Are you willing to sponsor?
Are you ready to explore the transformative power of athlete sponsorship for your brand? Click here to learn more about how sponsorship can help brands grow and thrive in the exciting world of motorsports.
By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted July 6, 2023 | In Formula 1, Formula1
With as many as 24 dates from March to December, the 2024 Formula 1 calendar will be the longest ever in the history of motorsport’s top series. In fact, the 2024 F1 season will kick off among the sands of Bahrain on March 2, concluding in the spectacular setting of Abu Dhabi on December 8.
Among the main missions of the organizer during the placement of the 24 events is undoubtedly that of sustainability (ecological, but also economic and HR, given the length of the season). That is why the criterion applied is regionality: create large blocks of nearby races that allow for quick travel and low cost. It is precisely because of this principle that Japan is moved to the first part of the season, with the Suzuka race on April 7, while the Baku Grand Prix in Azerbaijan is positioned immediately after Monza to close the European tranche. Interesting are the many -but necessary- triple-headers, i.e., the three consecutive weekends, such as Spain, Austria and Great Britain or the final weekend in Las Vegas, Lusail and Abu Dhabi.
China also makes its return to the calendar after a five-year absence, making it the seventh race on the Asian continent on the 2024 F1 calendar; six are in the Americas and 10 are in Europe.
The first two races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia will be run on Saturday instead of Sunday to allow for the proper celebration of the Ramadan holiday, which begins for the Islamic world on precisely Sunday, March 10, in the aftermath of the Jeddah Grand Prix (to allow for safe logistics, the Bahrain race , scheduled for the previous weekend, was also brought forward). It is just one of the many signs of the Circus’s extraordinary internationalization and the relevance of the top 4-wheel series to an ever-widening cross-section of audiences.
The U.S. explosion, due to Drive to Survive but not only, is forcing the FIA and the various governing bodies to manage wisely the great appetite for F1 in the star-studded territories but in general throughout North America. Mexico, Canada, and the United States count 5 races in total-an impressive number for a market that is growing widely but whose possible saturation thresholds are still difficult to understand.
For
sponsors
and brands involved in the championship, the very long F1 2024 calendar is a golden opportunity to secure even more awareness and additional engagement opportunities. The gradual reduction of the winter break, now reduced to not even three months off, prevents the sport from losing newsworthiness and ensures more extensive coverage throughout the calendar year, once again benefiting investors, partners and passionate audiences.
On the other hand, a championship of this size is a significant economic, engineering, organizational and human challenge, and it will be interesting to see how teams, drivers and staff cope with a campaign of some 10 months in which there are very few stopovers and the famous summer break is now reduced to little more than three weeks.
All things considered, it is clear that Formula 1 ‘s 2024 calendar is yet another confirmation, if any were needed, of the championship’s state of grace. A season of this magnitude is possible only if undergirded by solid general enthusiasm and the certainty of afirst-rate organization in the four corners of the world. The many sell-outs recorded by the series in the past two years are a sign of a sport that is healthy and still can afford to grow, meeting temporal, even before geographic, boundaries. While it is true that circuits old and new want Formula 1, it must be said that the weeks available are few and the logistical demands stringent. Ambitions and possibilities are currently dosed expertly by Domenicali and his staff, who have the second most prestigious sports league in the world in terms of reach and popularity on their hands.
Are you ready to explore the transformative power of athlete sponsorship for your brand? Click here to learn more about how sponsorship can help brands grow and thrive in the exciting world of motorsports.
A graduate in Public, Social and Political Communication from the University of Bologna, he has always been passionate about marketing, design and sport.
The online platform where you can discover the latest trends, strategies and insights from the exciting world of sports marketing.
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By doing so, we are convinced that we are shortening the value chain, saving time and money. However, these DYI methods are anything but risk-free and what initially appears to be a competitive advantage soon turns into a problem that is difficult to resolve. That’s why there are agencies. And this is why you should rely on us for your sponsorships.
When first approaching a sponsorship or sports marketing project, it is difficult to know immediately which stakeholders are correct, what the decision flow is, and what the right timelines are for each process. Sports is a very specialized field of action, and fitting effectively into its paths can take a lot of time and therefore money. We, on the other hand, know referents and spheres of action and know who to talk to, when and how. So you are also more effective.
