As Carlos pointed out during live commenting earlier today, Red Bull Racing have taken on an almost Indycar-esque look this weekend, as they've deigned to run 7-Eleven branding on the rear end-plates of both of their cars.

In an uncharacteristic move the green and white logos have bumped the more traditional Red Bull Cola logos, leaving the recently introduced beverage with just the bargeboards as a promotional outlet. F1 Wolf also noted that RBR employed a similar marketing ploy during the race in Fuji last year, although you'd have done well to pick them out through the spray.

What is more unusual however, is seeing Toro Rosso carrying commercial sponsorship. They too are running with convenience store logo's on their end-plates, this time in the form of Lawson Station.

Lawson Station are in fact the second largest chain of convenience stores in Japan, behind only 7-Eleven. The two companies are competitors, and Red Bull are clearly playing a marketing blinder in this instance. The weather playing ball thus far is no doubt helping them too.

I do wonder if STR's debut into the grown up world of commercialisation has anything to do with Mateschitz's renewed interest in the sister team, and correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the first time Berger's boys have run any such bodywork sponsorship since their inception in '06?