Red Bull Racing will complete the 2022 season with a nonfungible token (NFT) emblazoned on its vehicles, demonstrating the continued presence of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology enterprises in Formula 1.
Red Bull Racing dominated the F1 season, finishing first in the constructors’ standings, while Max Verstappen won the drivers’ championship for the second consecutive year. On November 20 in Abu Dhabi, the final race of the 2022 season, the team’s vehicles will feature an NFT for the first time in Formula One history.
In February 2022, Red Bull Racing signed a partnership with cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, one of a handful of cryptocurrency companies sponsoring Formula 1 teams. The logo of the exchange will appear beside Lei the Lightning Azuki, an NFT artwork and anime-inspired character from the Azuki collection.
The original Lei Azuki NFT is one of the collection’s 10,000 NFTs. At the time of writing, the #8494 is listed on OpenSea and is valued at about 9 Wrapped Ether (wETH), or $11,100.
Red Bull Racing’s Lei the Lightning Azuki will be a limited edition version of #8494 that will be minted on the Tezos blockchain and made available on Bybit’s NFT market.
Christian Horner, team principal of Red Bulls Racing, issued a statement highlighting the partnership’s continuous research of Web3 use cases in the sporting world.
“In many ways, it’s been an eye opener for us to the vast opportunities Web3 has to offer. This unique project is the perfect combination of creativity, innovation, and passion which matches our ethos on the track.”
Formula 1 has been a major proponent of the bitcoin industry. In June 2021, Crypto.com signed a significant sponsorship agreement as its official cryptocurrency and NFT partner. In the past two years, the fan token blockchain platform Chiliz has also teamed with a number of F1 teams.
In 2022, McLaren was the first team to implement a “livery takeover” with their primary sponsor OKX. Daniel Ricciardo granted Cointelegraph an exclusive interview regarding the partnership at Token2049 in Singapore in October 2022.
Formula 1 also submitted a series of trademark applications in October 2022, indicating that the organization intends to seize complete control of intellectual property in the broader cryptocurrency market.
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