McLaren F1 In Talks With Coca-Cola For Future Sponsorship

McLaren F1 Exec Dir Zak BrownGETTY IMAGES

McLaren F1 CEO Zak Brown reported "excellent" feedback from Coca-Cola's three-race deal with McLaren at the end of the '18 season, according to Luke Smith of CRASH. McLaren announced in October it would be racing with branding for Coca-Cola and two of its sister brands, Dasani Sparkling and SmartWater, at races in the U.S., Brazil and Abu Dhabi. Brown said that talks were "ongoing with Coca-Cola about how a future deal between the two parties may work." Brown: "The Coke deal was excellent. It worked for them. I don't think it's probably appropriate that I share the specific results other than to say the feedback that we've had from Coca-Cola is that it worked. ... There is no better, more experienced, savvy, sophisticated sponsor probably in the world than Coca-Cola, so for them to come out of their end-of-the-year program with us seeing successes is something that we're proud of and the sport should be proud of" (CRASH, 12/23).