Ferrari F1 cars feature blue from the HP sponsor logo (Image: Getty)
Ferrari have been slammed by the marketing chief of a rival Formula 1 team who thinks the famous red team have ruined their on-track look for a sponsorship deal. Despite not having enjoyed much tangible success in recent years, Ferrari remain the most recognisable team in motorsport and are hugely marketable as a result.
Their multi-year title partnership with technology firm HP, announced in April 2024 which saw the team officially renamed to Scuderia Ferrari HP, is believed to be a particularly lucrative deal. HP also supply premium technology products to the team as part of the agreement, meaning there is a potential performance boost to be found too.
But, according to Antoine Le Nel, chief marketing officer at fintech company Revolut, which has signed on to be the new title sponsor of the Audi F1 team, Ferrari’s HP deal comes with significant downside. He pointed at the two companies as being a mismatch due to their chosen colour palettes alone, as he explained why Revolut felt partnering with Audi was an ideal fit.
“Audi became the favourite choice very quickly. The alignment happened super-quickly,” he told Business of Sport. “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. The brand identity is very important. [At] Revolut, we are very committed to design, we’re very committed to the user experience and so on, and it needs to fit with it. 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.
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“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 have 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. When I look at the Audi and Revolut brand identity, it felt very natural. So that’s the first element.”
Fintech company Revolut has partnered with Audi (Image: Audi F1 Team)
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While clearly the look is not for everyone, the blue-and-white HP logo will continue to feature prominently on Ferrari’s cars this year. The team is still called Scuderia Ferrari HP, as per the official entry list for the 2026 season, which will be the third campaign of the partnership.
The team has even run with multiple special liveries celebrating the partnership which have seen even more blue paint splashed onto their red car. Ferrari ran with blue front wings at the 2024 Miami Grand Prix, the first race after the sponsorship was announced, while more white and blue featured on the design that was run at the 2025 Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari’s home race at Monza, last September.