Infiniti Goes F1 Racing!

The fierce looking race car seen above is the RB7--the Red Bull chassis that will compete in F1 this year, whenever it starts (first race in Bahrain has been cancelled).

The major change in the above vehicle between now and then will the the removal of the Renault logo and name and in its place to be found the Infiniti logo and name.

Infiniti, with a large push from Nissan/Renault head Carlos Ghosn, has paid for all of Red Bull Racing's engines for 2011 and 2012 and will also provide other technical support to the team and will in turn see the Infiniti marquee splashed across the world via F1.  Nissan/Renault is attempting to break into the Mercedes, BMW, etc. dominated world of high end vehicles in Europe where Infiniti has virtually no presence and this will bring the brand to the hottest spotlight in world motorsports.

Given all the cross-brand development and engineering between Renault and Nissan/Infiniti and likelihood that some Renault and even Mercedes engines will find their way into Infiniti branded vehicles in Europe, I have no problem with this rebadging.  Anything that helps the Nissan/Infiniti brand--especially in motorsports is bound to have my support.

I could never really get into a Renault effort as they don't make anything sold here in the US and despite their partial ownership of Nissan, it just wasn't something I could get behind either at Red Bull or the Renault factory team.  But now??  I'll be watching Speed Channel and following along with the F1 season to see if Infiniti can get Red Bull Racing to the championship for the second consecutive year.

Red Bull Racing receives large infusion of cash, engine support from Nissan/Infiniti for F1 season...