The Chief Executive of Jumbo, Max Verstappen’s former long-time sponsor, Ton van Veen has revealed why the supermarket chain cut ties with Formula 1 at the end of 2023.
Jumbo had long been associated with Verstappen even before he arrived in F1 with Red Bull’s second-string squad, known then as Toro Rosso as a 17-year-old back in 2015.
Verstappen has since become an established name in the sport’s history, claiming three consecutive Drivers’ titles and 53 victories to place third on the all-time list.
The soaring popularity of the Dutchman yielded the return of the Dutch Grand Prix to Zandvoort in 2021 after a 36-year absence, with Jumbo named as an official partner.
However, in June last year, Jumbo announced it would be cutting back its expenditure on sporting partnerships to dedicate investment towards its customers.
This came after the revelation that ex-Jumbo Chief Executive Frits van Eerd stepped down in October 2022 amid an investigation into a suspected case of money laundering.
Van Veen, who was promoted from his previous role as finance director, has now explained why he decided to stop the company’s commitment to top-line sport.
“In recent years, Jumbo has lost its focus somewhat,” he told Dutch outlet De Volkskrant.
“We have added a number of activities that have not necessarily strengthened the formula. We have also become very active in sports sponsorship.
“But when you look at the successes of athletes and teams, you have to ask yourself if that suits us. Max Verstappen is a World Champion. But we are a Dutch supermarket company, not even the biggest. On the world stage, we don’t have much business.
“That means we no longer put tens of millions into sports sponsorship but use it to lower prices. That is the essence of Jumbo as it was meant to be.”
As a renowned household figure in the sporting world, Verstappen is unlikely to be short of various companies queuing up to present eye-watering sponsorship proposals.
The 26-year-old’s record-breaking success, which included winning 19 out of 22 races in 2023, prompted F1 business expert Mark Gallagher to speculate that he could become “the first billion-dollar Formula 1 driver” ever.
“The reason I say that is because you really don’t need to sit in front of a calculator for very long to work out that,” Gallagher said.
“If he’s already been in Formula 1 since the age of 17, even if you put in a sort of relatively modest trajectory in terms of his salary, he’s already well into nine figures – hundreds of millions of dollars of income during his career to date.
“He’s got a very long way to go, potentially. This is one of the interesting things about Max saying he may not stick around that long, because he certainly doesn’t need to stick around in order to make serious money.
“He’s already made serious money, and he will make serious money over the balance of his Red Bull contract until 2028.
“The deals that he has are not stratospheric – they’re not Nike/NBA-style personal endorsement deals – but they are still significant.
“When you start to add them up, if you’ve got £1.5m here or £2million there – and this is on top of your salary – you can see that he’s reached a point where it’s no wonder he looks so relaxed about everything in his life.
“He’s literally in the class of his own.”
