Formula One used to race across the muddy fields of Europe until a certain Bernie Ecclestone grabbed the reigns to the commercial rights to the sport. As the teams began to realise the opportunity of advertising ne particular industry dominated the liveries of the cars – that of the tobacco industry which dominated F1 for decades.
Finally in 2006 F1 officially banned tobacco advertising, its decision being heavily influenced increasing pressure from the European Union which had set a deadline for sport taking place within its jurisdiction to be free from tobacco advertising.
Teams played with clever reworks of the name of the tobacco company and used their liveries to reflect the colours of their sponsor but the FIA stamped this out and a new business model was required for the sport.
F1 leave tobacco ads behind
The focus was to shift away from the ‘unhealthy’ products towards sectors such as technology, automotive, finance and consumer goods. Iconic brands such as Vodafone, Petronas and Red Bull emerged as key partners, bringing new branding and financial resources to the teams.
F1 hoped the change would lead to broader appeal, a more diverse audience aligning the sport with contemporary health values and standards. Today there is no single industry which dominates F1 team sponsorship lii tobacco did, but there remain certain sectors which are of concern in some countries.
Crypto is one of those but since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the interest has been diminish from this sector. Gambling too is the new tobacco. A number of countries restrict gambling adverts and insist on huge footnote explanations to be read at the end of the advert.
This weekend F1 travels to the Netherlands whose gambling laws insist a company must be properly registered to market its wares in the countries jurisdiction. The Stake Sauber team now face a problem given their title sponsor ‘Stake’ is a gambling organisation not registered in the country.
Stake logo banned in Zandvoort
The team must remove all references to Stake for the weekend and will probably replace their current logos with that of their other main sponsor ‘Kick’.
Of course sport and gambling are intertwined in a way that tobacco only could match the synergy by playing the ‘its cool to smoke card – F1 drivers do it.’ Devil may care 1980’s driver Keke Rosberg was regularly pictured smoking either cigarettes or a huge cigar. One iconic moment had the Finn depicted stripped to his waist in the Dallas heat lighting a new cigarette from his old one.
The diversity of F1 sponsors and partners is at an all time high in the history of the sport. While Sauber for this weekend will have to bite the bullet with Stake, it will be something that was known when the two year sponsor deal was arranged.
Gambling partnerships have grown in recent times with McLaren sporting Party Poker and Party Casinos logos in 2021, who were at the time the market leaders in online betting.
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F1 gambling Grand Prix sponsor in pipeline
On of the earlier online gambling partnerships was with the newly formed Virgin F1 team in 2010. Their initial campaign saw them sponsored by one of the biggest only poker companies at the time, Full tilt Poker, although Virgin came last that season and the sponsorship was not renewed for 2011. The Virgin team disappeared after just two years in F1.
For a sponsor to appear on the legendary Maranello Red of the Ferrari team is most certainly a big deal. Having your brand on the most recognisable cars in the sport is a sure way to get your brand noticed by millions of fans. VGW is the parent company of Global Poker and signed a multi-year deal in 2023 to have their branding all over the car and team uniform.
Yet as with tobacco, online gambling is considered to have serious addictive effects and a number of countries are considering banning its advertising outright.
Formula 1 races have undergone a significant transformation, evolving from mere place names to commercial entities. They are now known by their sponsor names, such as the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2024 or the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix 2024. Given this trend, it seems inevitable that an offshore sports book will secure one of these race sponsorship deals in the near future.
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FIA to review online sports books
Yet the FIA has indicated it may review the role of gambling advertising in Formula One, just as they did with the tobacco companies before them. This time though the pain for the teams would be much smaller on the whole, given the growth in demand to be an F1 partner has sky rocketed since Liberty media acquired the commercial rights to the sport in 2017.
Williams announced before the summer break that is partner roster was now complete and they were looking to add greater values to their sponsors rather than fill up the livery with just name after name.
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Williams have a full sponsor roster
Unlike marketeer Zak Brown, who is cramming a sponsor onto every inch of the McLaren cars, Williams have a different business model as explained by commercial director James Bower. “I joined the team in 2021, and when I joined there were actually quite a lot of partners,”
“We’ve created a new partner community, but it isn’t about selling scarcity; it’s about saying that the number of partners we will have over a five-year plan will be between this number and this number.”
Williams can now spend up to the cost cap revealed Bower and James Vowles fought for them to be allowed to play catch in terms of capital expenditure giving the Grve based team an estimated extra $20m spend over its bigger rivals.
Since Liberty bought Formula One, the number of corporate American partners has more than doubled across the sport as a whole, so were online gaming companies to be banned, their places would be quickly take by others keen for the global exposure F1 brings.
Repercussions as Horner affair not over
During the summer break, the Formula One media reported en masse a rule change the FIA were bringing in to take effect in Zandvoort. Given mid-season rule changes are not the norm, this raised eyebrows across the paddock in wonder at which team this was targeted towards.
Asymmetric braking was clearly illegal under the rules prior to the FIA’s tweak, this is something used in Indycar on ovals to help the car turn in better. Article 11.1.2 of Formula 1’s technical regulations read: “The brake system must be designed so that within each circuit, the forces applied to the brake pads are the same magnitude and act as opposing pairs on a given brake disc.”
So across each axle the pressure from the left and right brakes on the wheels must be exactly the same. Now the FIA have tagged on the following: “Any system or mechanism which can produce systematically or intentionally, asymmetric braking torques for a given axle is forbidden.”… READ MORE
(L to R): Zak Brown (USA) McLaren Executive Director with Mohammed Bin Sulayem (UAE) FIA President.
04.09.2022. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 14, Dutch Grand Prix, Zandvoort, Netherlands, Race Day.
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