HP spends big to secure title sponsorship rights for the Ferrari Formula One team
It’s been a pretty big 24 hours in the world of Formula One. On top of rumors that Red Bull design guru Adrian Newey could be leaving the team for unknown pastures comes the news that Ferrari has named HP as its title sponsor for the next several years. That means the red team is going to have at least a splash of blue.
Starting from the next round of the season in Miami, the team will formally be known as Scuderia Ferrari HP. Aside from the branding aspect, Ferrari will adopt various HP technologies, including PCs, video conferencing and printers. The deal extends to Ferrari’s esport program and F1 Academy.
The deal does not include HP Enterprise, which was split into a separate company in 2015. HP Enterprise already has a sponsorship deal in place with Mercedes, where it supplies server, cloud and networking technologies.
Ferrari will run a special livery at the Miami Grand Prix scheduled for May 3-5. Despite Ferrari being synonymous with red, the F1 team has some history with blue. The one-off Miami livery is a unique opportunity to blend HP’s sponsorship with a retro azzurro color scheme.
The stars are aligning for Ferrari. Questionable strategy calls aside, a Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton driver lineup, a huge HP cash infusion and even the possibility of Adrian Newey joining the team will hopefully give F1 fans some excitement at the front of the field, if not for 2025, then for 2026 when a new set of regulations is set to be introduced.
Sorry, Max Verstappen fans, I want to see Ferrari, McLaren, and Aston Martin competing for wins, and not just podiums.
I’d like to throw Mercedes in there as well. I’ll try to give it a PC hardware bent, and say AMD may wish it stuck with Ferrari a bit longer. The last three years haven’t been kind to the AMD-sponsored Mercedes team.
Who knows? Maybe the HP Enterprise board is having a meeting or two as well.