Jumbo stopping Max Verstappen sponsorship after this Formula 1 season

Jumbo will stop sponsoring Max Verstappen and the Dutch GP in Zandvoort from the end of this season. The supermarket chain is moving away from sports sponsorship, AD reports.

Jumbo already announced it was cutting ties with the Jumbo-Visma cycling and skating teams. That contract ends at the end of 2024, and the supermarket will respect that. But if the teams find another major sponsor after this season, Jumbo is open to an earlier departure. Jumbo has sponsored Verstappen for ten years and Jumbo-Visma for eight.

The break with sports sponsorship is part of new CEO Ton van Veen’s strategy. He succeeded Frits van Eerd, who stepped down after being arrested in a money laundering investigation.

“Max is, of course, a folk hero, but he acts on the absolute world stage. We are a very good food retailer, but only in the Netherlands and a little bit in Belgium. We invest more than 20 million euros in sports sponsorship every year, but I can only spend every euro once. We cannot return the money that goes to Max to the customer or invest it in sustainability or health,” Van Teen said about the break.

Jumbo previously stopped its financial contributions to motorsport because those sponsorship contracts were part of the criminal investigation against Van Eerd.

“We want nothing to do with motorsport and the allegations,” Van Veen told AD. “With Max Verstappen and Jumbo-Vismae, we stop for a completely different reason. That sponsorship has brought us a lot of brand awareness, but we have now won everything there is to win.”