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.
By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted June 4, 2025 | In Formula 1, Formula1
When Liberty Media acquired Formula 1 in 2017, revenue from sponsorship of the championship was around $272 million.
Eight years later, that figure seems like an echo of a bygone era. By 2025, according to Ampere Analysis, the total value of sponsorships-between championships and teams-will exceed $2.9 billion. This is quantitative growth, of course. But it is, above all, a sign of a qualitative mutation: that of a championship that has gone from a sporting discipline to a cultural system, from a media event to a strategic platform for the most advanced brands.
Today, Formula 1 does more than just offer visibility; it offers context, narrative, meaning. It is a place where brands not only show themselves, but take a stand, intertwine with global issues-from energy transition to artificial intelligence, from inclusion to digital transformation. The runway has become a theater where the language of performance meets the language of prestige, and where every turn, every partnership, every color choice contributes to building a next-generation business syntax.
In 2024, the ten teams generated $2.04 billion in sponsorships, with an average per contract of $6.01 million: six times higher than that recorded in the major U.S. sports leagues. This is not just a matter of cost: it is the epitome of a low-volume, high-value model, where exclusivity becomes commercial leverage. Contracts are few, but they weigh heavily. The nerve points of liveries – sidepod, airbox, rear wing – sell for between $5.3 million and $7.5 million per season. In the United States, only the NFL generates a larger volume of sponsorship revenue, but this is the result of 32 teams and almost ten times as many deals. Pound for pound, as they say, there is no comparison.
Above all, it is a landscape where quantity is never divorced from quality, and where visibility is not enough: you need meaningful presence, narrative integration, symbolic precision. Sponsorship in Formula 1 has become, in this sense, an exercise in identity positioning. On these pages, some time ago, we argued that visibility is but the tip of the iceberg. Now this concept is taken to the extreme, into a galaxy of PR activations and opportunities capable of generating ten, a hundred times what the track produces.
Against this backdrop, teams move in distinct styles, almost sculpting their commercial approach as carefully as they design the aerodynamic appendages of their cars. McLaren has adopted an extensive logic: 51 active sponsors in the 2025 season, more than any other team. It is a strategy based on plurality and widespread presence, building a branded environment around the team. It is an exercise in schooling, first and foremost, effectively trying to circumvent the old concept of the principle of merchandise exclusivity by seeking new spaces where there should be no space, for reasons of pure real estate of available assets.
Red Bull prefers a few high-value deals: Oracle, Rokt, Tag Heuer are partners with whom it activates multilevel projects, straddling content, technology and lifestyle. Mercedes strengthens its stylistic signature with the entry of Adidas, in a narrative that focuses on identity rather than performance.
Everyone, in each case, is beginning to ask a big question of space availability and the value of certain commodity sectors. It is the question of the future of Formula 1: What happens when there is no more space? Can we reach a point of sponsorship saturation?
Driving the market are mainly high-transformation sectors. Technology, in 2024, generated $543 million in sponsorships to teams-26 percent of the total-followed by banking, fintech platforms, and financial services operators with $379 million.
The cryptocurrency sector is also back on the rise : after the freeze of 2022, with the collapse of FTX, investments have rebounded to a total of $565 million, of which $174 million is earmarked for Formula 1. Crypto.com continues to lead the industry, but OKX, Kraken, and Gate.io are also appearing strongly. Six exchanges are active in 2025, up from four in the previous season.
This is not just a comeback: it is a redefinition of crypto sponsorship, moving away from fireworks and closer to more structured, more institutional projects. Formula 1, in this, confirms itself as a ground for narrative legitimacy.
The strength of the circus as a place for building brand equity is also measured in its ability to accommodate-and make coherent-universes that are far apart. 2025 saw the entry of PepsiCo, with a global agreement through 2030 involving Sting Energy, Gatorade and Doritos, and Barilla, present with gastronomic activations in the paddock and hospitality areas.
