Lewis Hamilton's switch to Ferrari has the merchandising cash register ringing. The Brit's fans have practically overrun equipment supplier Puma. The equipment partner has now published its first figures.
Lewis Hamilton raced in silver for twelve years. Since the start of the current season, the driver and his fans have had to get used to a new color. The announcement that Ferrari had signed the record winner had already caused quite a stir last season. However, the euphoria in the first few months of the year was heightened once again when the change was completed.
The first official picture of Lewis Hamilton in front of Enzo Ferrari's old house received 5.7 million likes from fans on Instagram. No other post with Formula 1 content had ever generated such a social media response before. Ferrari fed the wave of euphoria bit by bit with new content during the winter break and kept it rolling into the season.
The hype surrounding Hamilton naturally led to an increase in demand for merchandising products. All the fans who had been wearing the seven-time world champion's Mercedes gear for years now naturally had to switch sides with their idol. The demand for caps and shirts with the starting number 44 was huge. Unfortunately, the new Ferrari Formula 1 collection was not yet available in time for the start of work shortly after the turn of the year.
Queues in front of the Ferrari stands
It was only shortly before the start of the season that equipment supplier Puma began to meet demand and supply dealers. Anyone who was there in Melbourne could see huge crowds of people in front of the Ferrari stands in Albert Park. Ferrari has always been the most popular team in the Formula 1 field in Australia, but with Lewis Hamilton, sales increased considerably once again.
The renowned British portal "SportBusiness" has learned from sources at Puma that merchandising sales have increased eightfold in the first few months of this year compared to the same period last year. Of course, a large proportion of this revenue goes directly back to Ferrari in the form of license fees. This means that a considerable portion of the driver's salary, estimated at over 50 million euros, has probably already been recouped.
Ferrari's F1 income explodes
Ferrari's cash registers were already ringing last season. With HP, the Scuderia found a new title sponsor before the Miami Grand Prix, which alone is expected to bring in more than half of the permitted budget cap expenditure (approx. 140 million US dollars). During the winter break, a major deal was then concluded with the Italian UniCredit bank.
Second place in the team standings also contributed to the increase in revenue. According to the official bonus key, the Scuderia is now entitled to 242 million dollars - 34 million more than in the previous year. The explosion in revenue and the spending limits that apply to all teams ensure that Ferrari makes a tidy profit with the Formula 1 team and that the project no longer has a negative impact on the balance sheet as marketing expenses, as was previously the case.
