How the former Sauber and Haas driver is planning on making his mark in the world of business
Some drivers step back entirely from motor racing when they hang up their helmets – but others, like Esteban Gutiérrez, have ambitions to move from the hot seat to the c-suite…
Racing drivers softening their transition from the cockpit to civilian life by acting as ‘brand ambassadors’ is nothing new. When injury forced Sir Stirling Moss to retire before his time, he very quickly discovered that simply being Stirling Moss was supremely valuable. Likewise, Sir Jackie Stewart ensured Ford Motor Company products flew off the forecourts even before he stepped out of his Tyrrell cockpit for the last time in 1973. Until the pandemic put the brakes on corporate hospitality, he was still energetically entertaining guests of a certain watch company, race in, race out, in modern times – indeed, when GP Racing quipped how ironic it was that being a Rolex ambassador seemed to leave him with no time on his hands, he guffawed and said, “Thanks! I’ll use that…”
But these two remarkable individuals are outliers on this industry’s spectrum. For most drivers, particularly the younger ones, taking on a ‘brand ambassadorship’ involves little more than wearing a team shirt and hanging around wondering what to do next. Not a prospect that appeals to Esteban Gutiérrez who, with at least one eye on his forthcoming 30th birthday, is developing an independent business portfolio of his own as well as working with Mercedes in a development role covering all of Latin America.
Gutiérrez made 59 Formula 1 starts for Sauber and Haas between 2013 and 2016. You could
say he learned very early how not to run a business, having been at the eye of the storm when Sauber contrived to agree terms with more than two drivers at the beginning of the 2015 season. He’s since contested a handful of Formula E and Indycar rounds while acting as reserve and development driver for Mercedes in F1, which dovetailed hours in the simulator with ambassadorial appearances. That has now developed into his new role as brand and business ambassador.
“Since I’ve known Esteban,” says Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, “I’ve been impressed by his overall understanding of our industry and seen the potential for him to make a broader contribution to our success. He has supported us to develop valuable commercial relationships in the Latin American market, and he is well placed to contribute more deeply to other areas of the team as well. Esteban’s new position will enable him to add value across the team.”
In Mexico it’s challenging for any native driver to break out of the shadow of Sergio Pérez’s stardom, but the Mercedes relationship has worked both ways by enabling Gutiérrez to build his own profile. It’s his face on the front page of edasi.com, a new licensed F1 merchandise website he launched this year in South America, having spotted a gap in the market.
“People in Latin America don’t have access to these merchandise products of F1 teams and other car brands,” he says. “I’ve seen how people are buying them – either from the US, special import, or at events. That makes them inaccessible for a lot of people – if you have to travel to a GP and buy a ticket to get in before you can buy the product, that’s not an accessible price for a lot of people. My objective was to bring these products closer to the fans and we’re really happy with the progress.”
Wolff (left) is confident that in his new role Gutiérrez will be able to help Mercedes develop more commercial relationships
Obviously there are ways and means of accessing counterfeit merchandise but if the real deal is more affordable than before, that opens the potential market. At the moment the site offers official F1 merchandise as well as Mercedes, plus Mclaren, Ferrari and Red Bull. So, Gutiérrez also stands to benefit from Perez’s profile, which is a smart move indeed.
“I’m pretty open with that,” Gutiérrez says. “I have a great platform where I can develop different things for a purpose, which is to grow the fan base in Latin America. I’m enjoying the business side of this sport, building my part, and also trying to give something as a member of the F1 community to enrich that.
“I think with Checo [Pérez], he’s doing a great job right now, he’s in a great position, and people here [in Mexico] like and support him. So why not offer them that as well? Checo is focusing on racing on the track, and there are a lot of other things which can be done to build the F1 fan community.
“I’m putting my pattern on the sport in this part of the world. Working with Mercedes, being linked with a world-class brand like this, has been positive for my brand and I’m really grateful. And I’m trying to find ways to give back to the fans as well, to bring this platform where they can acquire clothes – whether they’re fans of Mercedes or other teams.”
Moving metal is a key goal for manufacturer brand ambassadors and Gutiérrez’s bailiwick comes with built-in challenges. Economies across Latin America are prone to turbulence, generally as a result of political instability and incompetence, which begets and exacerbates wider structural issues such as poverty and poor educational standards. Nevertheless, the size of the population across the continent makes it a valuable territory for the motor industry in terms of manufacturing as well as sales, although Brazil is by far the biggest market, followed by Mexico, Argentina and Chile. In 2019
WORKING WITH MERCEDES, BEING LINKED WITH A WORLD-CLASS BRAND LIKE THIS, HAS BEEN POSITIVE FOR MY BRAND AND I’M REALLY GRATEFUL ”
nearly four million cars were built in Mexico, while in 2020, despite the effects of the pandemic, 1.6million cars were sold in Brazil.
