Formula 1 didn’t just modernise. It went and completely reinvented itself in the digital world!
Once seen as a high-speed spectacle for the elite few, the sport is now a full-blown cultural obsession among Gen Z and younger Millennials. With TikToks, docuseries, fashion partnerships, and meme-worthy moments, F1 has shed its niche reputation and taken center stage in the global entertainment conversation.
Behind this cultural acceleration is a strategic, digitally driven marketing transformation. F1's recent rise is the clear outcome of smart content, personality-led storytelling and a modern media machine, with an effective social media strategy, firing on all cylinders.
A Strategic Ownership Shift
In 2017, Formula 1 was acquired by Liberty Media, marking the start of a new era for the sport. Their goal? To make F1 more youthful, more globally appealing and commercially dynamic, which meant building a fully fledged entertainment brand. The result? A new era of F1 exposure.
F1 has always embodied luxury, exclusivity, and prestige, from celebrity-packed paddocks to longstanding affiliations with brands like Rolex and Moët & Chandon. But Liberty Media didn’t want to dismantle that prestige that has always been associated with the sport. Instead, they wanted to make it desirable yet relatable, opening up the sport’s mystique to fans without diluting its brand equity. What came about was a refined balance: a sport that still feels aspirational but now speaks the language of culture and everyday fandom; if not even at times, leading it.
Driving Engagement in the Digital Sphere
F1 fundamentally changed how it uses digital platforms — not as promotional tools, but as core brand touchpoints. Its content strategy prioritises frequency, relevance and platform-native formats, ensuring the sport is visible daily, not just on race weekends.
Key digital shifts include:
Short-form, algorithm-friendly content optimised for TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts
Real-time storytelling, reacting instantly to on-track drama, team radio moments and driver reactions
Data-led content decisions, identifying what moments spark engagement and doubling down on them
Always-on presence, keeping fans engaged between races, off-season and even during non-sporting moments
Crucially, F1 stopped assuming fans wanted only highlights. Instead, it leaned into context, emotion and shareability. A reaction, a joke, a behind-the-scenes clip or a tense team exchange often outperforms a race recap, because it’s designed for social behaviour, not traditional sports consumption.
To complement its social-first strategy, Formula 1 expanded into long-form and premium digital content through owned and partnered platforms. F1 TV serves as a direct-to-consumer hub that deepens immersion while giving the brand full ownership of fan data and engagement insights, a smart move that balances audience growth with long-term retention.
That ecosystem was accelerated by Drive to Survive and later expanded through F1: The Movie and Formula 1’s partnership with Apple TV. By positioning F1 alongside premium entertainment rather than traditional sports broadcasting, the brand lowered the barrier to entry, reached non-sports audiences and extended its IP beyond racing, reinforcing Formula 1 as a cultural property, not just a sporting league.
Humanising the Sport: Social Media & A Focus on Personality
A major catalyst for Formula 1’s new identity has been its revamped social media strategy. Instead of focusing solely on race stats or technical specs, the league and its teams began producing personality-led, humorous and platform-native content, especially on TikTok and Instagram.
This approach turned drivers into fully fletched influencers. From George Russell’s lifestyle to Carlos Sainz’s revolutionary partnership with L’Oreal and Charles Leclerc’s own ice cream brand endeavour, there’s no denying that the lives of drivers are follow-worthy and then some.
Same goes for the teams themselves. Whether it’s Visa Cash App Racing Bull’s humorous, trend-filled TikTok account, Ferrari’s lifestyle-led content with its megastar drivers or William Racing’s podcast-driven approach, they’ve upgraded their content to meet the needs and wants of younger audiences.
The sport by default now feels more human than ever. Audiences are no longer just watching fast cars, but are also interested and invested in following the people behind the wheel. They care about who’s friends with whom, what they wear off-track and how they joke in interviews.
Formula 1 now ranks as the fastest-growing major sports league on social media, with a reported 1.5 billion video views in the first half of 2023 alone and a fan base that is more engaged daily than those of NFL, NBA, or MLB.
According to Tracksuit’s 2025 findings, this strategy is paying off:
Beyond the Screen: Strategic Partnerships That Extend Culture
Formula 1’s partnerships strategy is a masterclass in cultural expansion. Rather than focusing solely on sponsorship visibility, the sport now collaborates with brands that help it enter everyday life, particularly for younger audiences.
Recent partnerships highlight this shift clearly. Brands like KitKat, announced as the Official Chocolate Bar of Formula 1, aren’t just about race-day branding; they embed F1 into everyday consumption moments. Similarly, partnerships with LEGO and Hot Wheels serve as early-entry touchpoints. These brands introduce Formula 1 to younger audiences long before they engage with the sport competitively.
Formula 1’s transformation is a compelling case study for marketers: even institutions built on heritage can, and must, adapt through thoughtful, narrative-led and audience-aligned strategies.
Why Gen Z Truly Connects with Formula 1
Formula 1’s appeal to Gen Z comes down to a few core marketing truths:
1. Storytelling Over Statistics: Younger audiences care less about technical mastery and more about narrative, emotion and character arcs.
2. Platform-First Thinking: F1 meets Gen Z where they already are — on TikTok, streaming platforms and social feeds — using formats they naturally engage with.
3. Social Currency: The sport consistently generates moments worth sharing, reacting to and talking about online.
4. Identity & Culture: F1 isn’t just something you watch. It’s something you follow, reference, meme and wear. It fits into lifestyle, not just fandom.