After days of speculation, Ferrari announced earlier today that they have signed a mammoth deal with tech giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) to become the team’s title sponsor. According to revered F1 journalist and presenter, Will Buxton, this deal alone will cover almost 2/3rd of the iconic Italian team’s budget cap.
In 2024, the budget cap restriction is at $135,000,000. Hence, as per Buxton’s information and calculations, the deal with HP will make the team from Maranello approximately $90,000,000 richer. From the Miami GP onwards, the team will be known as Scuderia Ferrari HP.
The 43-year-old wrote on his official X (formerly Twitter) handle, “A huge deal for Ferrari, with my understanding that its financial value will cover 2/3 (66%) of the budget cap per annum. A massive partnership. Seeing that logo brings back some great early 2000s F1 memories. Would love to see it inspire some NART-style blue and white liveries for North American races.”
In terms of an out-and-out commercial advantage, the $90,000,000 from HP would be a big boost for the team. Having almost the entirety of their budget cap covered by the deal means Ferrari has a fiscal edge over their rivals.
The relevance of sponsorships in F1 has risen meteorically in the last five years. Many teams have jumped on this bandwagon after identifying the commercial lucrativeness of such partnerships. However, it always hasn’t gone to plan for some teams in the past.
Ferrari joins the trend of modern F1 sponsorships
A title sponsorship is not only an avenue for extra funding for an F1 team, being associated with an F1 team also has massive market value for the companies. Hence, the staggering amounts they are willing to pump into the deals, as seen with Ferrari.
Back in 2022, Red Bull entered into a five-year title-sponsorship deal with American software behemoth, Oracle. According to PlanetF1.com, this earns the Milton-Keynes-based team a whopping $100 million per year. Similarly, another long-standing F1 partnership is between Mercedes and Petronas, who have been with the team since their return to the grid in 2010.
On the other hand, however, AlphaTauri did not receive the bounties of a rebrand like their rivals, at least from the fans. At the end of last year, it was announced that the team was going to be rebranded. Earlier this year, they announced their title partnership with Visa Cash App. The team is now known as Visa Cash App RB (V-CARB).
This rebrand, however, has not gone down well with the fans. What’s more, it doesn’t seem to be giving the title sponsors any screen time either. Throughout this season, the commentators, and the media have been referring to the team as simply ‘RB’. Hence, defeating the very purpose of their collaboration.
