Race on Sunday - Sell on Monday
by Doug Breithaupt

The biggest difference between Formula 1 and other open-wheel racing is that F1 provides fans with an opportunity to cheer for a wide variety of car manufacturers. Some teams like Ferrari and Toyota produce the entire car while others like Williams and Jordan, produce the chassis and then use motors from major manufacturers like BMW and Honda. Currently, you can root for Ferrari, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Jaguar, Toyota, Renault, or Ford in any F1 race. Of course the idea behind this sponsorship is to sell cars. Ford/Jaguar is spending $152 million in 2002 for their F1 team. Will they see a return in cars sales to justify this expensive form of advertising, especially when their team has seen little success? Ferrari on the other hand has always used racing, F1 in particular, as their primary marketing tool. They are currently selling more cars today than ever before. With three world-championships in a row, Ferrari is clearly on the top of their game and the public perception of success leads to car sales

Matching toy F1 models with the cars manufacturers hope to sell is the focus of the images below. On the left, Hot Wheels' current F1 line provides the race cars and the challenge was to find a matching production model, in this case a convertible model, to include in the picture. On the right are some classic F1 models along with a one of the sport/GT production models being sold at the time.


Ferrari F1 Racer by Hot Wheels
Ferrari 355 Convertible by Hot Wheels


Ferrari F1 racer (circa 1965) by Best Box
Ferrari 250 Berlinetta by Matchbox

Williams-BMW F1 Racer by Hot Wheels
BMW Z3 Roadster by Maisto


Ligier-Matra F1 Racer (circa 1976) by Polistil
Matra-Simca Bagheera by Majorette

McLaren-Mercedes F1 Racer by Hot Wheels
Mercedes-Benz SLK-AMG Roadster by AUTOart


Lotus F1 Racer (circa 1978) by Tomica
Lotus Esprit by Tomica

Jordan-Honda F1 Racer by Hot Wheels
Honda S2000 Roadster by Tomica


Renault F1 Racer (circa 1982) by Polistil
Renault Fuego by Norev

Jaguar F1 Racer by Hot Wheels
Jaguar XK8 Convertible by Matchbox


Lotus F1 racer (circa 1966) by Best Box
Lotus Europa by Tomica