Red Bull owns two teams on the Formula 1 grid, with one historically feeding the other with a steady supply of highly rated young drivers.
However, since the death of the energy drinks company’s founder, Dietrich Mateschitz, there has been a repositioning of the brand and its interest in F1.
While that had seen Red Bull Racing continue largely unchanged, the second team has been forced to stand on its own two feet.
That prompted a move away from the AlphaTauri name it had been using to open up the possibility of taking on a title sponsor.
AlphaTauri is a Red Bull owned fashion brand, with the team’s new identity, RB, deliberately non-descript.
On top of the rebranding has been a change in mindset for the team, which is no longer solely charged with blooding young drivers ahead of a potential promotion to Red Bull Racing.
Results in their own right are now more important, as that brings with it prize money and a reduced reliance on Red Bull subsiding the Italian operation.
For Ricciardo, who was a junior at the squad when it was known as Toro Rosso, there is a discernible difference within the team.
“It does feel different,” he admitted.
“It’s easy to kind of rebrand it and say, we got a new look and this and that, but your actions have to follow.
“I think Laurent [Mekies], Peter [Bayer], Alan [Permane], a lot of other guys that have come in, have done that.
“It’s not that what was happening in the past with Franz [Tost] in that example wasn’t the right thing, but it’s just a change sometimes is good. You bring in new ideas.
“They’ve all spent time in other teams, organisations, and it’s just kind of a new way of looking at things.”
It’s not just personnel that has changed at RB, with investment in new facilities also changing the way the team works.
Alongside its Faenza factory, the squad has had a presence in Bicester in the United Kingdom.
However, that facility is set to be closed and its operations moved to a new location in Milton Keynes, a stone’s throw from Red Bull Racing.
That creates greater efficiencies but also reinforces the relationship between the two operations – something which is allowed under the regulations.
The change in mindset and culture within the organisation has also allowed Ricciardo – a veteran of more than 250 grands prix – to feel comfortable.
“Their intentions, and the way they go about it, has made people kind of stand up and say, ‘Alright, yeah, this isn’t, this isn’t a junior team anymore, we’re making big boy decisions and we’re taking risks, and we’re setting of targets, and high targets, and ones that we realistically think that we can obtain’,” Ricciardo said of the impact he’s seen.
“It’s cool. It’s cool to see it.
“I think as well, it would show… I’m probably too, in a way, honest in myself that, if it felt like a junior team still, I wouldn’t feel comfortable,” he added.
“I’m 35 now, so I think I would feel a bit out of place and I certainly don’t.
“I think that’s also a good way to probably comprehend it.”
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