How did sponsorship work in 2010 or 2012 compared to today? I want to keep it open-ended because I might not know all the differences. It might have worked very differently back then compared to now, but I'll leave that to you.

Brands nowadays are much keener to latch onto something from a storytelling perspective. There are still a lot of similarities from the last 10 or even 20 years. A lot of sponsorship is still driven by CEOs who like the sport and want to attend races, bringing family, friends, and clients to show off. Sponsorship deals are still more about the heart than the head, driven by gut feeling and perception rather than quantifiable numbers.

How did sponsorship work in 2010 or 2012 compared to today? I want to keep it open-ended because I might not know all the differences. It might have worked very differently back then compared to now, but I'll leave that to you.

I spent 10 years selling Formula 1 when it wasn't as popular as it is now. The audience numbers haven't changed much, but the perception of Formula 1 has transformed massively in the last four years. That's been the driving factor in terms of commercial deals in the sport.

How has the perception changed? How would you describe it a few years ago compared to today?

I've been selling sponsorship in Formula 1 since around 2010 or 2011. For the first 10 years, you would constantly hear the same things. Formula 1 was elitist, was bad for the environment, and misogynistic.