A huge movement on social media has been seen in recent days with fans tagging the profiles of major companies, in search of attention and consequently financial support for Pietro Fittipaldi , in his attempt to be the owner of Haas for the 2022 Formula 1 season.
According to Motorsport.com, the amount that would have made Pietro the favorite for Haas ‘ seat is more than $16 million. But what obstacles have separated the Brazilian driver from this amount and from the F1 grid, which has not had a full-time Brazilian since 2017, when Felipe Massa left?
Sources consulted by our website explained the complexity of an operation that involves a large part of the marketing budget of large companies. And the first obstacle that is seen is precisely that: time.
A large investment requires planning, that is, the destination of millions of euros could be a platform like F1, but the planning to allocate this money would have to be defined in the previous year. Getting this money, according to specialists, is extremely difficult.
Furthermore, the possible targets would also be limited by F1 itself. It is unimaginable to achieve these values in a car, oil or tire manufacturer, since the category and the teams already have their own predefined values.
The arrival of Pietro would have meant having the support of a multinational, but with a global scope, to effectively take advantage of having F1 as a platform in all its 23 stages, not only in the Sao Paulo GP, or to obtain the sponsorship of some state company, which would require political influence.
A large Brazilian or multinational company that operates in the national market also has other attractions that, in the end, compete with F1, even with the sport that is experiencing a great moment in Brazil, with the boom caused by the great season of 2021, Netflix and even coverage on broadcast television.
Football is an example of this and ends up serving as a great villain for the cultural nature of the country. According to a marketing executive of a large company, with 15 million euros it is possible for a brand to be stamped on the uniforms of the three most popular clubs in Brazil as a main sponsor.
The football coverage is infinitely superior to that of F1, even with the estimated 20 million fans in Brazil. To get an idea, a great team gave more than 1,250 million euros of return for the brands in one year, with its main sponsor investing around four million euros, that is, it is possible to reach 2,700 million euros of return by investing an amount close to what Haas “asks” a pilot.
Other factors that have prevented a great return on investment for a brand is precisely that Haas is one of the worst – if not the worst – team on the F1 grid, as it was in 2021 and that it does not have great fighting aspirations for the podium and wins this year.
In addition, as the investment will be minimal, the brand will hardly have a great role in the cars. It is worth remembering that the Russian flag on the Haas car with the Uralkali logo was made possible only because Dmitry Mazepin shelled out some 35 million euros, something unimaginable for current times.
