Sephora has signed on as a sponsor of F1 Academy, coinciding with all 10 teams in the women's racing series confirming multi-year partnership extensions. The beauty retailer joins a commercial lineup that now includes sponsors across cosmetics, financial services, and automotive sectors as the series enters its third season.
The team recommitments represent the first full grid renewal since F1 Academy launched in 2023. Teams operate under a franchise-style model where they pay participation fees and receive central revenue distributions. The multi-year extensions lock in grid stability through at least 2027, removing uncertainty that had complicated sponsor negotiations during the series' inaugural seasons. Sephora's deal runs parallel to the team agreements, though F1 Academy declined to specify term length or activation budgets.
The Sephora partnership arrives as F1 Academy expands its race calendar and broadcast footprint. The series will run seven rounds in 2025, up from five in its debut year, with races appearing on F1's support card at grands prix including Miami, Monaco, and Austin. That schedule gives Sephora access to F1's core audience—younger, more female-skewed than traditional motorsport demographics—without the $50 million annual minimums required for Formula 1 title partnerships. LVMH, Sephora's parent, already maintains watch brand TAG Heuer's F1 timekeeping deal, suggesting coordinated portfolio deployment across the sport's ladder.
The team extensions also clarify the commercial model for organizations still sizing F1 Academy's return profile. Early participants included F1 teams' junior programs—Alpine, McLaren, Williams—alongside independent outfits like Rodin and ART. Multi-year commitments indicate those teams now see predictable sponsorship revenue and driver development value sufficient to justify participation costs, which industry sources estimate at $1.5 million to $2 million annually per entry when accounting for staffing, logistics, and equipment.
For sponsors, F1 Academy offers a testing ground for women's sports investment at lower entry costs than W Series, the rival championship that folded in 2023 after losing $8 million in backer funds. Sephora's move follows a pattern: beauty and wellness brands have increased women's sports spending 40% since 2022, per sponsorship analytics firm SponsorUnited, but remain underweight in motorsport relative to categories like soccer and basketball. The F1 Academy deal lets Sephora activate at paddock level—trackside branding, hospitality, product integration—while avoiding the complexity of negotiating with 10 separate F1 teams for comparable exposure.
The series' stability also matters for driver pathway economics. F1 Academy champions receive €100,000 in prize money and testing opportunities with F1 teams, but the real value lies in visibility to Formula 2 and Formula 3 team managers scouting the next grid. A stable three-year commercial window gives drivers clearer funding timelines and teams predictable budgets for multi-season talent development, addressing the fragmented sponsorship cycles that historically stalled women's progression through racing's junior ranks.
Sephora's activation strategy will clarify when the series announces its full 2025 sponsor roster, expected in March. The brand's digital-first approach—80% of Sephora's marketing budget flows to social and influencer channels—suggests content plays beyond static trackside boards: driver collaborations, behind-the-scenes series, product launches timed to race weekends. That would align with F1 Academy's pitch to sponsors: access to a younger, more commercially engaged audience than F1's core, with lower clutter and higher share-of-voice per dollar spent.
Watch for additional sponsor announcements before the season opener in Jeddah on March 7. F1 Academy is in late-stage talks with a sportswear brand and a financial services firm, according to two people familiar with the negotiations. The team agreements also open the door for individual team-level sponsors; several outfits are pursuing naming-rights deals now that multi-year grid participation is locked.
The takeaway
All 10 F1 Academy teams commit multi-year as Sephora joins, stabilizing the commercial base and clarifying return timelines for sponsors and driver development budgets.
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