Formula 1 move quickly to hire new commercial partnerships director

Formula 1 director of sponsorship and commercial partnerships, Murray Barnett, is set to leave his position by the end of the week.

In an official statement F1 confirmed that Barnett, who had been in his position since April 2017, would be leaving to pursue wider commercial opportunities.

The statement said: "Under his leadership, the partnerships team have successfully brought new partners to the business, including Petronas, New Balance, AWS, Carbon Champagne, Cyber 1, Liqui Moly, Marelli, Dubai Expo 2020 and 188 Bet as well as renewing Formula 1’s Global Partnerships with Emirates, Singapore Airlines and Pirelli in addition to extending the partnership with DHL.

“Furthermore, there are a number of exciting developments in F1 partnerships to be announced in the near future that Murray and his team have been working on in recent months.”

Barnett previously worked for over a decade at ESPN before working with World Rugby ahead of his appointment in F1 by new owners Liberty Media in 2017.

He will be replaced by Ben Pincus, who will transition over from Heineken and his title will be director of commercial partnerships.

F1 said of Pincus: "“Ben brings a wealth of experience of successfully marrying global brands to international sponsorships within Formula 1, having led several agencies in London, Frankfurt and Singapore that have been responsible for introducing Schweppes, Canon, Sun Microsystems and SAP to the sport.

“In addition to his Formula 1 partnership experience, Ben previously ran sponsorships in European football, international golf, tennis and sailing for Visa, Coca-Cola, Sony PlayStation and Heineken.”

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