F1 Academy managing director Susie Wolff has detailed how signing makeup giant Charlotte Tilbury as a partner created momentum for huge sponsors in the series.
After gaining the backing of all 10 Formula 1 teams, with that number increasing to 11 with Cadillac in 2027, Wolff had the task of finding six primary sponsors for the remaining cars.
During an interview with Talks at Google, Wolff recalled waking up on the first of January to the daunting task of filling those six vacant spots by March.
"Obviously, with the F1 teams on board, I had 10 cars covered, but I still had six liveries, so I needed to find six commercial partners. And I remember I woke up on 1 January and thought, 'How am I going to get six sponsors on board by March?'
"And I said to Toto [Wolff], 'This is going to be really difficult'. And I'll never forget. He said, 'You'll figure it out.' And I hate it when people say that because they have this belief that I will somehow figure it out. In that moment, I didn't think I knew how I was going to figure it out.
"But I very famously got through a contact, a friend of a friend, to Charlotte Tilbury, the makeup brand. Within four minutes of the first conversation, I knew we were going to do something, and it became the biggest sports partnership announcement of that year."
With Charlotte Tilbury announced as the first non-F1 team to back an F1 Academy car and driver, more partnerships quickly came along.
Charlotte Tilbury on the grid
Charlotte Tilbury on the grid
"Suddenly, the momentum came," Wolff continued. "Everyone talked about that partnership. Tommy Hilfiger, someone who had been in the sport a long time. I called him, and he said, 'I'm with you'. Then suddenly, American Express and then we had Puma, and it was just a momentum.
"The wheels started turning and suddenly it all came together. But there were still moments to your point of being a team that has to come up with new solutions. It has to find a way. It was tough at times because I was navigating something completely new, and it's all very nice to now sit on a stage and say, 'Well, look where we are now'. But there were days at the very beginning where it was tough, and it didn't look like we were going to turn it around in such a short space of time. So thankful that we got there in the end."
F1 Academy now boasts partnerships with TAG Heuer, American Express, Gatorade, The LEGO Group, Puma, Sephora, Standard Chartered, Salesforce, TeamViewer, Wella Professionals, Pirelli, Aramco, Tatuus, and ATM (Autotecnica Motori).
Wolff also discussed how it was important to her to show that femininity and racing can coexist through the racing series' partners.
"We did a Hello Kitty collab at the Las Vegas Grand Prix last year," she said. "It sold out really well and beat some other collaborations. We're now with Disney. And it's about bringing this whole femininity, and it's OK to like pink but still love racing.
"And I think that's something which is important because if I go back to my childhood, I was lucky to have that environment, but not everybody does. And we as a sport need to make sure that we speak to that new, young next generation."
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