Fear of Rival Brand Led to $50B Sponsor Changing Company Policy to Sign Max Verstappen

Last year, Max Verstappen partnered with Heineken to promote the latter’s 0.0 line of non-alcoholic drinks. According to the Company’s CCO Bram Westenbrink, it was Red Bull’s negotiations with a rival brand that had actually pushed them over to sign the Dutchman.

Westenbrink explained that they had a very small window to sign Verstappen. However, the $50 billion beverage company’s policies were delaying the negotiations. But as they realized that talks had begun between Red Bull and one of their rival brands, they had to fast-track the process.

Westenbrink was quoted by PlanetF1 as saying, “We normally only sponsor competitions like F1. But when it came to Max, we were looking for an ambassador for 0.0. Red Bull was talking with a competitor of ours. We had to act in one weekend, extremely fast. Normally these things take very long.”

Verstappen‘s manager Raymond Vermeulen also confirmed that Heineken were very close to losing out on the Dutchman. However, in the end, Westenbrink managed to convince Verstappen to sign for his brand.

How much did Verstappen’s deal with Heineken cost?

This deal is one of the biggest sponsorship/ambassadorial deals in the history of the sport. Naturally, when two behemoths of their respective industries come together, it is at a blockbuster cost.

When Vermeulen was quizzed about how much Heineken had to pay the #1 driver, he denied giving a figure but explained that it was nothing higher than the prevalent market value. Westenbrink even joked by saying that whenever Vermeulen calls him, “he always tells him first that it better not be about more money.”

The details around this alliance between the three-time world champion and Heineken sheds a lot of light on Verstappen’s latest social media activity. Recently, on the occasion of International Beer Day, the Dutchman posed with Virgil van Dijk and shared a pint of Heineken. Both had Heineken’s 0.0 drinks in their hands.