Salesforce revs up global profile with $100m Formula One partnership

Salesforce, the US-based enterprise software company, is close to finalising a bumper sponsorship deal with Formula One (F1) motor racing that will underline the recent revival in the sport’s commercial fortunes.

Sky News has learnt that San Francisco-headquartered Salesforce is hoping to clinch the tie-up with F1’s owner, Liberty Media Corporation, ahead of the season’s opening race in Bahrain this weekend.

Sources said the deal could be worth close to $30m annually to F1 and was likely to be scheduled to run for around five years.

It will be the latest in a series of major brand partnerships with the sport, which endured a rocky period during the initial part of the COVID-19 crisis but has since seen revenues recover strongly.

Interest in F1 in the US has surged as a result of the popular Netflix fly-on-the-wall documentary, Drive to Survive, which released its fourth season last week.

A third US Grand Prix – a street race in Las Vegas – is expected to be confirmed in the coming months, while the 2022 calendar features 22 races after September’s event in Russia was cancelled following the invasion of Ukraine.

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Fourth-quarter revenue at Formula One Group rose by 62.3% to $787m, largely as a result of increased race promotion revenue.

Last season’s viewing figures hit 1.55 billion, up 4%, with 108 million tuning into the final race in Abu Dhabi, where Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the drivers’ championship from Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of a thrilling but controversial Grand Prix.

Other recent additions to F1’s sponsorship roster include Lenovo, the Chinese personal computer maker.

Spokespeople for Salesforce and F1 declined to comment.