What will Visa Cash App RB be called on TV? This commentator has an idea!
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- Ludo van Denderen
Television commentators will not have to get used to any new drivers on the Formula 1 grid in the coming weeks, as all 20 will start the season in the same place as they finished 2023. In terms of teams, some things have changed: Stake F1 Team and Visa Cash App RB are now active in Formula 1. An interesting question is: what will the commentators call these teams?
It is not uncommon for teams to have long official names crammed with sponsors. Oracle Red Bull Racing is popularly known as Red Bull. Everyone calls Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team simply Mercedes. But when the team's name consists entirely of sponsor names, that all becomes a bit trickier.
This is what Nelson Valkenburg suspects
"Stake, that will still go," Nelson Valkenburg, the voice of Formula 1 on Viaplay told GPblog. "I think we need a few races to get used to that. But Visa Cash App RB, well... It will be the RBs, I suspect. I think everyone will."
Valkenburg, who does commentary with colleague Melroy Heemskerk at the streaming service, continued: "And assume you're still saying AlphaTauri the first few times. That's really going to take time. But it [Visa Cash App RB] doesn't sound very good. That's one thing for sure."
Word jokes about Visa Cash App RB
On Viaplay's F1 editorial staff, AlphaTauri's new name has already given rise to some word jokes. Valkenburg tells one: "The big question is when (track) limits are reached for Visa, so they are at their limit," he laughed. To end with: "We'll see. The new name will take some getting used to!"