This week you will read about the anatomy of a motorsport sponsorship deal that details why the sponsor got involved and what they get out of it. I also have news about a possible return of Toyota to F1, the differences between owning an F1 and Indycar team and the latest motorsport sponsorship deals and partnerships. It’s all in this week’s edition of the Business of Motorsport Roundup on Motorsport Prospects.
Motorsport Industry News
Formula 1
Rumors have been building that Toyota could be coming back to Formula 1, initially in partnership with Haas as a sponsor. The rumors have accelerated after Toyota Gazoo General Manager in the motorsport engineer department, Masaya Kaji was spotted in the Haas garage during the British Grand Prix.
“According to Formula.hu, Toyota plans on sponsoring other teams next to Haas. By pursuing a technical partnership with the American team, the Japanse manufacturer also hopes to return to F1. Given the possible partnership Toyota has in mind, it cannot be ruled out that they also consider to build their own engine in the near future. That is not the case at the moment, but F1 undoubtedly hopes for a big return of the Japanese manufacturer.”
Former Hass team principal feels its too late to save his F1 bid. “If I want to be invited to a party, I need to be nice. If I upset the bouncer, he doesn’t let me in.”
In Red hot Formula One a hotter ticket than ever, the Toronto Sun takes a look at the success of the Canadian Grand Prix and how the experience is more exciting than ever.
“The F1 fan base and viewership has grown exponentially over the past several years among Millennials and Gen Zs, our fastest-growing consumer cardmember cohort, which makes our involvement in the sport a natural fit for Amex,” said Shiz Suzuki, vice-president of global brand sponsorships for Amex.”
SportsPro has just published their Formula One 2024 Business Report. “Bringing together thousands of data points and analysis into one aggregated offering, SportsPro’s new Formula One 2024 Business Report contains over 80 pages of intelligence and insights; the breadth and depth of which simply doesn’t exist anywhere else in the industry.” More details here.
In the run up to the British Grand Prix, the Financial Times published a comprehensive and informative series of articles on the The Business of Formula One. They are well worth a read, especially if you are an FT subscriber.
Blinkfire Analytics looks at total social media engagement by Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes and McLaren in the first 6 months of 2024 as well as the top posts from the Austrian Grand Prix.
“Using Blinkfire’s Global Ranking, we have compared these four Formula 1 teams to see which has generated the most engagement during the first six months of 2024. Despite their superiority on the track, Red Bull does not dominate on social media; that territory is led by Ferrari, which has over 350 million interactions, 130 million more than the team leading the constructors’ and drivers’ championships.”
General Motorsport Industry News
Brad Hollinger, the co-owner of Juncos Hollinger Racing opens up to Autosport and compares his time as a shareholder with the Williams Formula 1 team before making a switch to the IndyCar Series.
“He wanted to get into IndyCar, I said, ‘Yeah, I’d love to as well’ coming from Formula 1. It’s meaningfully different. The racing, to me, is infinitely better. It’s fiercely competitive and close, but the atmosphere I love because, to me, it’s much more collegial, much more open, not so much this cloak-and-dagger shit that you have in Formula 1. Like, my God, you can’t take a picture; they hide everything. It’s like, ‘For God’s sake guys, it’s racing!’”
With the move to hybrids looking to be a success, Marshall Pruett at ESPN.com asks, will IndyCar’s new hybrids attract more manufacturers?
“Basically, every automaker is selling some type of electrified vehicle, so having electrified IndyCars certainly helps as IndyCar goes out and talks to other manufacturers and tries to entice them to come into the series. The electrified IndyCar lines up with electrified vehicles they’re selling. It helps position IndyCar as an even higher-tech, more advanced form of racing, and we think that it’s one that could very well help to bring other automakers in.”
In Formula E news, while the series has announced that their season ending race in London will be shown on free-to-air TV in the UK, their financials are improving. The series has generated revenue of €219.9m (£185.8m) for the year that ended on 30th September 2023, up 21.2% on the €181.4m (£153.3m) from the previous year. The championship also saw a reduction in losses from €64.9m (£54.8m) to €42.8m (£36.2m), according to the annual accounts of Formula E Operations, the operational body for the all-electric racing series.
As the financial picture for Formula E improves, James Gilboy of The Drive argues that, while Formula E isn’t perfect, it does some things better than Formula 1.
“Indycar also benefits from exiting the last corner on slicks, which Formula E doesn’t use. Instead, the tires on an FE car are hard, with low rolling resistance, while the chassis comparatively lack downforce. That makes FE machines more reliant on mechanical grip than most top-level race series, but less sensitive to being over-driven, and not as crippled by aero damage. I watched Pascal Wehrlein fight for the lead for more than half the race after losing his front wing—something you’d never see that in F1. In turn, that means dirty air is almost a non-factor, making passing attempts much easier. That also means more failed passing attempts, and more “racing incidents,” if you catch my drift. Again: $40 to sit at turn one.”
While Indycar hopes to attract new manufacturers after going hybrid, both the World Rally Championship and GTP/Hypercar are hoping for the same.
For the WRC, despite the potential of Hyundai leaving for a sportscar program, the series remains positive it can maintain and grow its manufacturer base. “I cannot say I have no doubt [all of our current brands will stay] because it’s not our decision but I’m confident that we will create such a good championship that it’s worth to be there,” Peter Thul WRC Promoter’s Senior Director of Sport told Autosport/Motorsport.com. “And on top of that, I also hope if we have good [2027] regulations done by the end of the year to get at least one more manufacturer going into 2027. This is our target.”
