Lando Norris of McLaren during second practice ahead of the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix at Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Monza, Italy on September 3, 2023. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
NurPhoto via Getty Images
Jim Beam whiskey, Belvedere vodka and Glenmorangie Scotch are among the major alcohol brands that are racing to ink sponsorship deals with Formula One, as the motor racing league draws in a record-breaking fanbase due to rising interest from the U.S. market, women and Gen Z.
F1 has a global fanbase of more than 826 million, an increase of 90 million new fans in 2024, and the U.S. market alone saw a nearly 11% increase in viewer interest, according to data released by analytics firm Nielsen Sports.
Brands say they are drawn to the league’s long season, an opportunity to launch hyper-local activations in markets ranging from Singapore to Monaco to Miami and the cachet that the league has earned from Netflix’s “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” documentary series and Apple Studios’ “F1” movie that debuted in June.
“I think they’ve gone from just being purely a sport, almost like a modern-day version of polo, to being a cultural phenomenon,” Rashidi Hodari, managing director at Jim Beam’s parent company Suntory Global Spirits, tells me during a phone interview.
Jim Beam-Cadillac Pact Highlights Their American Roots
Earlier this month, Jim Beam announced a multi-year partnership with the Cadillac F1 team that will begin in 2026 and christens the bourbon brand as the team’s “official spirits partner.” The bourbon brand’s logo will appear on Cadillac’s cars, drivers and pit crew apparel, and helmets.
Cadillac’s entry has been deemed especially exciting because the General Motors brand is the first American-backed team since 2016.
Hodari says Jim Beam felt a kinship between the two iconic American brands and the company noted that Fred Noe, the company’s seventh generation master distiller, drives a Cadillac. His father, Booker Noe, drove Cadillacs too.
Jim Beam previously sponsored motor sports, including sponsoring NASCAR and Dick Johnson Racing, the latter a motor racing team from Australia. In more recent years, the company focused on more local sports activations and felt that working with F1 would give it an opportunity to market and raise brand awareness on a grander scale.
In September, Bourbon brand Jim Beam announced a multi-year partnership with the Cadillac Formula 1 Team, which will officially launch in 2026.
Courtesy of Jim Beam
The company says that the partnership will also feature elements of promoting moderation. “We understand that responsible consumption and designating a driver—not drinking and driving—is a key part of enjoying any sports movement,” says Hodari.
Jim Beam joins an increasingly crowded field of F1’s alcohol sponsors, with early entrants including Dutch brewer Heineken and tequila brand Patrón, who began their relationships with the league in 2016 and 2022, respectively.
LVMH’s F1 Deal Promotes French Bloom, Belvedere
Another enthusiastic backer has been luxury brand LVMH, who purportedly inked a $1 billion deal with F1 in late 2024. Since then, the company’s Belvedere became the official “vodka” partner and Glenmorangie was deemed the official “whisky.”
“The Formula One fan has evolved so quickly over these last five to seven years, just as the non-alcoholic space has,” Maggie Frerejean-Taittinger, co-founder of LVMH-backed French Bloom, told me during a virtual interview. French Bloom was named the first-ever official “alcohol-free sparkling wine” in September.
For French Bloom, the league’s growth among women and Gen Z aligns with the fans that the nonalcoholic wine brand tends to court. Female fans account for three out of every four new F1 fans, according to an F1-backed survey released in July. Seven out of ten of the study’s Gen Z respondents reported that they engage with F1 content every day, especially through streaming video and social media.
French Bloom, the first non-alcoholic brand backed by Moët Hennessy, became the first ever official alcohol-free sparkling wine partner of Formula 1 in 2025.
Courtesy of French Bloom
Major, global sporting events have historically been linked to alcoholic beverages, ranging from the Olympics’ long partnership with brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev, to Super Bowl ads from the likes of Budweiser and Miller Lite, to the U.S. Open’s Honey Deuce cocktail.
But consumer trends are shifting toward drinking less alcohol, even at the stadium or on the sidelines of the F1 track. “We’re seeing those patterns start to take root at some of these large events,” says Frerejean-Taittinger.
Heineken, as an example, launched a major ad campaign tied to the “F1” movie that centered on the company’s non-alcoholic Heineken 0.0. Frerejean-Taittinger says some F1 teams have placed orders for French Bloom. After all, the nine-month season is long and filled with a lot of international travel to 24 Grand Prix races that are hosted across the globe.
“The athletes themselves and the teams, they’re there for work; they aren’t necessarily celebrating only with alcohol,” says Frerejean-Taittinger.