Team SD Visits London for BlackBook Motorsport Forum in 2025
We like to attend a few different conferences each year to push our thinking and ensure we don't settle for anything less than remarkable work for our clients. Being in new environments with new series and new thinking allows us to take insights back home and apply them to our work.
The BlackBook Motorsport Forum is the flagship business event for stakeholders in global motorsport. We enjoy this event because it is the ultimate B2B industry event bringing racing promoters, teams, circuits, brands, OEMs and key services together to discuss motorsport from all the angles required for the entire industry to succeed.
There were two sessions during the day that stood out to us.
75 Years In The Fast Lane: How Formula 1 Became A Global Powerhouse
F1 executives from various departments were onsite to share what the last few years of explosive growth—825 million fans and double-digit increases—has been like. Their strategy offers brand managers a unique opportunity in motorsports sponsorship. Unlike other sports where fans might have actually played the game, F1’s exclusivity (who’s driven an F1 car?) makes it aspirational yet increasingly accessible, shifting from an affluent niche to a mass cultural phenomenon.
In 2024, 17 sold-out events and 10 new attendance records highlight its live appeal, but the real reach is digital—billions engage beyond the tiny onsite crowd. This means a dual play for brands: leveraging traditional assets like Paddock Club and trackside branding (which is now saturated) while tapping into new products like the Las Vegas GP, the F1 movie, or the new multi-city F1 Arcade venue.
The head of commercial partnerships explained how challenging it is to “stretch” the F1 brand so widely, using Louis Vuitton and KitKat as an example. How do you provide value to brands with such different markets and such different audiences? His answer was to focus on attracting the most premium brands in each of their respective categories and open up entirely different products, rather than trying to force everyone into one offering. The movie, for instance, pulls in a completely new audience, while split feeds on F1 TV (data, betting, kids) personalize engagement.
The panel mentioned numerous times how important the teams have been in authorizing collective rights. This concept is the only reason Lego was interested, as they would not issue a product line missing one of the most famous teams on the grid.
Unlocking Motorsport’s Revenue Potential
Revenue strategies in motorsports are evolving, and brand managers can take note. Williams’ five-year hunt for a title partner underscores the value of persistence, now paying off with a 70% revenue jump for the team year over year. Their “less is more” approach—cutting partners from 24 to 14 but boosting income by $100 million—shows how flexibility with activation can trump volume. They have enjoyed an overall surge in F1’s popularity. There are now 320 F1 partnerships (121 U.S.-based, up from under 50 pre-Liberty). With limited places to go, some of the smaller teams have been able to really flex their offerings.
INDYCAR’s head of operations, Mark Sibla, walked us through their groundbreaking deal with FOX. He outlined that the team prioritized exposure over cash, amplifying reach, and growing the foundation of fans and viewership. The team at INDYCAR see this as a critical first step to reaching new commercial opportunities and especially attracting a new manufacturer to join Honda and Chevrolet.
From the NASCAR world, Jeff Gordon joined from Hendrick Motorsports. He outlined their strategy is almost entirely directed by B2B with the stat that 80% of their motorsports sponsorships are tied to Rick Hendrick’s wide business portfolio. We know how effective this approach is as we activate alongside Team Penske that follows a similar strategy. Gordon briefly explained how they diversify their offering by leveraging what they have learned in motorsports into military and fitness, ripe for cross-sector sponsorships.
A question from the audience around AI brought in widely different answers from the group. Williams F1 uses AI tools to score inbound leads, INDYCAR uses it to generate content and Hendrick uses it to target fans and optimize existing deals. This was particularly interesting to us as AI is undoubtedly the next leading toolset for brands and properties alike to leverage in activation.
Conclusion
Throughout different sessions and our networking, we repeatedly heard a few things that we also believe in.
Be bold
Seek outside expertise
Zoom out
We believe that combining these snippets of advice leads to remarkable work - on and off the track.
