The Fictional APXGP Team Generated $40 Million Worth Of Real Sponsorships

• APXGP might not be a real Formula 1 team, but given the eyeballs at stake, brands were eager to sign off on sponsorships all the same.
• From Mercedes and IWC, to Expensify and EA Sports, Forbes estimates it banked “at least” US$40 million.
• “This is something that’s going to last forever… You just have to hang on and go along for the ride,” said Expensify CEO David Barrett.

Despite the hokey and exposition-heavy screenplay, authenticity was the name of the game for Joseph Kosinski’s F1 movie, beyond having Brad Pitt and Damson Idris line up on the grid alongside real drivers, and piloting F2 machinery fashioned to resemble an F1 rig (which were housed in their own garage).

As it so happens, the completely fictitious APXGP had a runsheet of very real sponsors who were clamouring for the privilege of being displayed on its race suits, helmets, as well as the cars themselves. Veteran producer David Leener reveals he “brought in more sponsor money for F1 than any film in his career.”

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From Mercedes, IWC, and Geico, to Expensify, EA Sports, and plenty more, Forbes estimates it covered “at least” US$40 million of the eyewatering US$300 million production budget.

“When [Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team CEO] Toto Wolff found out how much I had raised for our little team, he offered me a job on the spot,” Leener stated with a chuckle.

“[Producer Jerry Bruckheimer] was sitting right there, and I was like, ‘No, I’m good.’ I have a feeling Toto is a little intense to work for.”

While this feat was undoubtedly impressive, Forbes points out that actual sponsorship in Formula 1 is a “fundamentally different proposition.”

According to The Race Media Founder & CEO, Andrew Van de Burgt, securing front-wing real estate for a company logo alone costs at least US$5 million per year. Title sponsorships, on the other hand, range from US$30 million per year to US$100 million per year for the most popular teams.

The added dimension to this financial ecosystem involves the dozens of brands that happily fork over “tens of millions” for the association, even though spectators may not be fully aware of who they are/what they do.

“What those people are really paying for is to be in the paddock and have access to other big companies they want to work with,” explains Van de Burgt.

“If you can do 20 multi-million-dollar deals because you’re sitting next to the CEO or whoever you need to speak to, that more than justifies the spend.”

Product placement for film, however, is traditionally sold in segments of “three to four cumulative on-screen seconds” with “clear and identifiable exposure.” The value obviously varies depending on the number of logos, verbal mentions, or usages in said seconds, and can cost anywhere between US$250,000 and US$1 million.

Now granted, the screen time you tally across a feature-length racing movie might translate to a heftier bill, though given the organic integration, it could very well prove to be a worthwhile investment.

“You can insert your product concept into any context, but it’s certainly much easier when the product placement itself is part of the movie – it felt natural,” says Expensify CEO David Barrett, whose software company was the title sponsor for APXGP.

Barrett notes how it’s already begun paying dividends, even before the blockbuster of 2025 hit cinemas without any additional cost.

The Expensify-branded APXGP car featured prominently in music videos for Ed Sheeran, Tate McRae, Don Toliver, and Doja Cat’s contribution to the film soundtrack. It’s also playable in the EA Sports F1 video game.

The day after the F1 trailer was uploaded, the company’s stock climbed to a record 17.7 million trades (up from 540,000 trades on an average day).

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And at this past Met Gala, Damson Idris pulled up to fashion’s calendar event of the year in the Expensify APXGP car before tearing away his Expensify-branded race suit on the red carpet. David Barrett reveals the company saw a 400% increase in website traffic and product sign-ups that same night.

He continues: “This is something that’s going to last forever. You have to realise you’re participating in something that’s so much bigger than what you set out to do – you just have to hang on and go along for the ride.”