Jumbo Ends Decade-Long Partnership With Max Verstappen

Dutch food retailer Jumbo announced that they will be pulling out of motorsport sponsorship at the end of 2023. Their decision to leave Formula 1 comes after 10 years of partnership with Max Verstappen, as well as being one of his first sponsors during his Formula 3 days.

Jumbo CEO Ton van Veen said in an interview with Algemeen Dagblad, “Max is a folk hero, of course, but he acts on the absolute world stage. We are a very good food retailer, but only in the Netherlands and a bit in Belgium.

We invest more than 20 million euros in sports sponsorship every year, but I can only spend every euro once. We cannot return the money that goes to Max to the customer, or put it into sustainability or health.”

Van Veen also clarified that the decision to withdraw as a sponsor for Verstappen is unrelated to an investigation into previous Jumbo CEO Frits van Eerd for money laundering.

Verstappen’s manager Raymond Vermeulen said of the withdrawal, “The Van Eerd and Jumbo family have supported Max from day one. That could certainly be called very unique at the time. We look back on a fantastic collaboration. After 10 years, it’s not at all strange to recalibate the matter.

Above all, we are very grateful and look back on all these years with great pleasure.

This year we can hopefully get a third world title together and close it with a bang.” Verstappen will not be short of sponsors though. He agreed a deal with American video game company EA Sports for the 2023 season.

The end of Jumbo’s 10 year partnership with Max Verstappen marks the start of a new era for the Dutch superstar. It will be interesting to see which sponsors take their place as he continues to pursue his third championship.