ton, FMCG brands like Heineken, Red Bull, KitKat and Barilla, tech companies like Microsoft and even online betting agencies (where allowed) are clamouring to be seen by the fast-growing fan base Formula 1 is attracting. Last year, 6.5 million fans attended a race in person, and Nielsen Sports calculates that 826.5 million people watched a Grand Prix on television last year, a staggering 90 million more than in 2023. Booking platform Viagogo reveals demand for GP tickets this year has increased by 20 per cent over 2024. For Barilla, at first glance an unusual partner for Formula 1, there is a personal connection with the sport. Paolo Barilla, now Barilla’s VP, drove for the Italian Minardi team (nowadays the Visa Cash App Racing Bulls) in 1989 and 1990, achieving a highest finish of 11th. He also won the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car race in 1985. His sponsorship marks a rare example of a driver returning to the sport as a commercial partner. Barilla’s contribution to the partnership includes pasta bars in the paddock (where teams and sponsors gather during race weekends) for VIP guests at races, as well as trackside signage, activations and consumer promotions. Why would a family pasta brand with a 200-year history synergise with a sport where drivers at the peak of physical fitness race wheel to wheel at speeds of up to 350kph? “It was a great period of my life,” Barilla said of his racing days at a presentation at the Bahrain Grand Prix. “I am happy to be back in this wonderful world of passion and technology with a different commitment now. “Formula 1 cars are very sophisticated, the performance is incredible…and then we see one spaghetti that is still the same [for] 200 years. What do they have in common, something that is changing continuously and something that is standing still? Well, behind the scenes (of both) there is an organisation trying to make a better system and a better product,” he said. “Formula 1 is all about speed, precision, and performance,” observed A’bidah Zaid Shirbeeni, a senior writer with Marketing-Interactive in Malaysia. “Pasta, on the other hand, is slow-cooked comfort. But in today’s marketing landscape, unexpected pairings are often the most powerful. Barilla is using the global stage of motorsport to reframe its brand around connection, culture and experience.” Formula 1 has a record 24 races around the world this year, with three in the US, where Barilla has factories, and two in Italy. A younger, more engaged fan base The growing brand interest in Formula 1 is being driven by rapid demographic change in the sport’s fan base. Much of this change has been driven by the television documentary series “Drive to Survive,” created by Netflix and Formula 1. Launched in 2019, the series offers a behind-the-scenes look at the characters involved in the sport, primarily focusing on the drivers and team principals. It introduced an entirely new fan base to the sport as people discovered the real-life drama, emotions and endurance experienced on and off the track. It lent personality to competitors traditionally viewed only in fireproof overalls and oversized crash helmets, which often obscured their characters and toned physiques. Instead of just seeing heads bobbing in the tight confines of a cockpit, viewers saw them laughing, crying, serious or swearing. They became relatable human beings, albeit with jet-setting, luxury lifestyles surrounded by celebrities. Nielsen Sport data shows Formula 1’s global fan base grew by 12 per cent last year. The lion’s share of those gains were from China (up 39 per cent), Canada (up 32 per cent), Argentina, Saudi Arabia and the US. That’s not coincidental: China’s Shanghai Grand Prix returned to the series in 2024 after a long absence caused by Covid-19; Argentine driver Franco Colapinto played a cameo role as a replacement driver in Williams, the first of his countrymen to take the wheel in 23 years; Saudi Arabia joined the F1 circus in 2021; and the US now has three races – Miami, Las Vegas and Texas – albeit no driver at present. Early indications from the 2025 season suggest fan passions are far from dimming. Five races into the season, an intense battle for the world championship driver’s crown has evolved, but even before that, the season-opening Australian Grand Prix drew a record attendance of more than 465,000 trackside spectators. The most prominent subplot within the demographics is the growth among female followers. In 2018, the year before “Drive to Survive” debuted, 37 per cent of followers were female, while last year that share had grown to 41 per cent. By age, 42 per cent of fans are under 35 years old, and the fastest-growing age group is females aged 16 to 24. In the US, the average age of a Formula 1 fan is lower than that of fans of the NFL or the NBA. The series’ burgeoning popularity in recent years reversed a decade-long decline, before the advent of “Drive to Survive”. As the owners of the Formula 1 rights and business sealed deals with pay-TV channels around the world, which have fewer viewers than free-to-air channels, the series gained momentum. Audiences fell to a low of 490 million, reports Formula Money, which has tracked sponsorship of the sport since 2004. With rapid growth and broadening demographics, it is unsurprising that marketing executives are taking a more serious look at Formula 1. There