Hi friends,
It’s officially launch season – were just 5 days away from the first joint launch event in Formula 1 history. And if what I’m hearing is right, fans of Muse and Ed Sheeran should be extra excited.
Top Stories of the Week: Sauber title sponsor Stake ordered to exit the UK and Mercedes principal partner INEOS facing legal action over failure to pay rugby sponsorship in New Zealand
It’s a two for one this week.
Launch season is upon us, and with it a whole slew of announcements of new team partners. But alongside all the new partners coming in, it’s also the time when we start seeing the cracks appear at some of the existing partners.
Formula 1 is no stranger to shaky partnerships – We only have to go back as far as 2019, when the now infamous Rich Energy partnership almost forced Haas off the grid. And this week, we’ve seen two major team partners get in trouble.
Let’s start with INEOS. The chemical company based in the UK has been getting more and more involved in sports in recent history. They have a sailing team, a cycling team, are part owners of Manchester United and of Mercedes F1 – among others.
INEOS is now facing legal action in New Zealand over failure to pay the first instalment of their 2025 sponsorship fee to New Zealand Rugby. INEOS put out a statement saying “We have had to implement cost-saving measures across the business” citing “high energy taxes and extreme carbon taxes”, along with “the deindustrialisation of Europe” as reasons for exiting the sponsorship.
While we don’t currently have any indications that their involvement with Mercedes is at risk, this is a sign that INEOS is under pressure to cut costs – and when companies look to do so, involvements in sports are usually the first things to be cut.
And secondly we have Sauber title sponsor Stake. Stake has already proved a controversial company, facing various legal action all over Europe, including failures to implement anti-money laundering measures and not living up to social responsibilities.
Stake has now been ordered by the UK Gambling Commission to exit the UK market entirely, which will happen on March 11.
Stake is already prohibited from appearing on Sauber’s car and marketing materials in other European countries – the team used the alternative Kick branding for the 2024 Dutch GP – and now the same is bound to happen for the British GP later this year, with Stake branding now classified as promotion of an unlawful gambling website in the UK.
This could spell the end for the Sauber partner’s involvement in Formula 1 as a whole – both because the transition to Audi as of next season opens up new sponsorship opportunities, but also because the team has announced a plan to open a technical centre in the UK, which would effectively be barred from using any Stake branding what so ever.
The Rest of the Stories This Week:
- Williams announced Atlassian as their new title partner
- Mohammed Ben Sulayem warns that the FIA could shut down radio communications if drivers don’t comply with new regulations
- We got the first pictures of McLaren’s 2025 car
- We got a new teaser for the F1 movie
- The new season of Drive to Survive drops on Netflix March 7
- McLaren extended the contract with Technical Director of Aerodynamics Peter Prodromou
- ESPN’s exclusive negotiating window for F1 broadcast rights in the US expired, leaving the rights open for bidding by other broadcasters
- TAG Heuer becomes the first ever title partner of the Monaco GP
- Oracle blocked Red Bull from partnering with AI startup Perplexity
- Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad has enough points for a Super License after winning the Formula Regional Oceania Championship
- Lance Stroll tested a rally car in Portugal
- Williams has announced Jenson Button, Jacques Villeneuve and Jamie Chadwick as their ambassadors for 2025
- The Democratic Republic of Congo has called on F1 to not entertain the idea of a “blood-stained” race in Rwanda
- The construction at Hungaroring is in full swing, with 900 people working on the project
- Bianca Bustamante is no longer part of the McLaren Driver Development Programme
- Doug Boles has been named as the new President of INDYCAR and Indianapolis Motor Speedway
- Ford CEO Jim Farley stated that US tariffs “would be devastating” for the car industry
- We got a taste of what the Aston Martin Valkyrie sounds like
- One of the men plotting to blackmail the Schumacher family has been sentenced to three years in prison
That’s it for this week, thank you for being here.
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