The sponsor boss – a rarity

Because he is providing the money you might assume that the sponsor has a big say in how the team is run. In nearly every case, you’d be wrong. Sponsors typically hand over the money in exchange for certain guaranteed rights such as the use of team images in their advertising, an agreed number of days of exclusive access to the team drivers for any promotional events the sponsors want to do, hospitality for the sponsors and their guests at the races, an agreed amount of the sponsors’ livery on the cars and team clothing, and so on. But these rights almost never extend to a say in the running of the team which is left to those best qualified for the job: the team boss and his directors.
Certain exceptions exist, however. Sometimes the sponsors are the car manufacturers who, in addition to supplying an independent team’s engines, also make a contribution to the team’s budget. Manufacturers tend to have more of a say in key technical decisions and even sometimes driver choice. Another exception is when the sponsor becomes the team owner. This situation occurred when the Benetton clothing empire progressed from sponsoring a team to buying it outright. Another example is BAR (British American Racing), which was set up from the start with the tobacco company British American Tobacco as the majority shareholder. Although representatives of the tobacco company don’t specify what angle they’d like the cylinder “vee” of the engine or the shape of the sidepods to be, they ultimately decide who does make these choices.