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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)<\/p>\n
NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
F1 has a global fanbase of more than 826 million<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n Brands say they are drawn to the league\u2019s 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\u2019s \u201cFormula 1: Drive to Survive\u201d documentary series and Apple Studios\u2019 \u201cF1\u201d movie<\/a> that debuted in June.<\/p>\n \u201cI think they\u2019ve gone from just being purely a sport, almost like a modern-day version of polo, to being a cultural phenomenon,\u201d Rashidi Hodari, managing director at Jim Beam\u2019s parent company Suntory Global Spirits, tells me during a phone interview.<\/p>\n Jim Beam-Cadillac Pact Highlights Their American Roots<\/p>\n Earlier this month, Jim Beam announced a multi-year partnership with the Cadillac F1 team<\/a> that will begin in 2026 and christens the bourbon brand as the team\u2019s \u201cofficial spirits partner.\u201d The bourbon brand\u2019s logo will appear on Cadillac\u2019s cars, drivers and pit crew apparel, and helmets.<\/p>\n Cadillac\u2019s entry has been deemed especially exciting because the General Motors brand is the first American-backed team since 2016.<\/p>\n Hodari says Jim Beam felt a kinship between the two iconic American brands and the company noted that Fred Noe, the company\u2019s seventh generation master distiller, drives a Cadillac. His father, Booker Noe, drove Cadillacs too.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n In September, Bourbon brand Jim Beam announced a multi-year partnership with the Cadillac Formula 1 Team, which will officially launch in 2026.<\/p>\n Courtesy of Jim Beam<\/p>\n The company says that the partnership will also feature elements of promoting moderation. \u201cWe understand that responsible consumption and designating a driver\u2014not drinking and driving\u2014is a key part of enjoying any sports movement,\u201d says Hodari.<\/p>\n Jim Beam joins an increasingly crowded field of F1\u2019s alcohol sponsors, with early entrants including Dutch brewer Heineken and tequila brand Patr\u00f3n, who began their relationships with the league in 2016 and 2022, respectively.<\/p>\n LVMH\u2019s F1 Deal Promotes French Bloom, Belvedere<\/p>\n Another enthusiastic backer has been luxury brand LVMH, who purportedly inked a $1 billion deal<\/a> with F1 in late 2024. Since then, the company\u2019s Belvedere became the official \u201cvodka\u201d partner and Glenmorangie was deemed the official \u201cwhisky.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThe Formula One fan has evolved so quickly over these last five to seven years, just as the non-alcoholic space has,\u201d Maggie Frerejean-Taittinger, co-founder of LVMH-backed French Bloom, told me during a virtual interview. French Bloom was named the first-ever official \u201calcohol-free sparkling wine” in September.<\/p>\n For French Bloom, the league\u2019s 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<\/a> released in July. Seven out of ten of the study\u2019s Gen Z respondents reported that they engage with F1 content every day, especially through streaming video and social media.<\/p>\n French Bloom, the first non-alcoholic brand backed by Mo\u00ebt Hennessy, became the first ever official alcohol-free sparkling wine partner of Formula 1 in 2025.<\/p>\n Courtesy of French Bloom<\/p>\n Major, global sporting events have historically been linked to alcoholic beverages, ranging from the Olympics\u2019 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\u2019s Honey Deuce cocktail<\/a>.<\/p>\n But consumer trends are shifting toward drinking less alcohol, even at the stadium or on the sidelines of the F1 track. \u201cWe’re seeing those patterns start to take root at some of these large events,\u201d says Frerejean-Taittinger. <\/p>\n