Why Hello Kitty and F1 Academy deal marks a key motorsport moment

A partnership between F1 Academy and Hello Kitty has highlighted the increasing commercial strength of the Liberty Media-owned competition.

It’s the latest global brand to join forces with the all-female entry-level competition, now in its third year.

F1 Academy partners with Hello Kitty to celebrate season finale

The Hello Kitty relationship will see the eponymous anthropomorphic cat feature in a 36-piece merchandise collection alongside dedicated Hello Kitty grandstands and fan activations (including a Hello Kitty Café) at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Hello Kitty and Friends to celebrate the final round of our season,” said Susie Wolff, managing director of F1 Academy. “Set against the iconic skyline, we’re creating a finale like no other. With the Hello Kitty Grandstand experience and merchandise range, we want to go out with a bang and challenge the outdated perceptions of what belongs in motorsport.”

The Hello Kitty deal points to a changing landscape in global motorsport.

Once the bastion of tobacco companies, the sponsorship market has changed as the demographic which follows it has evolved.

Since Liberty Media’s acquisition of the commercial rights to Formula 1 in early 2017, the sport has become more open than ever before. It has also engaged in commercial partnerships like never before, such as its $10 billion deal with LVMH, Lego, and Hot Wheels.

That has seen a far greater emphasis on social media alongside other initiatives such as Drive to Survive, which have exposed the sport, and F1 in particular, to new audiences.

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Coupled with teams enjoying far healthier financial positions and closer on-track competition, the influx of new fans has been matched by corporate interest.

New brands have began to enter the sport, both at F1 and through relationships elsewhere. Hello Kitty is a prime example of those changing attitudes, and the value motorsport now has.

The Japanese brand, originally conceived for children, was repositioned in the 1990s to target teenagers and adults. That has including crossovers with luxury and lifestyle products that clearly target older market segments. Almost 75 per cent of its followers are female.

Its involvement with F1 Academy makes sense. Female fans now represent more than 40 per cent of F1’s global fanbase, while a recent survey suggested 42 per cent of those F1 Academy. Almost a quarter of F1 fans proclaim they follow the all-female competition.

“Formula 1 is a perfect example of a rights owner innovating its relationship with fans,” Jon Stainer, Nielsen Sports’ Global General Manager, told Forbes in late 2024. “Growth of interest, especially among women and newer markets like Saudi Arabia can be attributed largely by a shift in how the teams and drivers are profiled today, and the access they are affording global audiences. New sponsorship categories are opening up. We’re seeing a significant shift in the brands engaging in the sport, attracted to this changing fan demographic.”

F1 Academy has two rounds left in 2025, the next of which takes places as part of the undercard to the Singapore Grand prix next weekend. From there, the seven-round season will conclude in Las Vegas.

Mercedes’ Doriane Pin heads the competition with 127 points, courtesy of three race wins, ahead of Ferrari’s Maya Weug.

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