Formula 1 is a top-tier motorsport competition attracting massive TV and live audiences globally. As a result, some of the top sponsorship deals in F1 are truly enormous endorsements. For example, Petronas invested $735 million in the Mercedes F1 team, Philip Morris International $625, and Santander $514 million.
The F1 has many banner positions, and what we usually see is sponsorship brands plastered over those spots. There are tiers to the stickers. The highest-ranked sponsors invest up to 60 million annually.
New Time and Weird Sponsors
These are all expected companies, riding along with the octane circus for decades. Recently we saw the first igaming sponsorships for F1 Asia that hold a couple of races. The primary sponsor is a company that deals with online betting sports. As such, it fueled Asian races, while before this deal, F1 owners agreed with another betting company for $100 million. Former boss Bernie Eccleston didn’t approve igaming sponsors. However, he had not against the tobacco industry.
In the dance of F1 millions, there were some weird sponsorship deals throughout history, primarily for teams that are not in the spotlight.
When the Rubber Shocked the World
Did you know the BBC refused to broadcast the 1976 F1 race because of the Brand Hatch Race team? The sport had the superstars in Niki Lauda and James Hunt, which guaranteed top TV ratings. However, former World Champion John Surtees, who was in charge of Brand Hatch, dealt with Durex. The British condom manufacturer adds were all over cars, and for BBC, their logo was unacceptable.
Women on F1 cars
Durex bothered TV bosses in the 70s, but they had nothing against Penthouse Magazine. The magazine sponsored F1 teams from 1975 till 1981. They first painted Hesketh Racing team cars with pictures of women, moving to the Arrows team after Hesketh competed in 1978.
Princess Came 16 Years After the Models
In the 1997 F1 championship, Tyrell was at the bottom of team rankings struggling to get sponsorships. Channel 5 started airing that year in the UK, and they backed up the Tyrell Racing team, which led to Xena’s imagery: Warrior Princess on the F1 cars. Xena was one of the TV shows produced for the launch of the new channel.
A Sad Pop Song
Slim Borgudd has a resume that makes him almost a renaissance man from jazz drummer to a Swedish pop supergroup Abba to F1 driver. His long racing career hit a pinnacle in 1981 when he joined the ATS team, and he put Abba stickers on the car to attract other sponsors. He did have a sixth place in British Grand Prix, but his F1 career was short and without much success, like a sad ballad from his occasional pop song career.
I’m a Nigerian Prince – Could You Send Me Money?
Like a bad joke from a computer dummy, F1 team Arrows accepted Nigerian Prince Malik Ado Ibrahim. His brand T-minus was on the Arrows car throughout the year, hoping he could spur interest in the brand and get money through selling various merchandise. But, unfortunately, this plan failed, and no one from the global corporate side purchased the right on the name.
The costs of running an F1 team are enormous. While crews on the top of the rankings have excessive money, development and business model, others occasionally wandered off to some unique and weird sponsors to keep racing in the top-tier motorsport event.
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