Sauber finally confirms Chelsea deal

Sauber has now formally confirmed its new marketing partnership with Chelsea FC, which had been rumoured for some time after the car carried ‘blue’ teaser messages at the last two Grands Prix.

The relationship is the first in F1 to link football and motor sport in the  manner pioneered – ultimately unsuccessfully – by the Superleague series. While Tony Fernandes ownership connects Caterham to QPR, the link has not been commercially exploited.

It remains to be seen whether the deal ultimately involves any investment in Sauber from Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who regularly attends the Monaco GP.

Explaining what the arrangement means, Sauber said: “At team level the new partnership is focused on synergies and ways to enhance performance in business and sporting matters. In concrete terms, this includes the sale of merchandising articles and exchange of knowledge in the area of sport science. Both partners will support each other by featuring the other partner’s logo and thus benefit from a significant market presence outside their original sport.

“Chelsea FC will present the Sauber F1 Team logo at home matches on advertising boards at the stadium and on interview walls. Conversely, the football club benefits from Formula One’s television reach which, compared with the Premier League, is much higher and more international. Particularly in Asia Formula One enjoys enormous TV presence and, not least thanks to Sergio Pérez, is currently captivating more and more fans in Latin America as well. Accordingly, the combination of both platforms at the sponsoring level is highly attractive especially for international brands. In addition, existing sponsors of both partners profit from joint events.”

Sauber CEO Monisha Kaltenborn added: “A partnership like this between Formula One and Football has never existed before in this form, yet there are numerous commonalities and possible synergies. In either case we are talking about team sport at the highest – and international – level.

“The Sauber F1 Team and Chelsea FC are dealing with many of the same sporting and commercial topics and we want to strengthen each other in these areas. We are looking forward to exploiting these opportunities, and we congratulate Chelsea on making it to the final of the Champions League.”