Formula One team Red Bull Racing has extended its sponsorship deal with US telecommunications firm AT&T into the 2014 season.
Red Bull said that AT&T, which has sponsored the team since 2012, will aid it in adapting to the sport’s significant change in regulations next season.
The change in the sport's rules requires teams to develop new cars that complement the smaller, more efficient, 1.6 litre turbo-charged V6 hybrid engine – a first for Formula One.
Christian Horner, team principal of Red Bull Racing, said: “The 2014 changes will cause a major ripple effect across our entire sport, radically transforming the car's design. AT&T is helping us meet these challenges by providing solutions that empower our engineers no matter where in the world they are working.”
AT&T said it will provide communications infrastructure two and half times faster than offered in the 2013 season.
It will allow close collaboration across Red Bull Racing's 500 plus workforce and critical partners in four key locations – the team’s headquarters in Milton Keynes, England; its engine manufacturer, Renault, based in Viry, France; the team's wind tunnel in Bedford, England; and the trackside team at any of the 20 race circuits around the world.
The deal was announced ahead of this weekend’s US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. Red Bull and its lead driver Sebastian Vettel enter the race having wrapped up their fourth consecutive drivers’ and constructors’ world titles at the Indian GP on October 27.