Kimi’s reputation as a party animal has followed him since his early success in F1, and probably before that for those that knew him in karting. As he stood on more and more podiums, and gave many more interviews, it also became clear that he was rather aloof and at times cold to the press and fans – often seeming downright grumpy. Lately, he has been mixing his F1 responsibilities with fun trips out to Finnish rallies and other motorsports adventures.

Now, let’s think about his sponsors. At McLaren, the main sponsors were Vodafone (a communications company), McLaren (a supercar builder), and Mercedes (luxury car builder). At Scuderia, it was mainly Ferrari, an unbranded Marlboro, and Mubadala (a mid-east investment fund). With the exception of Marlboro, and possibly Ferrari, I can’t see an enigmatic, aloof, uncommunicative, carefree, party animal as the ideal person to be representing those brands on the world stage. Now comes news that Toyota (motto: One Team, One Aim) has offered Kimi a contract for next year (Scuderia Ferrari are letting him go). This is all wrong.

Kimi belongs at Red Bull Racing.

What image is Red Bull trying to portray to the world? B Mliaros writes,

Unique positioning strategies targeting high-school burnouts and college students, nightclubbers, and athletes have built the brand’s equity. Grassroots marketing campaigns emphasize the drink’s image as being a cool and trendy drink for cool and trendy young adults. Word of mouth and an intentionally vague strategy have made the brand mysterious. By not emphasizing what the company itself feels are the products strengths, it allows consumers to decide for themselves, as well as facilitates the emergence of rumors, some quite outlandish, adding to the drink’s perceived value and increasing the brand’s equity.

So, ideally, you would be looking for a cool, somewhat mysterious, extreme party animal. If he is an athlete at the top of his sport, so much the better!

So it would seem ideal for Kimi to become a Red Bull athlete. It’s that last word that is key to making this whole thing work, “athlete.” All of this works better if Kimi’s contract arrangement is unusual by F1 standards. Rather than be all for F1, cultivate the image that Kimi is a cool customer, unusually talented, that he can pop in to a rally or supermoto race on a F1 off-weekend. Other teams might freak out if he gets hurt, but Red Bull just gives him a branded cast and crutches and he comes out to the next weekend and parties with the guests. Red Bull achieves its objectives, Kimi gets to go fast in whatever form of motoring catches his fancy, and because of that, is probably more successful than if he were constrained to Vodafone/McLaren/Mercedes black-tie sponsor dinners and an exclusive F1 focus.

So the lesson is simply that not every sponsor is the best fit for every athlete or team. You should develop and own your “brand”, extending it with sponsors that fit. You’ll be happier, they’ll be happier, and you’ll both most likely be more successful for it.