At the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Mastercard joins a pack of consumer brands flocking to Formula One

The Las Vegas Grand Prix might only be in its second year, but it’s fast becoming one of the flagship stops on Formula One’s worldwide tour. And for marketers looking to align their brands with F1’s expanded appeal to audiences, the Las Vegas Grand Prix is providing a slip road into the sport.

Payment company Mastercard, for example, has chosen this weekend’s race as the moment to debut its sponsorship of racing team McLaren. Mastercard isn’t alone in investing more into F1. In 2024, the sport has drawn in new non-endemic advertisers such as LVMH, electronics maker Lenovo, beauty brand Charlotte Tilbury, and B2B firm Xerox. Though Raja Rajamannar, Mastercard’s chief marketing and communications officer, didn’t share financial details of the Mastercard-McLaren alliance, F1 sponsorships don’t come cheap — LVMH’s 10-year partnership deal will reportedly cost $100 million a year.

F1 “used to be quite traditionally B2B,” said Maria Kivimaa, head of planning at sports agency Octagon U.K. The agency counts McLaren sponsor Cisco, F1 partner Amazon Web Services and Shell, a partner of Scuderia Ferrari, among its client roster.

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