Formula 1 teams’ total sponsorship revenue rose by 22.1% to $2.54billion in 2025, closing the gap to global leader, the NFL, from $360million to $120m compared to the previous year, according to a new report by SponsorUnited.

SponsorUnited is a global sports and entertainment sponsorship intelligence platform and compiles its annual report based on its own data and proprietary model that estimates the total annual price of sponsorship agreements. It places F1 as the second-most lucrative sports league, with the NFL leading the way at $2.66bn and the English Premier League third on $2.02bn.

F1’s $2.54bn total represents an increase of $460m compared to 2024, with SponsorUnited claiming a total of 382 deals across 358 unique brands. That compares to 345 deals across 325 brands the previous year.

Mercedes leads the way with an estimated total of $558m, with the other members of F1’s ‘big four’ on track - Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren - also joining it in leading the way on sponsorship revenue. Haas is ranked last of the 10 teams competing in F1 in 2025.

The technology sector is the largest contributor in terms of sponsorship at $769m, a year-on-year rise of 40.8%, with Oracle, CrowdStrike and TeamViewer all in F1’s top 10 team contributors. The report also notes AI companies have emerged as a key driver of this growth. Financial ($456m) and apparel and accessories ($219m) are ranked second and third respectively, while hotel, restaurant, leisure was found to be the fastest-growing despite ranking only 10th at $55m thanks to a rise of $21m (+62.4%).

The report also tracks drivers, noting Charles Leclerc had the largest growth in social media following from March 2025 to March 2026, adding 6.3m to make a total of 32.8m, a rise of 23.9%. Lewis Hamilton is ranked second in terms of followers gained at 5m, but with the highest total reach at 60m. Oscar Piastri had the highest growth rate among the top 10 drivers at 65.9% to take his total to 9.3m.

Sergio Perez topped the rankings for the number of driver endorsements despite spending 2025 on the sidelines, with a total of 31 deals. Lando Norris is ranked second on 18, with Franco Colapinto third on 17.

The report notes that “drivers now rival teams as media platforms” and “are unlocking categories teams can’t reach on their own”.