Even before its premiere in late June, F1 the movie was making headlines for its goings-on behind the scenes. Produced by Apple Studios, the film secured $40 million in brand sponsorships for the fictional, on-screen F1 team APXGP, for which the film’s protagonist Sonny Hayes (played by Brad Pitt) drives. Unlike traditional product placement deals that feature a brand for just a few moments, F1 sponsors were visible throughout the film as their logos adorned the central characters’ cars and costumes.
We used our consumer intelligence and influencer marketing solutions to see which sponsorship activations had the biggest impacts in the weeks leading up to F1’s staggered, international premiere dates at the end of June. Here three of the top-performing activations that drove big results for sponsoring brands.
Looking to dig into the details? Click here to access our full analysis and consumer intelligence insights dashboard about F1 sponsorships.
Note: The data discussed below looks at relevant English-language mentions of the F1 movie and a selection of movie partners on media and social media sources from June 1 to June 30, 2025.
Gareth Bale’s black carpet Instagram posts for Heineken UK
This Instagram post tagging @heineken_uk achieved a 1.52% engagement rate and more than $902,000 in estimated media value (EMV).
Retired footballer Gareth Bale attended F1’s London movie premiere on June 23, and his two posts from the black carpet paid off big for movie and league sponsor Heineken and its non-alcoholic offering Heineken 0.0.
Posts mentioning Heineken in online conversations about F1 the movie reached an estimated 25.7 million social media users and generated about 956,000 engagement actions.
Overall, the brand achieved an estimated reach of 25.7 million in social media conversations about the movie, far beyond that of other movie partners. And over 60% of that reach came from Bale’s posts alone.
McDonald’s’ limited-edition F1 Happy Meals
The fast food giant, an F1 regional partner for Latin America, tapped into nostalgia with its Happy Meals promotion offering exclusive F1 miniatures as the toy inside. Though Happy Meals are traditionally for kids, the promotion appealed to the film’s adult audience, harkening back to childhood playtimes spent with toy racing cars as well as the chain’s ‘80s and ‘90s partnership with Hot Wheels.
This Instagram post from @smoothrac3r achieved an eye-popping 180% engagement rate and generated over $546,000 in EMV.
That creative take helped the regional promotion go viral globally. This was largely thanks to a significant engagement boost from an organic Instagram post by car content account @smoothrac3r. As a result, McDonald’s scored the second highest engagement rate of the F1 partners we analyzed, outperforming Pirelli and Paramount+, among others.
Pirelli’s and F1’s Hot Wheels collaboration
Speaking of toy cars, tire manufacturer Pirelli enjoyed a significant boost in engagement thanks to Hot Wheels’ collaboration with F1. The toy brand created 1:64 scale replicas of the cars from the film. And since Pirelli, F1’s official tire supplier, also provided the tires for the film, the brand featured prominently in the visuals from the Hot Wheels campaign.
This Instagram post from @hypewhip achieved an engagement rate of 1.37% and generated over $109,000 in EMV.
One from the official Hot Wheels account and another from automotive account @hypewhip collectively generated 90% of the tire brand’s over 166,000 engagement actions in relation to F1. Notably, neither was a sponsored post with Pirelli, but both mentioned the brand’s name in their captions and featured their branded Hot Wheels tires in the visuals.
Takeaways for marketers
Our sponsorship analysis of the F1 movie offers some important insights and lessons for brands. Dive deeper into the results, including comparisons between F1 league and F1 movie sponsors, by checking out our F1 Movie Brand Visibility Dashboard. Brands analyzed include those discussed above, as well as others like IWC, Tommy Hilfiger, Mercedes-AMG, and Qatar Airways. In the meantime, here are three quick takeaways from the activations mentioned above:
Shareable content from interest-based accounts can outperform official partnership posts. Social media posts from interest-based accounts drummed up significant excitement around brand activations, helping McDonald’s and Pirelli ride the F1 publicity wave straight into the spotlight. Brands can help encourage these kinds of engagement-driving organic mentions by creating visually compelling activation assets that fan accounts can repurpose and reshare with minimal effort.
Tap into shared emotions and memories. When it comes to the entertainment world, success isn’t always about star power. Creative campaigns that resonate with audiences on an emotional level can have global appeal, as demonstrated by the McDonald’s Happy Meal activation.
Influencer alignment is key. And other times, success is about starpower, especially when it is leveraged for cross-audience appeal. Gareth Bale’s sports- and luxury-focused, international following is a perfect match for F1’s polished brand. As the success of his Instagram posts shows, the F1 premiere was an opportune event for Heineken 0.0 to highlight itself as a premium name in non-alcoholic beverages.