For GTP/Hypercar, the extendion of the rules a further 2 years opens the door for prospective manufacturers on the outside looking in. “Prior to the extension being announced, we were quickly reaching a point where it was becoming too difficult for any prospective entrants to justify giving a program the green light, as time was running out to develop a car in time for a multi-year effort. Now the clock has been reset, there is real potential for a new wave of manufacturers to come and play.”
For the second year in a row, the NASCAR street race in Chicago was blighted once again by rain with the delays to the race day schedule leaving some to wonder what the future of the race holds for 2025. “So even though there’s a contract, questions will remain on whether NASCAR disrupting life for a few weeks for a major sporting event and festival is worth it — for both NASCAR and the city.”
Quick Takes on the Business of Motorsport This Week
- The extraordinary story behind the Sean Creech Motorsport Canadian Flag livery (Sunday Group Management)
- The Details Behind Brad Pitt’s $300 Million Formula 1 Movie (Huddle Up)
- FIA Innovation Challenge 2024 Finalists announced (FIA)
- Inside the plan to put UK motorsport in the spotlight (Autosport)
- Friends of Laguna Seca receives $500,000 donation (Racer)
- Could Labour’s Housing Agenda Threaten UK Kart Circuits? (Alan Dove)
- How Sports Went From Private Equity Punchline to Coveted Asset Class (Front Office Sports)
- Enduring Race Pace: How IMSA delivers real-time GTP telemetry to the fans (Amazon)
The Numbers
- 164,000 were in attendance as Lewis Hamilton ended nearly three years without a victory on 7th July (BlackBook Motorsport)
- Last weekend saw the most-watched British Grand Prix ever as Formula One continues its viewership surge in the US. (BlackBook Motorsport)
Motorsport Law Roundup
A look at some of the legal and regulatory issues and analysis in Motorsport this week
Rowe Racing’s appeal against the result of the Nurburgring 24 Hour race has failed, ensuring Scherer Sport Phx drivers Christopher Mies, Dennis Marschall, Frank Stippler and Ricardo Feller remain victorious.
“In justification, the court, chaired by Rainer Wicke, stated orally that the race had been correctly ended with the black-and-white checkered flag,” a DMSB statement read. “Since the race director is fundamentally responsible for preventing harm to participants and other participants in the event and Walter Hornung is considered one of the leading motorsport experts in the field of safety, particularly on the Nurburgring Nordschleife, he was able to end the race after 50 laps within the scope of his authority.”
Article 22 of the DMSB circuit regulations states: “If the checkered flag is shown early, this point in time is decisive for the classification.”
Motorsport Sponsorship & Partnership News
Here are the latest motorsport sponsorship deals, partnerships and related analysis that were announced this week
- TCS’ Partnership With Jaguar Highlights Anatomy Of A Sponsorship Deal (Forbes)
- NASCAR inks licensing deal with Lululemon (Sports Business Journal)
- Tudor Joined Forces With a Formula 1 Team to Create a New Black Bay Ceramic Watch (Robb Report)
- Blåkläder joins NXT Gen Cup as Official Work Wear Partner (NXT Gen Cup)
- British F1 fans nearly twice as likely to be aware of sponsors compared to general population (BlackBook Motorsport)
- The days of Rolex are over: ‘Red Bull sponsor TAG Heuer makes deal with F1’ (GP Blog)
- ‘Twisters’ chases motorsports fans with pair of weekend activations (Sports Business Journal)
- Spec MX-5 and Toyo Tires: A Partnership Driven by Performance and Value (Spec MX-5)
- Nico Hülkenberg to Sport Hahnair Logo in Exciting New Partnership (Travel and Tour World)
Team & Manufacturer News
Here is a roundup of the latest team news from around the world of motorsport
- From plaid to papaya – Pfaff finding its way with McLaren (Racer)
- Pfaff Brings Back Red Plaid Livery For Home Race (Daily Sportscar)
- Ferrari’s F1 technical director Cardile departs to join Aston Martin (Autosport)
- Berro Departs Isotta Fraschini (Sportscar365)
- Pratt Miller Motorsports Announces New Partnership with Haas Automation (Pratt Miller)
- ROWE Affected by “Impossible” N24-24H Spa Double Header (Sportscar365)
- Why Alpine’s new F1 technical boss is confident it can bounce back (Autosport)
- Isotta doubling down on Hypercar program (Racer)
- With The “Two-Car Rule” On The Horizon, The Next Four Races Are Crucial For Isotta Fraschini (Daily Sportscar)
Motorsport Movers & Shakers
CFO and Co-Owner of the winningest team in Porsche history, Victoria Thomas, joins the Be Differential podcast this week. “It was a pleasure chatting with Victoria Thomas and diving deep into learning from failure, transitioning her career from accounting to motorsports with Kellymoss Inc and more. We’ll see you over on your favorite listening platform.” You can listen here.
The Guardian profiles David Richards OBE, chairman of Prodrive and chairman of Motorsport UK about his years of involvement in motorsport. “It has been some ride, as Richards observes after 40 years in the business. “I don’t think there is a single driver that I have worked with that I haven’t fallen out with at some point during our relationship,” he admits. “But years later they have always come back and been good friends.””
Author: Mark Boudreau
Mark is the publisher of Motorsport Prospects. As a lawyer, he applies his legal background and research skills to assist race drivers by showcasing the resources they need to make their motorsport careers happen.
