There isn't really any such thing as downtime for an F1 team but some times of year are busier than others.

The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is one of those times for our commercial department, given the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is home to both our Title Partner Aramco and Principal Partner Maaden.

Ahead of lights out in Jeddah this weekend, Jefferson Slack, Managing Director, Commercial and Marketing, brings us up to speed with how our commercial performance continues to go from strength to strength, including topics such as Aston Martin Lagonda's recent sale of their stake in the team and our partnerships with Aramco and Maaden.

Recently it was confirmed Aston Martin Lagonda is selling its stake in the F1 operation. What does that mean for our team?
Jefferson Slack: "It's positive news. We've recently revisited the original agreement and extended our deal with Aston Martin Lagonda, so we'll be partners for decades to come. As such, the original rationale for AML holding equity in the team no longer applies.

"The valuation of the team continues to grow significantly and, as a result of that, AML is able to strengthen its balance sheet by raising more capital with the sale of something that's sitting on its books as an asset.

"What's exciting for us is that our Executive Chairman Lawrence Stroll is looking at this process as an opportunity to bring in a new strategic investor to the team and help deliver either technological or commercial expertise.

"Everybody gains from this."

This weekend we're in Jeddah for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, home race for our Title Partner Aramco. How is our partnership continuing to develop on and off the track?
JS: "Partnership is exactly the right word because we work extremely closely with Aramco. They are the best in their business, they think long-term and so develop long-term relationships, which for us has meant every year we do more things together.

"On the technical side, 2026 is looming large, and we'll have fuel from Aramco in our car. The big driver there is sustainability, and being able to use a fuel with a zero-carbon footprint in our new Honda power unit will provide a great platform on which to make a statement about where Aramco is heading.

"With regard to the marketing component, our relationship continues to go from strength to strength. Aramco were a driving force behind Jessica Hawkins' latest demo run across Saudi Arabia, as they were last year in Riyadh when she became the first woman to drive a current-era ground-effect F1 car.

"Together, we want to inspire the next generation and Jessica's demo runs are a great example of that partnership in effect."

This year, we also unveiled another Saudi company, Maaden, as our Principal Partner. How do we work with them - and what is a Principal Partner?
JS: "We had a space in our strategic commercial plan for a Principal Partner. The status of that is reflected in the amount of branding seen on the car and uniforms, the level of interaction with the team, and where they sit in our partner stack. All of our partnerships are important and the relationship with a Principal Partner involves a little bit more visibility.

"We've signed a long-term agreement with Maaden, and there's a tonne of initiatives going along with that. We're collaborating on things like STEM initiatives and secondment programmes. They're one of the biggest companies in the Kingdom, they're thriving, and they're changing their industry, thinking about commodities and mining in a different way.

"We have a pleasurable challenge, which is to take F1 and Aston Martin and integrate them with Maaden to tell a story together. The creative questions to answer are how do we tell that story in a way that is meaningful to people? How do we help them develop a brand? This is stuff we love to get into. We have a full activation programme playing with them, and I couldn't be more excited about that."

How do partnerships like these play into the commercial future of the team? And, by the same token, what impact does the arrival of Adrian Newey as Managing Technical Partner, the opening of the wind tunnel and the expansion of the AMR Technology Campus have on our commercial activities?
JS: "It's been by far our most successful year commercially.

"It's interesting that we're seeing companies that, traditionally, we haven't seen in F1. I've talked about Maaden but also the likes of Pepperstone and Elemis. On the other hand, our partnership with PUMA has exciting possibilities to explore too. I think they all demonstrate the significance of the Aston Martin brand, the great health of F1 and also the capabilities we've demonstrated over the last few years with our activations and partner activities. If you do it well, it does get noticed.

"Going forward, we're on an incredible journey. Of course we've got Adrian Newey, the most successful designer in F1 history, but Lawrence has put together a group of phenomenally talented people to lead the team and they're working in the world's best Technology Campus, and will have Honda as a full works engine partner and Aramco supplying the new, sustainable fuel. We have all the tools and now it's about optimising them.

"We'll see what that means from a commercial standpoint but at the moment, there's tonnes of conversations going on and everything looks very positive. Every day, we look at where we are, versus where we were when this started back in 2020. We have to make sure we're an organisation that can deliver best-in-class services for our partners. This is challenging, because the competition is strong - but it's challenging in a good way. In fact, it's awesome."