From running the risk of bankruptcy four years ago to arguably having one of the strongest financials among all F1 teams at present, McLaren has indeed come a long way. However, none of that would have been possible if it were not for sponsorship magnet Zak Brown.
Brown, having founded Just Marketing International — a motorsport marketing agency — used all his experience to help McLaren attract more than 40 sponsors, more than any team has on the grid. They had so many sponsors last year that they had to resort to an innovative piece of technology to display all of them on their cars.
With the help of Seamless Digital, McLaren were able to show some of their sponsors on their sidepods. The technology helped them showcase different sponsors at regular intervals.
While McLaren has definitely been able to raise a lot of money thanks to their sponsors, one of them also turned out to be a bad debt. Per The Race, the Woking-based outfit are set to lose a whopping $1.4 million after one of their sponsors — Huski Chocolate — whose parent company, Choki AB, declared bankruptcy in January of this year.
“Just over 12 months after the original lawsuit was filed, the High Court of Justice in the United Kingdom to rule in May 2024 that McLaren was still owed two amounts: €1,250,910.30 ($1,366,293), and £81,884.66 ($105,983),” read The Race report.
McLaren in legal dispute with Huski Chocolate over unpaid sponsorship money
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The report adds that both McLaren and Huski Chocolate had signed a three-year deal in 2021. While the deal was worth €4.66 million ($5 million), McLaren never received the entire amount and they are now fighting a lost cause.
Although McLaren are still fighting the case in court, they will never receive the money they are owed as Choki AB is deep in debt and they also owe millions of dollars to soccer club Millwall, who also have filed a lawsuit against them.
However, with the financial backing that McLaren currently has, losing the amount owed by one sponsor is unlikely to hurt them much as compared to a few years ago when they themselves were on the verge of bankruptcy.
The Woking-based outfit will have one goal in mind for this season and that is to retain the Constructors’ Championship. And they have had the perfect start to the 2025 season with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri locking out the front row for the Australian GP.
