But Ford carried on supporting for years with no success. RB just are just in rally while they have Ogier wins.
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Actually they started with Loeb and they are also sponsoring a bunch of other drivers.
Any sponsor is in it for some kind of publicity or image, sponsoring a national driver or a winner or a particularly popular driver, no one just throws money away "for the love of the sport".
Garbage. You have a clearly very short memory of WRC.
Red Bull have been involved in WRC since they started as a company.
Carlos Sainz was one of their first ever athletes across all sports. Probably even before they were involved in F1 or any other motorsport. They have been constantly involved since.
http://www.locosdelmotor.com/en/2015...moya-en-el-98/
As for Ford, why would they get back involved as a 'full manufacturer' again, when M-Sport are doing it for them for peanuts?
I would say that Ford are getting away with what is probably the cheapest World Championship-level motorsport programme in the entire world.
One of the biggest/only non-manufacturer sponsors in the sport, yet they're "just in it for what they get out of it" (is sports sponsorship normally a charitable concern?) and "have no real love of rallying"... I wish most large corporations committed the same level/lack of interest to rallying as Red Bull have!
If the 2017 VW turns up in Red Bull and Qatar colours in Sweden, will Red Bull still be the bad guy...?
I don't actually mind it to be honest, if only because of the commitment Ford showed to the WRC from 2006 to 2012 when the WRC/sport badly needed their support. If they get a cheap Championship now on the back of the investment they made back then, good for them. At the end of the day, their exit was honourable and they never actually fully left, they're still supporting M-Sport to a lesser extent when they don't really need to at all.
Red Bull is probably just in to pay Ogier.
Red Bull have sponsored for a long time but always the top drivers who are dominant and who's success is virtually guaranteed.
They arent there for the poorer drivers/teams and do they do anything for grass-roots rallying ?
They are like a flat-track bully.
Plus I hear that their football teams are despised in all the leagues they are playing in.
https://www.theguardian.com/football...erman-football
Red Bull is not a sponsor like the others. I agree with Fast Eddie.
Involvement of Ford would be healthier for the sport.
Redbull tends to cancel any aspect of what is not good for his brand. It's a very aggressive promotion.
Just look at what they have done in football. They USED the team of strasbourg, its history and, without caring of the people and the citizens of the team, they empowered Lipsia destroying strasbourg team.
Rally is marketing tool but is also full of heritage, it's kind of noble sport. Don't expect Redbull to preserve it.
Instead of bashing RedBull and how they spend their money maybe we should be asking why others don't participate. In the end it comes down to how popular (or not) WRC is and how well it is sold. Usually promoters try to dumb it down instead of showing the core of what makes it cool.
As for RedBull I don't necessarily agree or like the way they approach things but it's their money and their strategy. The want to be the winners and are ruthless in pursuing that. Why doesn't another company come in and sponsor a private Ford team with some spectacular and charismatic drivers? That's another way you can have great marketing impact even if you don't have the champion team.
It's kind of similar to bashing Ogier for winning everything and making the last few years boring. It's not his fault the others were weak in comparison. It's also not RedBulls fault no one else is willing to fork up some cash.