Coca-Cola extend partnership with McLaren

Amidst the chaos in Formula 1, McLaren have some positive news to reveal after they extended their partnership with Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola first signed up to become the official soft drinks partner of McLaren at the back end of 2018 and has continued with rolling one-year extensions.

The deal will see Coca-Cola branding be displayed on the side of the MCL35’s cockpit, as well as on the drinks bottles of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris.

McLaren and Coca-Cola will also continue with its ‘Coke Driven to Deliver’ series hosted by Amazon where both Sainz and Norris deliver Coca-Cola to Amazon customers.

Sportbusiness.com report though that the utility of the deal is heavily reliant on how Formula 1 responds to the coronavirus outbreak.

McLaren withdrew from the season-opening Australian Grand Prix after one of their employees tested positive for the virus, a decision which started the spiral of decline which ultimately caused the race weekend to be cancelled.

Zak Brown, chief executive of McLaren Racing, said in a tweet: “I applaud the decision by F1, the FIA [International Automobile Federation] and the AGPC [Australian Grand Prix Corporation] to cancel the Australian GP.

“The health and safety of the F1 family and local community must come first. As a racer, this was the most difficult decision I have had to take. As a CEO, it was the easiest decision to take.”

Speaking about the deal, Matthew Tarallo, global vice-president, Amazon at The Coca-Cola Company, said: “Formula 1 is an incredibly engaging platform for our consumers. We built great momentum in 2019 and look forward to continuing our partnership with McLaren in 2020.”

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