The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team has partnered with PepsiCo in a new global alliance featuring Gatorade, Sting, and Doritos. The collaboration integrates performance, hydration, and immersive fan experiences, placing PepsiCo at the heart of Formula One’s global growth and next-level engagement on and off the track.
The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team has announced a new global partnership with PepsiCo, marking a significant commercial alliance that brings together three of the company’s flagship brands—Gatorade, Sting, and Doritos—under a single, integrated collaboration with one of the most successful teams in modern Formula One history. The partnership reflects Formula One’s growing appeal to multinational consumer brands seeking deeper engagement with fans, performance credentials, and global cultural relevance both on and off the track.
The announcement was shared by Chris Church, Global Partnerships and Vice President Partnerships APAC at the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, who described the collaboration as an alignment with PepsiCo at the centre of the sport’s global momentum. The partnership is positioned as a wide-ranging integration across the team’s operations, encompassing athlete performance, hydration science, and fan-facing experiences that extend well beyond traditional sponsorship visibility.
At the core of the collaboration is Gatorade, a brand long associated with elite athletic performance and sports science. Its inclusion signals a focus on performance optimisation, with hydration programmes expected to play a meaningful role within the team’s demanding Formula One environment. Drivers, engineers, and pit crews operate under extreme physical and cognitive stress across race weekends, where marginal gains in hydration, endurance, and recovery can translate directly into competitive advantage. By integrating Gatorade into its performance ecosystem, Mercedes-AMG Petronas reinforces its emphasis on science-led preparation and human performance as critical elements of success in Formula One.
Alongside Gatorade, Sting and Doritos bring a distinctly different dimension to the partnership, one rooted in energy, youth culture, and fan engagement. Sting’s positioning as an energy drink aligns naturally with Formula One’s fast-paced, high-intensity appeal, while Doritos’ association with shared entertainment and pop culture offers opportunities for fan-driven activations beyond the race circuit. Together, the three brands allow PepsiCo to engage multiple audience segments through a single partnership, ranging from athletes and performance purists to digitally native fans consuming Formula One as both a sport and a lifestyle phenomenon.
The partnership reflects a broader shift in how sponsorships are structured within Formula One. Rather than standalone logo placements, modern partnerships are increasingly built around integrated storytelling, experiential marketing, and operational collaboration. PepsiCo’s involvement is described as comprehensive, spanning everything from hydration initiatives within the team to immersive fan experiences designed to deepen emotional connection with the sport. This approach aligns with Formula One’s rapid growth across global markets, particularly among younger audiences drawn in by streaming platforms, social media, and behind-the-scenes content.
For Mercedes-AMG Petronas, the collaboration strengthens an already diverse and high-profile partner portfolio. The team has consistently positioned itself as a technology-driven organisation that blends engineering excellence with cultural relevance. By aligning with PepsiCo’s globally recognised brands, it reinforces its stature not only as a competitive force on the grid but also as a platform for mass-market engagement. The partnership underscores how Formula One teams are increasingly operating as global entertainment brands, capable of delivering value far beyond race results.
From PepsiCo’s perspective, the alliance offers access to one of the world’s most visible sporting stages. Formula One’s calendar spans multiple continents, delivering year-round exposure across Europe, Asia, the Americas, and the Middle East. Its expanding fan base and strong digital footprint make it an attractive vehicle for brands seeking sustained global reach. By partnering with Mercedes-AMG Petronas, PepsiCo gains alignment with a team synonymous with innovation, excellence, and winning—a narrative that resonates strongly with consumer brand positioning.
The emphasis on “next-level performance on and off the track,” as highlighted in Church’s announcement, suggests that the partnership will extend into content creation, experiential marketing, and possibly grassroots or community-focused initiatives. Modern Formula One audiences engage with the sport through multiple touchpoints, from live races and esports to social platforms and documentary-style storytelling. Brands that successfully integrate into these channels are able to build deeper, more authentic connections with fans, moving beyond passive sponsorship to active participation in the sport’s narrative.
The inclusion of Sting and Doritos also hints at the increasing convergence of sport, entertainment, and lifestyle marketing. Formula One’s transformation into a global spectacle has opened the door for snack and beverage brands that traditionally relied on mainstream entertainment platforms. Race weekends, team content, and fan zones now function as cultural moments, offering brands high-energy environments in which to showcase personality and creativity. For PepsiCo, this partnership creates opportunities to activate across physical venues and digital platforms, reaching fans in ways that feel organic rather than transactional.
Chris Church’s role in articulating the partnership highlights the growing strategic importance of global and regional partnerships within Formula One teams. As Vice President Partnerships APAC, his involvement also reflects Asia-Pacific’s rising significance in the sport’s commercial expansion. With races across Singapore, Japan, China, and Australia, and a growing fan base in Southeast Asia and India, the region represents a key growth frontier for both Formula One and global consumer brands like PepsiCo.
This collaboration also speaks to the evolving demands placed on teams to deliver value beyond on-track success. Performance remains central, but partners increasingly seek measurable engagement, data-driven activation, and alignment with brand values. Sustainability, health, innovation, and fan inclusivity have become important considerations, and partnerships are expected to reflect these priorities. The integration of hydration science, energy, and shared consumption moments suggests a multi-layered strategy designed to resonate across these dimensions.
As Formula One continues to grow its cultural footprint, partnerships such as this one underline how the sport has become a powerful convergence point for technology, entertainment, and global consumer culture. The Mercedes-AMG Petronas and PepsiCo alliance illustrates how leading teams are leveraging their platforms to create partnerships that feel embedded rather than appended, contributing to performance, storytelling, and fan engagement in equal measure.
With three globally recognised brands coming together under a single partnership umbrella, the collaboration sets the stage for expansive activation across markets and media. While details of specific initiatives are expected to unfold over time, the announcement itself signals a shared ambition to push boundaries and redefine what a modern sports partnership can achieve. For Mercedes-AMG Petronas and PepsiCo alike, the alliance represents a strategic bet on Formula One’s continued momentum and its ability to deliver next-generation performance, visibility, and connection on a truly global scale.
