Martini and Williams will be parting ways at the end of the 2018 F1 season, as Martini’s strategic objectives lie elsewhere.
There was a lot of talk about Martini ending ties with Williams because of the two Under-25 drivers that Williams had, however, Martini later confirmed that their decision had nothing to do with the age of the drivers and had to go through with this decision as they were reassessing their marketing and branding strategy.
Claire Williams is concerned with this sudden shortage of sponsors in the sport and wants the F1 authorities and teams to come up with a revamped strategy to attract new sponsors(and retain the old one’s).
“We’ve done a lot of work into why Formula One is not attracting as many sponsors as it once did. I think there are many reasons, not least the marketing mix at the moment is very different to what it used to be.” Williams said.
“There are so many different channels for brands to spend their marketing dollars. I do think F1 needs to work hardest as a collective in order to make it a really attractive destination again. I think we went through a really wonderful period where this was the ultimate for putting your marketing campaigns.
“I think we do need to work a bit harder to make sure we’re delivering for all partners in this sport. Whether that’s with teams, with FOM, I think definitely there is work to be done.” he added.
With McLaren’s Zak Brown apparently targeting Williams’ sponsors, Claire has given a open warning to Brown, to stay away from Williams’ sponsors.
“I thought McLaren and Williams had agreements that we would never do that? Frank and Ron certainly did. ” Williams said.
“This is a tough business, it’s each to their own, isn’t it? From my perspective we need to do a good enough job to make sure partners don’t go to another team. That’s our responsibility. If they end up at another team personally I feel that’s because we haven’t done a good enough job to retain them and that’s our responsibility to do that.
“Zak can try but he’ll have a fight on his hands. I don’t give sponsors up easily. They’re our lifeblood.” she concluded.