Sports is an immense passion, and for our heart colors we would be willing to do anything. But business is a different business, and it is important to make the best possible strategic decisions based on independent research, statistics and reliable data. A sports marketing and sports sponsorship agency like RTR has an objective, 360-degree picture of the scenario and can tell you what is really best for you: which sport, which athlete, which team. This is because we possess a great deal of data and information on ratings, segmentation and attitudes. Because the numbers don’t lie. Never.
Activations are the real heart of sports sponsorship. Without them, there remains only a blank sticker on a motorcycle, car or uniform and no contact with the public, no emotional connection, no impact on the bottom line. Then how do you do it? It certainly won’t be the teams or the athletes who will help you leverage sponsorship and enjoy the many marketing rights you have paid for. To bring out the best in a sports marketing project you need an agency that knows how to use sponsorship to engage the fanbase on the Web, to reach out to Shopping Centers, to organize hospitality, to develop B2B and B2C opportunities, and to get “your” athletes in front of millions of potential consumers.
Would you ever go to the dealer who sold you the car and ask if the competitor’s car is better? No, of course. So, how do you expect to get firm measurements of the effectiveness of your sponsorship if you do not rely on someone super partes? At RTR, we have always worked with independent third-party agencies that allow us to know the return on any exposure of your brand on TV and in the media. In addition, we believe in calculating ROI as the ultimate measure of your success-so we can tell you for every penny you spend how much you are making.
We have been involved in sports sponsorship and sports marketing for more than 15 years. We are consultants in the sense that our goal is to maximize your investment, but we are also an agency that manages the project from start to finish. We have been doing this since 1995 with passion and professionalism, following three principles that have become cornerstones of our business: independence, verticality and transparency.
I would like to highlight the fact that one of the qualities of RTR is its great ability to approach the sponsorship scenario strategically, together with its passionate attitude, its amazing enthusiasm for solving problems, and its high level of professionalism.
Gianluca Degliesposti
Executive Director Server&Storage EMEA
Eurosport is truly delighted with its business relationship with Riccardo Tafà, who has become extremely popular, thanks to his detailed knowledge of the sports marketing sector and his highly diligent attitude to work.
Francois Ribeiro
Commercial Director
Passion and Expertise are the features that I have found in RTR since the very beginning. Serious and reliable professionals but also very helpful, nice and open-mind people, willing to listen and compare different ideas. All the values in which RTR believes make this agency a partner, not just a supplier, a partner with whom we have had the opportunity to achieve significant commercial results in term of success and image.
Luca Pacitto
Head of Communication
We have been working with RTR Sports Marketing for over 10 years. The objectives and the programmes of collaboration continue to be renewed and to grow with mutual satisfaction. I believe RTR is a team of great professionals led by Riccardo Tafà, who I consider a manager of exceptional skills and with a great passion for his work.
Lucio Cecchinello
Team Principal
I have known and worked with Riccardo Tafà since 1995 when we collaborated for the first time on a project for the Williams Formula 1 team. Several clients followed. After leaving Williams to work for Gerhard Berger then owner of the Toro Rosso F1 Team, I turned again to Riccardo to seek his help in finding a tool supplier for the team and Riccardo duly obliged with an introduction to USAG, a partnership with Toro Rosso which endured for five years. I recently started a new role as Group Commercial Director for the renowned Andretti Autosport organisation and I find myself working with Riccardo once again on a number of interesting projects. Why has this relationship with Riccardo endured ? He’s smart, knows the commercial side of sport inside out and back to front and he’s honest and trustworthy. Riccardo Tafà is a “doer” not a “talker”: in over 20 years I have never had a dispute either with him or with a company that he has introduced and each partnership introduced by Riccardo has delivered quantifiable ROI to rights holder and sponsor alike. I can think of no better testimonial of Riccardo’s diligence, knowledge, contact base and hard work than that.
Jim Wright
Group Commercial Director
The online platform where you can discover the latest trends, strategies and insights from the exciting world of sports marketing.
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