Are you willing to sponsor?
Are you ready to explore the transformative power of athlete sponsorship for your brand? Click here to learn more about how sponsorship can help brands grow and thrive in the exciting world of motorsports.
Formula One: Haas announce Romain Grosjean as half of 2016 driver line-up
By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted September 28, 2015 | In Formula1, MotoGP, Sport News, Sport Sponsorship, Sports Marketing
By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted September 28, 2015 | In Formula1, MotoGP, Sport News, Sport Sponsorship, Sports Marketing
Formula One: Haas announce Romain Grosjean as half of 2016 driver line-up
2016 newcomers Haas F1 Team have announced that one of their drivers will be Romain Grosjean. The Frenchman was confirmed by the team today at their headquarters in North Carolina in the United States. The team have yet to announce who will drive their 2nd car, but candidates include Ferrari reserve driver Esteban Gutierrez and Manor driver Alexander Rossi.
“What Gene Haas and everyone at Haas F1 Team is building is impressive, and I’m very proud to be a part of it,” Grosjean said. “Formula One is incredibly competitive and the only way to succeed is by finding new ways of doing things.
“This is a new opportunity with a new team that is taking a very different approach to Formula One. I believe in their approach and they believe in me. While I am committed to giving my absolute best to my current team in these last five races, I am very excited for what the future holds at Haas F1 Team.”
Grosjean started his Formula One career with Renault back in 2009, replacing Nelson Piquet Jr after his fallout with the team during ‘Crashgate’ in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. He was replaced for the next few seasons, before returning to the team, now called Lotus, in 2012 as the reigning champion of GP2.
Since 2009, Grosjean has competed in 78 Grand Prix, with an impressive 10 podiums coming from those races. His best run of form was in the latter half of the 2013 season, when he became Sebastian Vettel main challenger in the last few rounds of the year.
“We were looking for an experienced driver and Romain was one of several candidates,” said team founder Gene Haas. “He’s been in Formula One for many years, he’s been an excellent driver for team Lotus.”
“I reviewed a lot of video of his driving styles. One thing that was very impressive is the fact that he’s scored points almost every season and that’s really our primary goal here is to be able to score points. So I think as a piece of the puzzle he’s going to have a lot of work to do, he’s going to be our lead driver, we’re going to depend heavily on him to help us with our strategies with the car, with the race tracks and just the learning of the whole operations of an F1 team.”
Gene Haas also commented later in the press conference that he had learned lessons on how to enter a championship when he entered NASCAR a few years ago.
“The main ingredient is just stubbornness, not giving up and just keeping your head pointed forward and just taking your licks as you go,” said Haas, “NASCAR was certainly difficult, we spent five or six years in NASCAR and we were always in the back and it was a pretty grueling, tough experience. I can sympathize with a lot of the guys that run at the back, just how hard that is.
“It takes the right people to make things happen, the same thing with Formula One.”
Emanuele Venturoli
A graduate in Public, Social and Political Communication from the University of Bologna, he has always been passionate about marketing, design and sport.
Similar category
The online platform where you can discover the latest trends, strategies and insights from the exciting world of sports marketing.
View our blog
March 20, 2025
Ground Effect F1: What Is It?
Ground effect has long been a game-changing aerodynamic principle in Formula 1, dramatically altering how cars generate downforce and perform on the track. In this blog, we’ll explore t[...]
Read More
March 19, 2025
F2 and F3 sponsorship: a new frontier of opportunity
The world of motorsport is undergoing a profound transformation; the FIA F2 and F3 categories no longer represent simple transitional stages to Formula 1, but true laboratories of excellence,[...]
Read More
March 14, 2025
Hot Wheels Formula 1: sponsorship between tradition, innovation and passion
Recently, the motorsport world has witnessed the birth of a new partnership, the multi-year partnership between Formula 1 and Hot Wheels, announced in 2024 and set to expand in 2025. This col[...]
Read MoreWhy choose RTR Sports Marketing
In an era where it is possible to get anywhere with a click, there is a strong temptation to approach teams and properties directly for sponsorship projects.
By doing so, we are convinced that we are shortening the value chain, saving time and money. However, these DYI methods are anything but risk-free and what initially appears to be a competitive advantage soon turns into a problem that is difficult to resolve. That’s why there are agencies. And this is why you should rely on us for your sponsorships.
Save time and money
When first approaching a sponsorship or sports marketing project, it is difficult to know immediately which stakeholders are correct, what the decision flow is, and what the right timelines are for each process. Sports is a very specialized field of action, and fitting effectively into its paths can take a lot of time and therefore money. We, on the other hand, know referents and spheres of action and know who to talk to, when and how. So you are also more effective.
