDC but I hope they're able to choose their own path next year, otherwise if they're stuck with Renault TAG Heuer could be watching this year with McLaren Honda all over again. Honda at least know whats wrong and intend to fix it, Renault seem to be completely inept.

rage2 · Nov 17, 2015

I've been a McLaren fan since forever, and it's sad to see my 2 favorite watch brands move on to enemy grounds. TAG Heuer to Red Bull, and Hublot to Ferrari. This sucks.

dsio · Nov 17, 2015

R rage2
I've been a McLaren fan since forever, and it's sad to see my 2 favorite watch brands move on to enemy grounds. TAG Heuer to Red Bull, and Hublot to Ferrari. This sucks.

Wonder if its possible that JCB doesn't like McLaren/Dennis too much, he'd have been the one making the Ferrari deal for Hublot as well.

rage2 · Nov 17, 2015

dsio
Wonder if its possible that JCB doesn't like McLaren/Dennis too much, he'd have been the one making the Ferrari deal for Hublot as well.

Hublot was never a McLaren sponsor. They sponsored F1, and my guess was that it's a lot cheaper to sponsor a team than the whole sport via Bernie.

dsio · Nov 17, 2015

R rage2
Hublot was never a McLaren sponsor. They sponsored F1, and my guess was that it's a lot cheaper to sponsor a team than the whole sport via Bernie.

No I meant he's been with McLaren's biggest competitor in the past in Ferrari

Calibre11 · Nov 17, 2015

dsio
Wonder if its possible that JCB doesn't like McLaren/Dennis too much, he'd have been the one making the Ferrari deal for Hublot as well.

No, I think it's a lot simpler than that. If you look at where JCB wants to position TAG Heuer, there is a better overlap with Red Bull than McLaren- even though there was a hell of a lot of value in the McLaren relationship given its longevity. The second factor will be that there have been some former Red Bull marketing managers join TAG Heuer recently who I'm sure bring perspectives on the power of Red Bull as a brand and how they generate engagement.

rage2 · Nov 18, 2015

Well let's hope Red Bull actually has an engine next year...

TP61 · Nov 19, 2015

End of an era 👎

Jacket in the pic is in the McLaren store end of season sale £120 down to £30

dsio · Dec 1, 2015

Seems to be more and more rumours floating around about the Red Bull rebadged engine possibly being called a TAG as the 80s Porsche turbo engine was:

https://joesaward.wordpress.com/2015/12/01/notebook-from-abu-dhabi/

If it all sorts itself out, Red Bull should soon announce a deal that will use Renault engines, badged as something different in 2016 and probably 2017. One rumour doing the rounds is that we might see a Red Bull-TAG. I don’t know if that one is true, but it is an interesting idea. The story presumably comes following the decision by TAG-Heuer to switch from McLaren to Red Bull. It sounds a little fanciful, as the TAG brand is not owned by the luxury firm LVMH, which has owned the TAG-Heuer brand since 1999, but rather by Techniques d’Avant Garde itself, which is primarily an aviation business. However TAG boss Mansour Ojjeh is in the process of selling his McLaren shares and so he might be convinced to do such an engine deal to highlight the change, and to underline the technological nature of the company – as the original TAG-badged Porsche deal did back in the 1980s when McLaren-TAG was so successful.

Bit of a co-incidence both TAG Heuer pulling out and switching to Red Bull after 30 years and former TH owner and current TAG owner Mansour Ojjeh also dumping his McLaren stock at the same time when Red Bull are in need of a new engine brand partner.

dsio · Dec 1, 2015

Also to quote Christian Horner:

"Our 2016 engine will be something very good, and I think Ron Dennis will not be happy." - Christian Horner

Now the only thing he wouldn't be happy with is a Honda, or possibly a Mercedes. A rebranded and modified Renault which it nearly certainly is would be perfectly acceptable in Ron's eyes as he feels the Honda will be far better next year once the ERS is fixed.

A TAG branded engine with TH and Mansour's TAG backing it would definitely bother Ron immensely.

Calibre11 · Dec 1, 2015

Would be an amazing deal, but Joe is right- "TAG" and "TAG Heuer" are two totally separate companies.

Let's see...

dsio · Dec 3, 2015

Just posted an hour ago... Swiss Engineering closing the gap to next season... With TAG Heuer branding and engineers in TAG Heuer white coats working on the exposed engine of the 2016 Red Bull

When asked if this is the new Red Bull engine deal, TAG Heuers official Twitter replied with "Stay tuned"

Looks like we're about to see Red Bull TAG Racing 😁 And yea Ron won't be happy

dsio · Dec 3, 2015

Even more entertainingly, RenaultSport F1's head Cyril Abiteboul, who Horner was openly taking the Mickey out of at the Abu Dhabi GP comments in reply to Red Bull's TAG Heuer engine photo:

Screen Shot 2015-12-03 at 10.05.36 PM.jpg

Only to be heckled by the fans for his crummy engine:

Screen Shot 2015-12-03 at 10.06.56 PM.jpg

Hubert · Dec 3, 2015

WernerBoeinck · Dec 3, 2015

dsio
Even more entertainingly, RenaultSport F1's head Cyril Abiteboul, who Horner was openly taking the Mickey out of at the Abu Dhabi GP comments in reply to Red Bull's TAG Heuer engine photo:

Only to be heckled by the fans for his crummy engine:

In the past there were complaints that the new generation engines are not loud enough. Will a "ticking engine be
accepted?

Red Bull-TAG Heuer: F1 Sponsorship in 2016

Calibre11

AussieAlex

Calibre11

WernerBoeinck

elbeik

dsio

rage2

dsio

rage2

dsio

Calibre11

rage2

TP61

dsio

dsio

Calibre11

dsio

dsio

Hubert

WernerBoeinck

Similar threads

2016 Red-Bull TAG Heuer F1 Thread