Hamilton To Blame For Mumm’s Exit From F1? by Kunal Shah

*After a handful of readers not being able to decipher the humour in this post, here’s my declaration to state the obvious. Enjoy reading and hopefully you’ll laugh along too.*

Photo: Octane Photography

Mumm decided to not up their sponsorship money (from €5 million to whatever Bernie wanted!) to Formula 1 thanks to Lewis Hamilton. After all, the sport's world champion ganged up with a former three times world champion to promote vodka - a category rival to champagne!

MOTORMOUTH HAMILTON
Hamilton-Lauda's vodka video did what none of Mumm's champagne videos have managed so far yet - go viral. Sources indicate that the trigger for this decision was Hamilton's champagne spraying moment in China. The nail in the coffin was when sponsorship tracking reports indicated that Johnnie Walker gained more mileage in 2015 from McLaren-Honda's failures and Alonso's humour.

(PS: I wonder what the brand managers at the Hamilton vodka brand were doing when our Hamilton had his vodka moment. Probably attending lessons in guerilla marketing, I guess?)

Mumm's association with Formula 1 over the years was synonymous to the sport's podium celebrations. But apart from Lewis Hamilton (and a few of his fans) and Mercedes, who is celebrating in Formula 1 anyway?

PARTY'S OVER, LEWIS!

Photo: Octane Photography

It isn't a surprise that Mumm and Formula 1 have parted ways - even more so because their reason to separate was money, a commodity that binds together only a handful of people in the world of Formula 1.

On the other hand, Moet et Chandon realised that the fastest way to be seen as a celebratory drink on the Formula 1 podium wasn't by partnering with McLaren-Honda. So they decided to pay their way to the podium by splurging a few millions more than Mumm.

ASTON MARTINI RACING, ERR!
I do believe that Mumm have acted smartly by partnering with Formula E at this early a stage in the revolutionary series' lifespan. They should've cracked this deal at a fraction of the cost of their deal with Formula 1 and have dropped a not so subtle hint to brands associated with Formula 1 that Formula E could be an option of the future in the world of motorsport. All in all, one can't blame Mumm for deflecting to greener pastures!

Which then makes me wonder - Has Formula 1 Given Formula E A Chance?

And on that note, if you like Formula 1 humour, you are welcome to LIKE the Facebook page of the Inside Line F1 Podcast. Here's this week's episode of our funny podcast, tune in:

This article was originally published on Kunal's F1 Blog and has been reproduced with permission