The last two years have been like a dream for Max Verstappen. The Dutchman took the Formula 1 world championship crown twice, and the 25-year-old can hardly save himself from advertising deals and sponsorship inquiries. Now Verstappen has landed a deal in his homeland that has never existed before.
Max Verstappen knows his new advertising partner very well. Not only because Heineken has been present in Formula 1 for years and even sponsors a few Grands Prix, but also because the brewery company comes from its Dutch homeland.
No wonder, then, that Heineken made an exception for Verstappen to complete the new unique partnership. Because the beer brewer doesn’t actually work with individual athletes, but only supports large events or competitions, such as the aforementioned sponsorship of the top class of motorsport as a whole.
“We entered Formula 1 in 2016 with the belief that a whole new generation of drivers and fans was coming. At the time we could never have imagined that the sport would grow so much in a few years. Max’s success has contributed enormously to this,” said Dolf van den Brink, CEO at Heineken, on the cooperation with the F1 world champion, who is also active in the eSports sector.
Verstappen is now supposed to promote the “Player 0.0” initiative, which is about the responsible use of alcohol.
Verstappen: It’s “something very special”
“Since I myself come from the Netherlands, it is something very special to enter into a partnership with a Dutch cult brand like Heineken. Anyone who knows me knows that I am very goal-oriented and as a driver I don’t want to leave any room for mistakes,” said Verstappen to the new deal, which is set to run for six years. It is not yet known how much money the 25-year-old will make from this. However, the newspaper “De Limburger” reports a “million deal”.
In addition to the individual partnership with Verstappen, Heineken will also support the world champion’s Formula 1 racing team from the forthcoming season, which made Red Bull team boss Christian Horner happy.
“Every great team needs a set of great partners to support them along the way, and we’re thrilled to have Heineken as one of our global partners with their alcohol-free brand, Heineken 0.0,” said Horner.