The commercial partnerships with F1 teams that fly under the radar

One thing is for certain: Formula One Group’s new owners, Liberty Media Corporation, have helped to bring the razzamatazz back to F1 racing. With the addition of new sprint races, as well as new Grand Prix venues like the Las Vegas Strip, there is no doubt that the sport is more commercially viable than ever before.

With that in mind, it seems that corporations of all shapes and sizes from a plethora of industries are desperate to get their own slice of the action. Most F1 teams have headline commercial partners, but there are plenty more deals done with brands if you look beneath the surface. Below are four of the most recent partnerships with iconic F1 franchises.

Red Bull Racing

It’s fair to say that Red Bull Racing’s commercial tie-up with US tech giant Oracle is anything but unknown. Oracle’s $300 million, five-year partnership has seen them become the title sponsor of the Red Bull Racing team in Formula One.

Oracle Red Bull Racing has become the go-to team for brands to partner with, given its continued dominance at the front of the grid. For a second successive F1 season, the team has joined forces with online poker room PokerStars. The PokerStars platform is renowned for its online tournament series, as well as its weekly tournament schedule and sponsored live events. All of which have cemented it as one of the most recognisable poker brands across the globe. Their association has resulted in a string of behind-the-curtain experiences for F1 fans, with the PokerStars YouTube channel showcasing paddock footage, as well as running its ‘Red Spade Pass’ campaign, giving lucky entrants once-in-a-lifetime F1 race experiences.

Williams

Williams finds itself rooted at the foot of the F1 Constructors’ Championship with just a solitary point after the opening five races. However, it’s still an iconic F1 franchise that motorsports fans can relate to. That’s largely why Williams managed to seal a mutual partnership with Gulf Oil International that’s widely considered to be something of a coup by the team’s commercial division.

Gulf has previous with the world of F1, having partnered with heritage F1 team McLaren on two separate occasions. Mike Jones, CEO, Gulf, described the end of their most recent tie-up with McLaren as coming to a “natural end” in November 2022. However, it soon found a new home with Williams, sponsoring the team, its Driver Academy, and its Esports program, raising the Gulf profile to appeal to a younger demographic.

McLaren Racing

McLaren is the second oldest active team in the F1 World Championship. It also happens to be the second most successful active team behind the Italian giants of Ferrari. The McLaren F1 team has enjoyed some iconic drivers through the years. From Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna through to Mika Hakkinen and Lewis Hamilton, McLaren has won a dozen Drivers’ Championships between 1974 and the present day. Senna’s nephew recently drove the all-new McLaren Artura High-Performance Hybrid in Miami, celebrating the 21^st anniversary of his uncle’s last win at a US Grand Prix in Phoenix, Arizona.

The engineers and pit crew of the McLaren F1 team look the part in the 2023 season thanks to a new commercial partnership with LA-based footwear brand K-Swiss. With more than two generations of heritage in the footwear industry, K-Swiss set to work on developing unique “performance-based” footwear for the McLaren team this year. Loyal fans of the McLaren F1 team have also been able to get access to limited edition K-Swiss apparel.

Aston Martin

Lawrence Stroll’s Aston Martin were one of the most active F1 teams from a commercial perspective during the offseason. Although its title sponsorship and principal partner deals with Cognizant and Aramco are tied up in multi-year arrangements, there has been plenty of room for manoeuvre in other areas.

US-based investment bank Citi sealed a new commercial partnership with Aston Martin, with the bank’s branding displayed on the halos of both its racing cars. Eagle-eyed users with a keen eye for the commercial side of F1 will know that Citi have sponsored Aston Martin’s number-one driver, Fernando Alonso, for the last seven years. Citi were partnered with the veteran Spaniard even when he took a brief hiatus from F1 to enter the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500.

We should also mention the recent commercial deal between AlphaTauri and PKN Orlen, with the Polish oil refiner signing on the dotted line to become the principal partner of the Red Bull-owned team.