WhatsApp/Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team
Meta’s WhatsApp instant messaging platform will have its logo on a button on the steering wheels of the cars of Mercedes-Benz’ F1 team in 2024, the latest unique sponsor integration in the global racing series. California-based WhatsApp has started dabbling in sports over the last few years including working with Bucks F Giannis Antetokounmpo on content and rolling out a Channels feature last year that properties like UFC and NASCAR engaged with. Around the time of the inaugural F1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix in November, WhatsApp also announced that it had signed its first sports sponsorship with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, which is partially owned by the German road car giant. The team was also an early adopter of the Channels feature that it uses to share content with fans on the platform.
Now, as F1’s season got under way today with testing in Bahrain, the sides have shown off the new steering wheel activation, which will get exposure all season long when F1’s broadcasts switch to show in-car cameras of Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. The button on the steering wheel with the WhatsApp logo allows the driver to communicate with the team radio, tying into the company's status as a global messaging platform.
Other unique sponsor integrations in F1 over the years include how Mercedes drivers have worn gloves that have images of IWC watches emblazoned over the wrist area, as if they were wearing a watch during a race.
