SPONSOR INSIGHTS
Partnership Reports
F1’s Latest Deals Signal a Banner Year for the Red-Hot Sport
As Formula 1 fever continues to run rampant around the world, the sport is racing full-throttle into the 2023 season with the announcement of three new elite partnerships.
Just this week (2/28), F1 unveiled a 15-year strategic partnership with London football team Tottenham Hotspur that will bring a brand-new motorsport experience to London: the construction of the world’s first in-stadium electric karting facility and the city’s longest indoor track, slated to open below the cutting-edge Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in Fall ‘23.
The partnership ushers yet another top-tier global sport brand to the stadium, which uniquely plays host to the Premier League, the NFL, F1, concerts, rugby, and boxing. The deal could be a game-changer, raising the possibility that other European football teams will open their stadiums to additional sports and activities in the future.
This news comes hot on the heels of F1’s February 22nd announcement that Qatar Airways will become the sport’s new Global Airline Partner, and will sponsor three Grand Prix this year in Qatar, Italy, and Hungary. The deal includes trackside and digital branding that will be showcased to the global F1 audience. Formula 1’s partnership with Emirates last season included assets like fixed groundscape, archway, TV visible signage and more; whether the Qatar deal will feature similar activations remains to be seen.
F1 also announced a three-year partnership with United Nations children’s charity UNICEF on February 10th. The single-seater world championship will support UNICEF’s education initiatives, as well as its humanitarian responses to disasters and emergencies.
A look back at the 2022 F1 Season:
This triumvirate of buzzy news may foretell an even bigger year for F1 in 2023 than 2022, which saw more than 420 brands buying sponsorships and media with the high-octane fan favorite.
Storied Italian brand Pirelli Tire led the pack last season with the most F1 sponsorship deals, partnering with the sport and its 10 teams. PUMA, Alpinestars, Red Bull and Siemens tied for second place with a total of 3 deals each, while Honda, Riedel, Sabelt, AlphaTauri, and Mercedes-AMG round out the top 10 list with 2 sponsorships apiece. The most common assets bundled into deals included property entitlements, digital content, brand exposure, social posts and property products/services.
F1 teams had a branded post with 270 brands to 3.9K unique posts on social media, generating 112M total engagements–averaging 418K engagements per deal and 29K per post. Mercedes-AMG Petronas ranked first in engagement with 55M–49% of the ten teams’ total engagement combined.
Formula 1 itself counted more than 50 sponsor deals. As for teams, McLaren took the top spot for most partnerships, inking more than 60 deals last season with brands including OKX, Dell Technologies, and Google (Alphabet). BWT Alpine and Alfa Romeo Stake tied for second place with 47 sponsorships each–edging out third-place Oracle Red Bull Racing by only one deal.
Daniel Ricciardo scored pole position in drivers’ deals with 14 sponsorships, partnering with brands like GoPro, Optus, and Beats by Dre. Sergio “Checo” Perez earned the second spot with 11 sponsor deals, and seven-time F1 World Champion, Sir Lewis Hamilton–the most followed driver across all social media, with a combined following of 45.3M–took third place with 10 endorsements.