Formula 1 teams generated a combined $2.05 billion in sponsorship revenue last year, according to sports marketing researcher SponsorUnited.
Among leagues with a North American presence, that tally only trails the NFL’s 32-team total of $2.49 billion over the course of the 2024 regular season and playoffs. Yet, the average deal for an F1 team generated $6.22 million, more than eight times the average pact for an NFL team, which is $745,000, the SponsorUnited report said.
On average, each of the 10 F1 teams (or constructors, as they’re known) generated $203 million in total sponsor dollars in 2024. The large sums are the result of the various assets offered to brands. Looking across 1,400 different assets, SponsorUnited counted 340 sponsorship deals involving 319 different brands during the 2024 season.
The assets include, but are not limited to, race car liveries, halos, chassis, sidepods, driver and team uniforms, and even pit stop signage. Sponsored posts on social media are also counted.
The priciest asset, according to the report, is the airbox, which can run between $5.7 million and $7.5 million. A chest of a driver’s race suit has gone for between $1.4 million and $1.6 million.
Brands must spend big to get on board with an F1 team. In February, software firm Atlassian became the title sponsor for Williams Racing in what’s reportedly the largest sponsorship deal in the team’s 48-year history (financial details were not disclosed). Williams also became a benefactor of Santander Bank when Carlos Sainz Jr. took one of the team’s seats after leaving Ferrari. The Spain-based bank, which signed a separate multiyear deal with F1 in September, has been a longtime sponsor of Sainz.
The 10 teams are worth $2.31 billion on average, a 44% year-over-year increase, according to Sportico’sF1 team valuations. The minimum get-in price to buy a team exceeded $1 billion for the first time, with Haas ranking the lowest at $1.02 billion. Scuderia Ferrari HP (Ferrari) leads the pack with its $4.78 billion valuation, followed by Mercedes-AMG Petronas’ (Mercedes-Benz) $3.94 billion and Oracle Red Bull Racing (Red Bull) at $3.5 billion.
While specific totals were not given, SponsorUnited has the highest valued teams at the top of its sponsorship table as well, with Mercedes ahead of Ferrari and Red Bull.
Ferrari, the most successful F1 team of all time, signed sponsor darling and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton to join its paddock in 2025 after 13 mostly dominant years with Mercedes. Hamilton’s 55 million social media followers lead the way in F1, and the 16 brand associations with those platforms only trails his teammate Charles Leclerc, who has 18.
The 6.4 million interactions with Hamilton’s sponsored posts, however, are dwarfed by Lando Norris’ (McLaren) 32.4 million, Leclerc’s 29.2 million, and Oscar Piastri’s (McLaren) 18.4 million.
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull), with 21 million followers on social media, isn’t nearly as active when it comes to sponsored posts, with 1.8 million engagements for eight brands.
A strategic placement of a logo can significantly increase a brand’s ad impressions. Just ask Texas A&M, which has leaned on motorsports to tell its story, including at Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 with fourth-place driver Felix Rosenqvist. The school spent a mere $60,000 to place its famed logo on Rosenqvist’s helmet and fire suit for the 16-race IndyCar season, and both were visible on his in-car camera throughout the Fox telecast of the Indy 500.
Sponsors will have one more team to attach themselves to in 2026 when F1 brings General Motors’ Cadillac into the fold. Already flush with sponsorships from American companies such as Google, Oracle and ExxonMobil, and with three races stateside, F1 will finally have a luxury American carmaker in the mix.