Formula 1 saw its international television audience increase last year, largely due to the popularity of the Drive to Survive series and an impressive title fight between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
Ahead of the 2022 season, nearly every team has announced deals with major sponsors, including tech and cryptocurrency-related companies.
In recent years, McLaren has been one of the teams to make the most progress in this regard, leading Zak Brown to predict a successful future for F1 on a commercial level.
“Formula 1 is in a very strong place right now commercially,” said Brown.
“We have more big prizes than ever before with demand getting bigger and bigger also on TV and in the digital world, the general exposure of the category is very strong.”
“There are a lot of corporate partners coming in. We have been very successful over the years and now we have more than 45 partners, with very large companies from all over the world, plus more than a dozen of them joined us last year.”
“It’s great to see other teams making deals with top-tier organisations. I think overall we’re in a very healthy time. I think we’ve got a successful decade ahead of us in Formula 1,” he added.
Red Bull announced earlier this month that it had entered into a new partnership with US tech giant Oracle , a deal worth almost €100m for each season, in addition to another fully separate deal with Bybit worth almost €50m. euros per year.
Asked if those huge figures were helpful to other teams on the grid by pointing out the value of Formula 1 in terms of sponsorship deals, Brown said it was only beneficial to the sport’s ecosystem.
“It’s great to see big brands and big companies joining the category,” said Brown.
“Clearly it’s a very important investment, so I think it’s a positive thing. If the actual investment number [for Red Bull] is exactly that, I really don’t know.
“But it’s great to see companies like that coming in, also Formula 1 has made deals with some global partners and other very big corporate partners.
“I think all of this is positive for all of us,” the McLaren man concluded.
