In 60 seconds:
How teams win when every boat, system, and dataset is identical
Why “human performance” is the only real edge in SailGP
How F1 became a $2B sponsorship platform
What brands actually buy when they enter motorsport
How Spain SailGP Built a World‑Champion Team
This week I spoke with Antonio Alquézar, CEO & Team Principal of the Spain SailGP Team, the youngest team in the league and the 2024 world champions.
The past month made one thing clear:
Russell Coutts now values SailGP teams at about $70M, and the league says they’re already worth well over $60M.
SailGP’s global revenue passed $200M for 2025, a 20x jump since 2019 driven by sponsorship, media rights, and team sales.
📌 What Matters
Human performance is the only real differentiator
All boats are identical and all data is open.
Winning comes down to how well a team communicates, trusts, and executes together.
Spain is the standout upside opportunity
Young.
World‑champion.
Commercially rising.
And one of the last unsold teams in a fast‑growing global league.
What Drive Sports Marketing Revealed About How F1 Generates $2B in Sponsorship Revenue
I also spoke with Edoardo Martorelli, Founder of Drive Sports Marketing, a motorsport‑focused sponsorship agency working across F1, IndyCar, and WEC.
F1 generated $2.04B in sponsorship last year and has the highest average deal size in global sport. (Autosport and SponsorUnited)
F1’s average sponsorship deal is $6M (nearly 8× the NFL, which is second at $745K).
📌 What Matters
1. Brands invest in F1 because its audience is becoming one of the most valuable in sport.
F1 gives brands ~70M viewers per race.
B2C gets reach.
B2B gets credibility + hospitality that closes deals.
2. Brands often misallocate millions.
They pick the wrong team, wrong assets, wrong budget, and get stuck in years of approvals.
ROI happens only when brands buy the right team, the right assets, the right integration.
Drive Sports Marketing helps brands capture that upside.
Next week: How Payment Labs raised $3.25M to solve payouts across sport and the creator economy.
Edoardo Grandi