is a realisation that a sport once controlled and dominated by men – where women were relegated to roles posing for photographs in skimpy branded uniforms or swimsuits, spruiking cigarettes or holding umbrellas over drivers to shade them from the sun – has entered a new era. So-called ‘grid girls’ were barred from pre-start celebrations in 2018, and tobacco advertising was banned back in 2006. In 2018, the most prominent brands with trackside sponsorship during the season were tyre brand Pirelli, logistics giant DHL and Amazon Web Services (AWS). Logos of fuel companies, vape brands that circumvented tobacco advertising restrictions and banks were commonly seen on cars. At the same time, airlines were frequent title sponsors of specific races – Singapore Airlines, Gulf Air and Etihad were among the brands. In 2021, teams drew sponsorship of $931 million in total, with Formula 1 commanding a further $342 million. As the impact of Covid-19 has worn off, those figures have skyrocketed, with teams estimated to bring in $2.12 billion this year and F1 $798 million – $2.9 billion in total. Ampere Analysis says it represents 10 per cent year-on-year growth in 2024. The 10 competing teams account for 72 per cent of sponsorship funds, with trackside sponsors and Formula 1 partners taking the balance. “F1 teams have capitalised on the series’ growing attention in recent seasons, adopting varied sponsorship strategies,” said Adam Lewis, analyst at Ampere Analysis. “McLaren Racing has pursued a high-volume approach, securing numerous sponsorships across several product categories, while Red Bull has focused on fewer deals with wide-ranging activity. “Following a season of heightened on-track competition, and an off-season of incredibly lucrative sponsorship deals and expanded brand collaborations, we expect another successful year for the series,” he concluded.  A $1 billion luxury commitment Undoubtedly, the highest- profile deal in 2025 was the $1 billion, 10-year contract with Louis Vuitton. Three of LVMH’s luxury brands are taking their places in the running of events in a 10-year deal coinciding with Formula 1’s 75th anniversary, announced last October. At the time of the announcement, the French luxury icon said it was drawn to the sport’s “incredible ongoing popularity, cultural relevance and overall excitement” as a “bridge between global sport and entertainment.” LVMH sees the affiliation as an intersection of LVMH Group’s values of creativity and excellence, with Formula 1’s innovation and high performance. The company stated: “The partnership will bring together the best of these two worlds and provide unparalleled experiences combining thrilling sport and elegant art de vivre, wheel-to-wheel racing and time-tested craftsmanship, for enthusiasts, fans and clients.” “In recent years, Formula 1 has truly become one of the most desirable sports in the world,” said Frederic Arnault, while he was CEO of LVMH’s watches division. “It’s a vibrant discipline that echoes a number of values that are very important to us, such as innovation, team spirit and performance. For many years, several of our Maisons have also chosen to invest in Formula 1, whether to create unique experiences or for moments of celebration. We want to further grow this experiential dimension that Formula 1 provides all over the world. We are only at the very beginning of this partnership, but the seasons that await us promise to be extraordinary.” At tracks, the new sponsorship is highly prominent. Tag Heuer replaced Rolex as ‘official timekeeper’, with millions of television viewers watching the race start time tick to the hour on an oversized Tag Heuer watch face. Later, champagne brand Moët Hennessy is sprayed by the victors on the podium in traditional post-race celebrations. While each host circuit creates trophies for winning drivers and teams, those trophies are now displayed pre-race in elegant Louis Vuitton cases, a throwback to the traveling trunks on which the French brand initially rose to fame before its handbags became a symbol of affluence. The Louis Vuitton brand itself adorns prominent billboards at tracks, with a sort of windswept effect added to the brand’s traditional capitalised font, presumably suggesting speed. The race to build a return The business and brand of Formula 1 is owned by Liberty Media, a US investment firm that bought the entity for $4.6 billion in 2017. Liberty appointed former News Corporation heavyweight Chase Carey as CEO, who almost immediately set out to pursue sponsorship as a key revenue driver. In an interview with CNBC at the time, Carey said there were many business categories into which Formula 1 was not selling. “Putting an organisation in place that enables us to execute on that probably is the most immediate impact.” Initially, that focus drew few results, a situation that worsened with the advent of Covid-19, which led to races being cancelled or held at tracks without spectators. Before leaving the role in 2021, Carey expressed in an interview some pessimism about the sport’s long-term sponsorship potential: “The challenge in the sponsorship world is probably tougher than it was a few years ago. For anybody who is not Google or Facebook, the broader advertising world is more challenging…than we would have expected it to be a couple of years ago.” Then came the “Drive to Survive” effect, the growing