The Hidden Cost of F1 Sponsorship: How Delivery Strain Threatens Performance and Profitability
Hidden costs in sponsorship delivery don’t just erode margins, they create a compounding financial trap for F1 teams.
Here’s how it plays out:
Imagine a $50 million Title or Principal sponsorship.
Poorly controlled activations, inflated logistics, or unmanaged resource drain quietly strip away 5% of the deal's value, that’s $2.5 million in lost contribution margin (over what could reasonably be expected to delight your client)
To plug that gap, what do teams teams have to do?
Chase more sponsorship revenue!
But here’s the problem:
Every new sponsor introduces its own obligations: more events, appearances, travel, and content production
More partners = more complexity, more operational overhead, more strain on personnel and performance
Those costs compress margins again, repeating the cycle
The Blueprint For Funding the Juncos Hollinger Racing IndyCar Team: How to Find the Right Investor
When most people think of funding a race team, they think of sponsor logos on rear wings and energy drink decals on helmets.
But what Juncos Hollinger Racing (JHR) needs right now is different, and more complex.
According to Racer.com, team co-owner Brad Hollinger is looking for additional investment to secure the long-term future of a team he’s already stabilized once by stepping in with his own capital when others wouldn’t.
But this isn’t about landing a blockbuster sponsorship deal, in other words the traditional motorsport playbook.
Hollinger is pursuing something fewer teams attempt, but which carries far greater potential impact: bringing in an equity partner, someone to co-own, and therefore help chart JHR’s long-term competitive trajectory.
Platform Wars: What Video Game Consoles Can Teach Us About Motorsports Regulations In the WEC and WRC
Like consoles, motorsport series must offer a compelling environment for their “developers”, the manufacturers and teams that bring the show to life.
In the console world, platform owners want to secure exclusive titles to entice players to buy their console, and this can be the reality in racing as well, with major brands often wanting or needing to prioritize among several motorsports options. And just like Sony and Microsoft fought to win over developers, the WEC and WRC are competing for factory support.
Part 3 - The Case Study - Drive To Survive: WEC Edition
The WEC doesn’t need reinvention, it needs translation, and a Drive to Survive-style series would provide not only the perfect educational format for a potential audience, but also the catalyst for changes within the series itself to make it more accessible, while keeping all the elements that make it unique in place.
Indeed, the challenge isn’t to overhaul the series from scratch, but to repackage it with intention, and a Drive to Survive-style series is the perfect opportunity to educate future audiences in an engaging way that makes them want to engage further with the WEC.