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F1 has always been an attractive destination for entities looking to associate themselves with excellence. Placed at the highest echelon of motorsports, F1 has been a symbol not only of engineering excellence but also of technological brilliance and innovation.
To add to this, the global nature of the sport and the aura of exclusivity makes involvement in F1 an enticing proposition for any organization. Throughout the history of the sport, multiple huge conglomerates have joined hands with the teams in return for the bright spotlight it shines on them. In this piece, we look at three of the biggest sponsorship deals in the history of the sport.
#1 Red Bull F1–Oracle (2022 onwards)
The era of title sponsors and organizations shelling out huge sums of cash is a thing of the past. This is exactly why Red Bull's 5-year-long $100 million-a-year deal with Oracle is a huge surprise. That is so especially considering the budget cap limiting teams' yearly spend to $140 million. With this deal, Oracle will not only supply the team with sponsorship money but will also be part of the data engineering excellence unit.
More importantly, though, the deal is one of the biggest of its time because of its size and its ability to fund a large chunk of Red Bull's yearly budget. In this era of F1, where getting sponsors is not as easy as it used to be in yesteryears, the deal should act as a huge financial boost for the Milton Keynes-based outfit.
#2 Ferrari–Marlboro (1997 onwards)
The Marlboro-Ferrari association has stood the test of time like no other partnership. The tobacco-based company had been a valuable partner for Ferrari even before 1997 although not in the capacity of a title sponsor.
That changed in 1997 when Marlboro, already a prominent presence on the grid with McLaren, turned its attention solely to Ferrari and became its official title sponsor. Even after tobacco branding got banned in 2006, the association has remained strong with the recent Mission Winnow initiative. As of the 2022 season, Marlboro, or its parent company Philip Morris International, is no longer the title sponsor for Ferrari, but the association remains strong.
#3 McLaren–Marlboro (1974-1996)
The McLaren cars of 1988 and 1989 are arguably some of the most dominant cars in the sport's history. Their legendary red and white livery has been immortalized in F1 as cars that just cannot be beaten.
The livery, however, was a legacy of the long association between McLaren and Marlboro. It was a partnership that dated back to 1974 when the tobacco company had not reached the kind of prominence that it would later achieve.
Marlboro was McLaren's title sponsor for a whopping 23 years in which the team rose to grid dominance and multiple title triumphs. The loss of Ayrton Senna and the emergence of Michael Schumacher at Ferrari, however, played a key role in Philip Morris International ending its association with McLaren and shifting its focus to Ferrari.
