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Although F1 is known for its collaborations with large corporates and high-end luxury brands, it has seen its fair share of whacky collaborations and sponsorships. In 1990, F1 legend Ayrton Senna met with Akira Toriyama, the creator of the famous anime series Dragon Ball Z, for an unlikely collaboration.
Toriyama is the creator and brain behind popular anime Dragon Ball Z. The early '90s saw McLaren's continuing relationship with Honda, for their engines, and in turn, with Japan as well. This relationship led to Senna meeting Toriyama, who imagined the main character of his anime/manga, Son Goku, driving the Brazilian's McLaren F1 car. The drawings were used in the popular manga magazine Shonen Jump featuring Goku as Ayrton Senna and his friends as accompanying supporters all wearing McLaren merchandise.
Due to the McLaren-Honda partnership leading to numerous wins in Japan, F1 was gaining a lot of popularity in the country thanks to Senna and company. To capitalize on this popularity, Shueisha decided to sponsor McLaren's F1 team in 1989.
Shueisha is one of the largest publishers in Japan. It is responsible for publishing Weekly Shonen Jump, a publication that included Dragon Ball and other popular Manga.
As part of the sponsorship deal, the Japanese logo for the Weekly Shonen Jump was placed on the nose of every McLaren F1 car for the 1989 season.
F1 has long history of unusual sponsorships
The sport is no stranger to unusual sponsorships and collaborations throughout its history of more than 50 years.
In 1976, the Surtees team, run by 1964 world champion John Surtees, signed a deal with Durex Condoms. This meant that the condom company's logo would be on their F1 cars for the Brands Hatch Race of Champions. The BBC opted out of broadcasting the race, claiming the visible logo was unacceptable for family viewing at the time.
In 2019, the Haas F1 team signed a sponsorship with the not-so-popular energy drink company Rich Energy, who entered the sport to try and beat Red Bull "both on and off the track". Despite appearing promising at first, the company turned out not to have sufficient money to run its own business, let alone sponsor the millions of dollars it takes to run an F1 team.
Furthermore, the CEO of the company tweeted against the Haas team, comparing the car to a 'milkfloat' ahead of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. In September 2019, Haas announced they had prematurely cut ties with the brand following the fiasco.