Automotive industry forecasters expect incoming investment to affect supply and demand as the industry moves towards electrification of passenger vehicles and more sustainable means of production. Mercedes naturally wants a slice of this action. It’s the biggest manufacturer of buses and commercial vehicles in Brazil, and its financing arm lent $1bn in 2020, but in the passenger car market the volume manufacturers such as General Motors, Fiat Chrysler, Renault-nissan and the Volkswagen group hold sway.
“Across Latin America we’re developing at a different pace than developed countries,” says Gutiérrez. “And there are opportunities to implement things that work in developed countries – because the market here is really thirsty. It’s really eager to have new things, new technologies, innovation. And the automotive industry can benefit a lot from that as well.
“There’s going to be new markets and opportunities. The accessibility of new technologies and platforms bring people closer to the brands in the same way things like Netflix and social media are bringing people closer to F1. It’s just a question of maximising that potential.
“The pandemic has disrupted the way people consume – in the practicalities of going out and buying things – and also how we interact with our communities. It’s made a big impact on cities. We’ve seen how governments have implemented new technologies to help this adaptation and our industry is developing very quickly in adopting these technologies as well.”
Mercedes was among the first motor manufacturers to roll out ‘virtual showrooms’ to facilitate the new-car buying experience without having to venture out in person. As the world learns to live with and mitigate the effects of COVID-19 – that dread phrase ‘the new normal’ – services such as this are likely to remain the key customer portals for many brands.
Gutiérrez also sees technology as a means of circumventing other
business-development obstacles created by the pandemic, such as the kind of personal appearances at networking events and corporate hospitality that have gone on the back burner these past 18 months.
“I’ve been working for the team as a brand ambassador for a couple of years as well as doing the simulator work,” he says. “This year it’s changed, with more focus on the ambassadorial side. It’s been exciting, but in a way quite slow, because there’s not a lot of events at the moment. But I’ve done some things here in Mexico and later in the year, as events start to come up more often, I’ll be going to those and hopefully some of the races, and getting more involved on the commercial side of the team, which I’ve also enjoyed over the past couple of years. Toto is a great businessman as well as a team leader and it’s been great to learn from him.
“There’s also new ways to interact, and maybe they’re even more efficient. In a job like this you have performance benchmarks. Before, you might be asked, ‘How many trips did you take? How many people did you meet?’ I think now the volume of people is maybe higher than before but with no trips required. There are some sponsors I haven’t met in person, we’ve done everything virtually – but it’s working. So, I think from this perspective it’ll make things a lot more effective and efficient.
“In terms of events, it’s going to be interesting to see how things develop. I don’t think it will return to normal but I think there will be an evolution, maybe a combination of live and virtual events will bring ways to interact with new and different audiences.”
Since acquiring the commercial rights to F1, Liberty Media has made building the audience a priority – even if that might seem counterintuitive given its reliance for income on pay-tv channels as well as huge sanctioning fees which, in turn, push ticket prices out of reach for many individuals. It’s been a marked transition from the gatekeeping of the
Bernie Ecclestone era; Bernie famously declared himself uninterested in any market populated by those unable to afford Rolexes…
Still the barriers to entry in motorsport are quite steep, even at the lower levels: karts are more expensive than footballs. One of Gutiérrez’s other high-profile activities has been at the head of Mercedes’ Esports programme, in which he contested the official F1 series while the regular racing programme was on COVID hiatus last year.
“I think Esports are a good entry point for fans as well as people who have the aspiration to become drivers,” he says. “Before, you could buy a ball and play with your friends, build your skills and have fun, but you couldn’t do that easily in motorsport. Now – and maybe it’s a bit different – you can buy the F1 video game and play with your friends, whether that’s in your house or with people all over the world.
“What this does is create this huge community in the younger generation, it engages them and encourages them to be F1 fans in the future. Creating that engagement is the important part of growing a community, and you can see it happening. The audience is super-conscious of what it likes and what it doesn’t like.
“There’s more that can be done outside the virtual world. Right now, fans can select the onboards they’d like to watch during a grand prix. Imagine extending that so they can see the team meetings they’d like to watch and listen to, the characters they’d like to watch outside the cockpit. I think these interactions can become quite interesting – and very powerful from a business perspective.”
It appears that South America now has its own answer to post-racing career Sir Jackie Stewart – perhaps a gig with Rolex is next on the list?
I’VE BEEN WORKING FOR THE TEAM AS A BRAND AMBASSADOR FOR A COUPLE OF YEARS AS WELL AS DOING THE SIMULATOR WORK. THIS YEAR IT’S CHANGED WITH MORE FOCUS ON THE AMBASSADORIAL SIDE