The coolest and most interesting sponsorship deals in F1 history

Formula 1 has had a long relationship with sponsorship deals. The sport wouldn’t have grown into the huge behemoth that it is today without its teams being able to sell space on their cars for brands to add their logos.

The practice began with Lotus in the 1960s but soon spread right across the paddock. Before then, cars were painted in their national colours. For example, the Ferrari vehicles were painted in their iconic scarlet red, while teams from the UK used British racing green. After the introduction of sponsors, the colour often reflected the branding of the team willing to pay the most.

Over the years, there have been many brands that have come and gone from Formula 1, including major car manufacturers like Toyota and tire suppliers like Bridgestone. Among them, there have been plenty of mundane deals that you’ll likely forget about very quickly. But every now and then, a sponsor appears on a car that really stands out and attracts your attention.

Here are some of the coolest and most interesting of these deals.

Jaguar and Ocean’s Twelve

In the mid-2000s, the British sports car brand Jaguar was one of the teams competing in Formula 1. In addition to their long-term partners with big brands like HSBC, the team struck some short-term sponsorship deals that would last no more than a few Grands Prix.

One of these resulted in a real diamond valued at $250,000 being mounted to the nose cone of one of its cars at the Monaco Grand Prix.

The stunt was to promote the release of Ocean’s Twelve (2004), the sequel to the smash hit Ocean’s Eleven (2001). It probably sounded like a great idea to the PR and marketing teams involved, except there was a flaw in their plan.

F1 cars have a tendency to crash, especially in Monaco. When they do, bits of bodywork often go flying off in all directions. So when Christian Klien crashed this diamond-studded Jaguar on the first lap of the race, it probably shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise that the diamond fell off and got lost.

In true heist-movie style, the shiny rock has never been found. It also wasn’t insured…

Red Bull and Pokerstars

While Red Bull might be a company that sells drinks, it has positioned itself as the fuel for thrill-seekers. Over the years, its marketing has included sponsoring a man to skydive from space back to earth, a pilot to fly a plane through a road tunnel, and a stunt rider to jump a motorcycle onto a 10-storey model of the Arc de Triomphe in Las Vegas.