The right information, the right choice
Sports is an immense passion, and for our heart colors we would be willing to do anything. But business is a different business, and it is important to make the best possible strategic decisions based on independent research, statistics and reliable data. A sports marketing and sports sponsorship agency like RTR has an objective, 360-degree picture of the scenario and can tell you what is really best for you: which sport, which athlete, which team. This is because we possess a great deal of data and information on ratings, segmentation and attitudes. Because the numbers don’t lie. Never.
Activations are the beating heart
Activations are the real heart of sports sponsorship. Without them, there remains only a blank sticker on a motorcycle, car or uniform and no contact with the public, no emotional connection, no impact on the bottom line. Then how do you do it? It certainly won’t be the teams or the athletes who will help you leverage sponsorship and enjoy the many marketing rights you have paid for. To bring out the best in a sports marketing project you need an agency that knows how to use sponsorship to engage the fanbase on the Web, to reach out to Shopping Centers, to organize hospitality, to develop B2B and B2C opportunities, and to get “your” athletes in front of millions of potential consumers.
Objective measurements for a certain return
Would you ever go to the dealer who sold you the car and ask if the competitor’s car is better? No, of course. So, how do you expect to get firm measurements of the effectiveness of your sponsorship if you do not rely on someone super partes? At RTR, we have always worked with independent third-party agencies that allow us to know the return on any exposure of your brand on TV and in the media. In addition, we believe in calculating ROI as the ultimate measure of your success-so we can tell you for every penny you spend how much you are making.
Sit back, relax, we’ll take care of it
We have been involved in sports sponsorship and sports marketing for more than 15 years. We are consultants in the sense that our goal is to maximize your investment, but we are also an agency that manages the project from start to finish. We have been doing this since 1995 with passion and professionalism, following three principles that have become cornerstones of our business: independence, verticality and transparency.
I would like to highlight the fact that one of the qualities of RTR is its great ability to approach the sponsorship scenario strategically, together with its passionate attitude, its amazing enthusiasm for solving problems, and its high level of professionalism.
Gianluca Degliesposti
Executive Director Server&Storage EMEA
Eurosport is truly delighted with its business relationship with Riccardo Tafà, who has become extremely popular, thanks to his detailed knowledge of the sports marketing sector and his highly diligent attitude to work.
Francois Ribeiro
Commercial Director
Passion and Expertise are the features that I have found in RTR since the very beginning. Serious and reliable professionals but also very helpful, nice and open-mind people, willing to listen and compare different ideas. All the values in which RTR believes make this agency a partner, not just a supplier, a partner with whom we have had the opportunity to achieve significant commercial results in term of success and image.
Luca Pacitto
Head of Communication
We have been working with RTR Sports Marketing for over 10 years. The objectives and the programmes of collaboration continue to be renewed and to grow with mutual satisfaction. I believe RTR is a team of great professionals led by Riccardo Tafà, who I consider a manager of exceptional skills and with a great passion for his work.
Lucio Cecchinello
Team Principal
I have known and worked with Riccardo Tafà since 1995 when we collaborated for the first time on a project for the Williams Formula 1 team. Several clients followed. After leaving Williams to work for Gerhard Berger then owner of the Toro Rosso F1 Team, I turned again to Riccardo to seek his help in finding a tool supplier for the team and Riccardo duly obliged with an introduction to USAG, a partnership with Toro Rosso which endured for five years. I recently started a new role as Group Commercial Director for the renowned Andretti Autosport organisation and I find myself working with Riccardo once again on a number of interesting projects. Why has this relationship with Riccardo endured ? He’s smart, knows the commercial side of sport inside out and back to front and he’s honest and trustworthy. Riccardo Tafà is a “doer” not a “talker”: in over 20 years I have never had a dispute either with him or with a company that he has introduced and each partnership introduced by Riccardo has delivered quantifiable ROI to rights holder and sponsor alike. I can think of no better testimonial of Riccardo’s diligence, knowledge, contact base and hard work than that.
Jim Wright
Group Commercial Director
Recent posts
The online platform where you can discover the latest trends, strategies and insights from the exciting world of sports marketing.
View our blog
March 21, 2025
Motorsport vs Team Sports: what to sponsor?
The debate over which type of sport offers the most complete experience is always open. Motorsports and team sports represent two seemingly distant worlds, each with unique characteristics th[...]
Read More
March 20, 2025
Ground Effect F1: What Is It?
Ground effect has long been a game-changing aerodynamic principle in Formula 1, dramatically altering how cars generate downforce and perform on the track. In this blog, we’ll explore t[...]
Read More
March 19, 2025
F2 and F3 sponsorship: a new frontier of opportunity
The world of motorsport is undergoing a profound transformation; the FIA F2 and F3 categories no longer represent simple transitional stages to Formula 1, but true laboratories of excellence,[...]
Read More