After winning his first race, Max Verstappen became the most successful Dutchman in the sport’s history. Since then, all of his wins and championships have accounted for all the Dutch glory in F1. Naturally, it has made him a phenomenon back in the Netherlands. That is why, Dutch beer brand Heineken changed their company policy overnight to be associated with the F1 star.
Verstappen‘s rising popularity made the Dutch GP a regular fixture on the calendar after a 35-year absence. Due to this impact, Heineken also wanted to be associated with the three-time champion.
They changed their company policy as they did not sponsor teams let alone individuals. They even fast-tracked a process to a weekend after facing threats from their competition.
The company CCO Bram Westenbrink revealed they made this change because of the Dutchman and his straightforwardness. As seen in a video on Reddit, he said, “What we normally do is only sponsor competitions like the Champions League or like the F1. But if you look in this situation of Max [Verstappen] we were looking for an ambassador 0.0.
“What’s also really important, Max is always extremely clear. You always know what he stands for. So it all came together and that’s why we said: This is the reason why we should change our internal policy and go for a sponsorship with Max.”, he added.
Heineken CEO on getting Max as an ambassador: 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.
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The Dutch beer brand was able to crack the deal to make Verstappen the face of their non-alcoholic beer — the Heineken 0.0. Since then, the Red Bull man has appeared in a few commercials as well. However, this is just one of the many sponsors lining up to work with him.
Verstappen is one of the most sought-after F1 drivers by sponsors
Thanks to his achievements in recent times, the Dutchman has become one of the most marketable entities in F1. This has made sponsors line up to make Verstappen the face of their brand.
Currently, he has four massive brands backing him and paying him around $5 million each year in total. The aforementioned beer brand is one of them after getting on board with Red Bull last year.
Apart from Heineken, Verstappen is sponsored by Jumbo, which is his main sponsor. Jumbo is a Netherlands-based supermarket chain and their contract runs till the end of 2025.
Additionally, he’s sponsored by Viaplay which is a Swedish video streaming service. Adding to it, he is also sponsored by EA Sports, and given his passion for sim racing, it’s a perfect match.
