F1 News: Red Bull Parts Ways With Two Major Sponsors Ahead Of 2023
Red Bull have taken sportswear manufacturer Puma and software company Citrix off of their sponsorship list.
The team signed a long-term deal with Puma back in 2015 to come into effect from 1st January 2016 and have had the company as a sponsor, as well as producing the team clothing, since.
Replacing Puma to make the team clothing is British brand Castore, who are also clothing sponsors of McLaren.
Decal Spotters have shared the news to Twitter, writing:
"#SponsorWatch: Reigning World Champions @redbullracing have removed long-time partners Citrix and Puma from their list of partners. Additionally, their new Team Kit supplier, Castore, has been added."
The replacement of Puma with Castore has been met with some backlash on Twitter. One user responded to the news writing:
"They are terrible. Twitter is full of McLaren F1 fans complaining about their merch from last year made by Castore"
Another user defended the clothing, responding:
"I have quite a few McLaren-Castore stuff, and all of its actually quite good quality. No issues so far, had most of the stuff 6 months+"
One Twitter user commented on the team parting ways with Citrix. They commented:
"Vista Equity Partners and Evergreen Coast Capital acquired Citrix Systems to merge it with TIBCO Software, this may kill off the Citrix name/brand and obs their focus may have shifted…"
The removal of Puma and Citrix can be seen on Red Bull Racing's website and so confirms that their branding will not be on the upcoming 2023 car, the RB19.
This comes after Mercedes lost their cryptocurrency sponsor, FTX, after the company filed for bankruptcy. AlphaTauri have also just announced that they have parted ways with sponsors Fantom and ICM.com.