Formula 1 has been around for longer than most fans would imagine. In 1968, a new rule was introduced into F1, allowing teams to display the logos of their sponsors on their cars. Since then, the highest league of motorsports has seen some truly curious sponsorships come in from controversial investors such as giant tobacco brands, adult magazine companies, and of course, noone can ever forget the tale of Malik Ado Ibrahim, the colourful Nigerian Prince who scammed his way into co-owning the F1 team Arrows.
Nowadays, the Williams F1 Racing Team has become a household name thanks to the long list of Championships and other accolades won by the Williams drivers. As one of the oldest teams to race in Formula 1, Williams has seen several financial ups and downs, and the team’s Boss–Sir Frank Williams–had had to work with some shady sponsors to keep the team running.
It was because of the financial hardships that the founders of the Williams F1 team had once accepted a generous sponsorship deal from the Albilad hotel chain in the Middle-East. And, it is a less-known fact that the Albilad hotel chain was headed by none other than Mohamed Bin Laden, father of Osama Bin Laden–one of the most dangerous terrorists to exist in history.
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Osama bin Laden’s family is responsible for Williams’ first-ever F1 title
In 1980, the Williams F1 team had a resounding victory as they got their hands on both the Drivers’ Championship as well as the Constructors’ Championship titles. But only a few years before that, the team was almost on the verge of bankruptcy. After struggling to score funding from the European sponsors for his team, Sir Frank Williams decided to travel to the Middle-East with his Technical Director Patrick Head in search of potential investors.
Thanks to the newfound oil mines, there were surplus funds in the Middle-East, and many companies got interest in sponsoring Williams, such as the Saudia airlines, TAG, and the Albilad hotel chain. The latter became Williams’ principal sponsor, and the team was rebranded as the Albilad-Williams F1 Team. The inflow of cash helped Frank Williams keep his F1 dream alive, and they climbed up the ladder to the very top of the grid by seizing the World Championship in 1980.
Interestingly, what very few people seemed to remember is that, years after Williams’ debut F1 win, in 2001, Albilad-owner Mohammed bin Laden’s son Osama led the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon Headquarters in Washington DC. Even now, F1 has not seen the end of these strange sponsorships as Haas entered into a deal with Uralkali only a couple of years ago. But in 2021, the American team abruptly ended the sponsorship amidst the Ukraine-Russia war, and they also let go of their driver Nikita Mazepin, who is the son of Uralkali-owner Dmitry Mazepin.
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