Drake Reveals Crypto Casino Stake's Rebranded F1 Racing Team

Grammy Award-winning rapper Drake continued his paid promotion of crypto gambling site Stake this week by announcing the betting platform’s two-year naming sponsorship of the Sauber Formula 1 (F1) racing team, which began as of the start of 2024.

“Buckle up,” Drake says in a voiceover for an Instagram video promoting the rebranded team, which has been dubbed the Stake F1 Team. The car design has not yet been revealed. The team was previously sponsored by Italian luxury car brand Alfa Romeo, and went by Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake in 2023 as it transitioned between lead sponsors.

“Last season represented the start of Stake’s journey in Formula 1, and the brand’s new role headlining Stake F1 Team represents the natural and exciting next step on this path,” said team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi in a statement.

The Stake F1 Team will operate under its new name until 2026, when the team will rebrand to become Audi’s factory team, according to F1.

Drake has been one of Stake’s most well-known paid advocates since late 2021. The rapper previously livestreamed his gambling before Twitch banned broadcasting most forms of gambling in September 2022. Drake has repeatedly shared his Stake bets over the years, and has made videos about playing roulette on the platform.

While Drake has seen some gambling wins, he’s also endured some big losses. He reportedly wagered over $1 billion across numerous bets in late 2022. The hip-hop star has also shared his interest in crypto publicly, previously flashing a blinged-out Ledger hardware wallet for his Bitcoin on social media.

The F1 world is no stranger to crypto, either. In 2021, Crypto.com dropped $100 million on the car-racing league and McLaren released F1 NFTs. The Crypto.com exchange then signed on to a nine-year naming rights deal for the Miami Grand Prix in 2022, and in early 2023 Kraken sponsored British F1 team Williams Racing. 

While FTX and Tezos have since left the F1 arena—albeit for different reasons—the Sui blockchain creator Mysten Labs joined F1 as part of the Oracle Red Bull Racing team. Many other crypto firms have jumped into the F1 sponsorship race over the years, like Bybit, OKX, Fantom, and Binance, to name a few.

Edited by Andrew Hayward