fan base and suddenly marketers were knocking on Liberty’s door seeking opportunities to align their brands with the fastest sport on Earth. New sponsors underline the sport’s international appeal Not many companies can afford to commit to $1 billion, long-term sponsorship deals like LVMH, but there are more affordable ways brands are forging links with the sport, albeit outside the official Formula 1 organisation. Some have established partnerships with brands, while others have partnerships with drivers. McLaren, the 2024 championship winners and a popular favourite for the 2025 manufacturers’ title, has deals with upmarket luggage label Tumi and headphone brand Bowers & Wilkins, capitalising on the obvious links between the products and the sport (travel, ear protection and team communications). It also has a three-year partnership with Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey, with a co-branded bottle. BlackBook Motorsport website reports that technology and financial service brands account for 20 per cent of all new Formula 1 sponsorship deals this year, and US brands account for 34 per cent of this season’s contracts. Unlike several decades ago, when Formula 1 sponsorship was dominated by multinational US and European brands – typically from the oil or tobacco industries, with the notable exception of Italian fashion label Benetton – leading sponsors today come from around the world. Australian project management software company Atlassian, whose primary product brands include Trello and Jira, spends $35 million annually backing the resurgent private-equity owned Williams team. Fellow Australian company Stake, which operates online gambling sites banned in many countries, including its home market, sponsors the Sauber team in its final year before it morphs into an Audi team (almost certainly without a betting agency as its title sponsor). Malaysian petroleum company Petronas has been a naming rights sponsor of the Mercedes team since 2010. State-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Company Aramco is the title sponsor of the Aston Martin team. At the same time, online payments service MoneyGram and motorsport technology supplier Toyota Gazoo are the principal backers of the US Haas team. Ferrari, once backed by Philip Morris International to promote smoke-free products, now boasts a plethora of sponsors, including tech giants HP and IBM, oil company Shell, sportswear label Puma and luxury watchmaker Richard Mille. Tapping the marketability of drivers Arguably, the most famous driver personality on the current Formula 1 grid is seven-time World Drivers’ Championship winner Lewis Hamilton. For 12 years, while he drove for the Mercedes Formula 1 team, Hamilton was a global ambassador for fashion label Tommy Hilfiger. This deal also included his involvement in designing apparel. That deal ended at the end of last season, coinciding with Hamilton’s move to the rival Ferrari team and a new partnership, this time with Canadian activewear brand Lululemon. Lululemon, broadly perceived as targeting women, has its roots in yoga and exercise wear. Hamilton no doubt has appeal to the brand’s traditional customer base, while also raising its profile among men, with whom the brand has struggled to resonate, despite its growing menswear range. When the partnership was announced in February, Lululemon touted the marriage of Hamilton’s elite training, recovery and lifestyle needs with “best-in-class product” and said he would collaborate on future design innovation and global advocacy work. Lululemon sees in Hamilton something of a style icon. His off-track fashion choices are often bold and controversial. He is also renowned for his advocacy on issues impacting minorities, including efforts to encourage more women and people of colour into the traditionally white, male-dominated sport. “His relentless commitment to performance, wellbeing and impact aligns completely with what we stand for at Lululemon,” said Nikki Neuburger, Lululemon’s chief brand and product activation officer. “We’re excited to partner with him to innovate, inspire, and create positive change together.” “We want to inspire our communities to be the best versions of themselves,” Hamilton added. Evaluating the impact In motor racing lore, referencing saloon car championships and rallying, where competing cars bear a much closer resemblance to vehicles consumers can buy from a showroom, a popular phrase of the 1980s was ‘Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.’ Quite simply, motor vehicle manufacturers like Toyota, Ford or Subaru invest in motorsport series for the direct impact on their brand reputation.  But Formula 1 is different. Brands align with the sport for its prestige, excitement, cutting-edge technology, speed, exclusivity, privilege and, increasingly – thanks to “Drive to Survive” – its personalities. In the words of Frederic Arnault’s father, Bernard, CEO and chair of LVMH: “In motorsport, as in fashion, watchmaking or wines and spirits, every detail counts on the path to success. “Both in our workshops and on circuits around the world, it is this incessant search to break boundaries that inspires our vision, and this is the meaning that we want to bring to this great and unique partnership between Formula 1 and our group.” This story first appeared in the May 2025 issue of Inside Retail Asia magazine.