The company has already made an impact during its first year in the sport as F1’s official airline partner, and that will only become more apparent if Max Verstappen clinches the World Championship at Lusail this weekend, drawing further attention to the race title sponsor.
For decades airlines studiously avoided F1, and it was always said that they didn’t want the public to see crashing racing cars carrying their logos.
That changed as one after the other they arrived as event sponsors, with Gulf Air, Singapore, Air Canada and Qantas all backing their local races, and Etihad doing the same following initial associations with Spyker and Ferrari.
Emirates didn’t have a race in Dubai to support. However, after a brief spell with McLaren, it became the highest-profile airline in the sport from 2013 as an official partner of F1, a deal that saw it take title sponsorship of various races around the world.
The Emirates contract was extended for a further five years in 2018, and it came up for renewal again at the end of last year, at a much higher price given the sport’s boom in popularity. However, having made a competitive offer Qatar Airways stepped in as a direct replacement for its main competitor.
The timing was not coincidental. This season sees the start of a 10-year race contract for the Qatar GP following the experiment back in 2021 when Lusail was invited to plug a gap left by COVID cancellations.
The country saw F1 as the perfect way to maintain an international sporting profile after the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and it was inevitable that its airline would become involved. The fact that the Emirates deal was running out handily created the opportunity for Qatar to become the official airline partner to the sport until 2027, and not just a one-off home race sponsor.
Source: Autosport