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Red Bull courting Hugo Boss for AlphaTauri title sponsorship deal

Red Bull is reportedly in talks with iconic fashion brand Hugo Boss for a title sponsorship deal with Scuderia AlphaTauri.

Earlier this year, Red Bull motorsport boss Helmut Marko revealed that AlphaTauri would undergo another name change for 2024.

At the end of the 2019 season, the Faenza-based outfit switched its identity from Scuderia Toro Rosso to AlphaTauri, the name of Red Bull's fashion line affiliate.

However, the brand hasn't encountered the success that was projected by Red Bull, with the F1 team doing little to impact the company's sales.

A report commissioned earlier this year by Oliver Mintzlaff - CEO of Red Bull's Corporate Projects and Investments - on the energy drink company's marketing investments allegedly shed a dim light on AlphaTauri and on the team's marketing value.

However, an outright sale of the team which was mulled at one point by Red Bull according to AlphaTauri outgoing team boss Franz Tost has since been dismissed.

But Mintzlaff subsequently ordered AlphaTauri to use as many synergies with Red Bull Racing as are allowed by F1's regulations, which means transferring more staff from Faenza to the team's UK base in Bicester which houses its aero department.

Furthermore, the squad will also undergo a management overhaul, with Tost retiring at the end of the season and replaced by former Ferrari racing director Laurent Mekies, with former FIA man Peter Bayer assuming the role of CEO.

While AlphaTauri's future identity is still not know, a report from Motorsport.com's Italian affiliate alleges that Red Bull is nearing a title sponsorship deal with Hugo Boss which first entered F1 in 1981 with McLaren.

The partnership, should it materialize, suggests that AlphaTauri could be renamed 'Boss', the brand appellation used by the German fashion house for its current F1 commercial partnership with Aston Martin.

"We are discussing with several companies who are very interested in working with us in the future but at this time there is no information to be released," Bayer told Motorsport.com.

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Michael Delaney

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