For more than a decade, all eyes were fixated upon Qatar as the tiny Gulf nation was announced as host nation for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Some had their doubts as to how and why Qatar was rewarded with the responsibility or how a winter World Cup would perform, but when the dust settled, the 2022 FIFA World Cup made history.

Welcoming a record 3.4 million spectators to stadiums, boasting more than 5 billion impressions around the world and a cumulative reach across all platforms of 262 billion, the highest-ever scoring World Cup certainly delivered for FIFA and brand partners like Qatar Airways.

“Everyone was preparing for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar for like a decade and we didn’t want that to be the end of the story,” said Luke Drake, Qatar Airways vice president of commercial partnerships. “That’s really the beginning. It’s the first chapter showing how successful Qatar can deliver a sporting event to that magnitude and we wanted to ensure that Formula 1 and other sports like it were the next thing.”

Rather than suffering from a post-World Cup hangover after Lionel Messi and Argentina proudly hoisted the trophy, the Qatari-backed airline quickly leveraged its success as hosts into a multi-year partnership with Formula 1 announced in February.

Not only will Qatar Airways serve as the Official Airline and Global Partner of the popular open-wheel, single-seater racing series through 2027, but it will be the title sponsor of three races: the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Hungarian Grand Prix and Qatar Grand Prix.

While Formula 1 doesn’t attract the jaw-dropping attendance and viewership of a month-long FIFA World Cup every four years, F1 boasts significant global appeal. In 2021, F1 reported a global TV audience of 1.55 billion, while total attendance was 5.7 million in 2022, up 36% compared to 2019.

“The premium quality of the Formula 1 brand aligns nicely with Qatar Airways,” Drake said. “Of course it’s a traveling sport and we’re a traveling business so in terms of activating commercial products, Formula 1 is perfect for us to tell a genuine story. What we like to do with our sponsorships is always fully activate the customer’s experience, so it’s not a passive branding exercise.

“Whilst branding is important, we would prefer to have fewer bigger, better sponsorships that are very well activated.”

For Qatar Airways, the seven-time “Airline of the Year” according to Skytrax, Formula 1 falls into their global/mass awareness properties, which also includes FIFA, a relationship recently renewed through 2030, and Concacaf.

Underneath their global sports sponsorships are more regional properties including Paris Saint-Germain, Inter, Brooklyn Nets and Aussie rules football club Sydney Swans. The third priority for the airline’s sponsorship team is to drive visitation to Qatar through deals with IronMan, MotoGP, GKA Kite World Tour and rugby that don’t only involve branding but hosting events on their soil.

With Formula 1 locked in as a global partner, Qatar Airways doubled down on its motorsports influence and reach in September as the Official Airline Partner of BWT Alpine, which recently welcomed Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney, Rory McIlroy, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Anthony Joshua to its ownership group.

Preferring to cast a wider net as global partner of F1 rather than as a team-specific sponsor, Qatar Airways leverages its relationship with Alpine for content around the Qatar Grand Prix while access to drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon as well as the Alpine garage add a cherry on top of the fan experience at races, which can start through the airline’s ultimate F1 experiences packages including airfare, accommodation and access.

“Whilst we do activations and marketing campaigns with Alpine and we are very proud to be with them, I always look to prioritize the Formula 1 relationship because we want to talk to all fans, not just fans of specific teams,” said Drake, who previously served as Formula 1 head of commercial partnerships. “The access we get to Alpine, their drivers, their garage and their team is extremely helpful in ensuring our guests get the best possible experience when they attend races.”

At the Las Vegas Grand Prix, F1’s first race in Sin City since 1982, Qatar Airways welcomed guests to high-end hospitality in the Paddock Club, Alpine garage tours and pit lane walks as well as on-track truck tours.

Not only has the sponsorship benefitted diehard and novice Formula 1 fans, but F1 management, including CEO Stefano Domenicali, as well as Alpine drivers, team principal Bruno Famin and others got a behind-the-scenes operations tour of Hamad International Airport prior to the Qatar GP, while members of the airline’s operations team were welcomed to the Alpine garage.

“Both are engineering companies at our core in terms of what we’re looking to deliver for customers,” Drake said.