It is a plurality that does not disorient, but enriches. Because in Formula 1, consistency is not built by similarity, but by convergence: very different brands can coexist if they are able to fit into the series’ narrative – one made up of excellence, innovation, precision and passion.
Another structural fact: 34 percent of new sponsorship for the 2025 season comes from U.S. companies. It is a reflection of a precise strategic orientation: Liberty Media has transformed the United States from a market to be conquered to a pivot of the F1 sponsorship system. Three races on the calendar (Miami, Austin, Las Vegas), maximum media exposure (thanks in part to ESPN and a possible future with Netflix), and a rapidly expanding audience: 52 million U.S. fans in 2024, up 10.5 percent year-on-year.
The U.S. brand thus becomes the protagonist not only of demand, but also of supply: in terms of investment, planning, and business vision.
Further reinforcing this trajectory comes F1: The Movie, the Hollywood superproduction starring Brad Pitt, directed by Joseph Kosinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. More than a sports movie, it is a Drive to Survive-style cultural operation that puts Formula 1 at the center of the global pop imagination. The release, planned for later in the season, is not just a cinematic event: it is a planetary marketing lever, capable of bringing the championship even further into America’s collective consciousness-and, with it, within the budgets of the brands that matter.
Every sponsorship strategy is based on an essential prerequisite: the presence of a large, active, engaged audience. In 2024, the global fanbase reached 826.5 million people, with staggering growth in China (+39%), Canada (+31.5%), Argentina (+25.5%) and Saudi Arabia (+25.5%).
On the physical front, the event with the largest number of viewers was the Australian GP in Melbourne, with 465,498 in attendance. But it is also digital that offers confirmation: 233 million views on YouTube for F1 content in the past year, with peaks in the United States (31.5 million), the United Kingdom (25 million) and India (13 million).
Ticketing also reflects the trend: according to Viagogo, demand for GPs has grown by 20 percent, with purchases from 125 different countries. In this context, Formula 1 consolidates its status as the most globalized sport on the planet.
2025 is the championship’s 75th anniversary year. But more than a look at the past, it is a lunge into the present: the season that marks the full commercial maturity of Formula 1, its ability to be both sport and entertainment, cultural industry and value system.
With a $2.9 billion market, Formula 1 is configured as a complex and flexible grammar, where each brand is called upon not only to appear, but to say something. The speed is no longer just that of the single-seaters, but that with which the system knows how to interpret the changing world. And those who know how to read this code-between placements, activations and storytelling-do not just run to win: they run to last.
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.
A graduate in Public, Social and Political Communication from the University of Bologna, he has always been passionate about marketing, design and sport.
The online platform where you can discover the latest trends, strategies and insights from the exciting world of sports marketing.
View our blogMay 20, 2025
For the first time in the history of Sports Marketing we are confronted with a massive rush of brands and partners to the same, narrow core of sports properties. We are, of course, talking ab[...]
Read MoreMay 19, 2025
Formula 1 has long been the pinnacle of motorsport and a glittering global marketing stage. From Fortune 500 giants to ambitious tech startups, companies are drawn to the idea of their [...]
Read MoreMay 6, 2025
In the world of motorsport sponsorship, speed and performance have traditionally reigned supreme. However, a new race is underway, one towards sustainability. Both Formula 1 and MotoGP are st[...]
Read MoreIn 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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
The online platform where you can discover the latest trends, strategies and insights from the exciting world of sports marketing.
View our blogMay 20, 2025
For the first time in the history of Sports Marketing we are confronted with a massive rush of brands and partners to the same, narrow core of sports properties. We are, of course, talking ab[...]
Read MoreMay 19, 2025
Formula 1 has long been the pinnacle of motorsport and a glittering global marketing stage. From Fortune 500 giants to ambitious tech startups, companies are drawn to the idea of their [...]
Read MoreMay 8, 2025
The 2025 World Rally Championship (WRC) season marks a significant shift in rally racing, with the elimination of hybrid power units and the introduction of new technical regulations. This ar[...]
Read More