The inside story of Williams's ROKiT boost

Williams remains a popular team among fans and Formula 1 insiders, and so the announcement of the arrival of new title sponsor ROKiT was well received - especially given the obvious financial shortfall that the team had to deal with heading into 2019.

The triple whammy of the loss of Martini, the backing associated with Lance Stroll and the finance provided by SMP Racing for Sergey Sirotkin represented a big hit, particularly when combined with the fall in income from the F1 organisation that results from dropping from fifth to 10th in the constructors' championship.

A potential title sponsorship deal with Rich Energy evaporated last October when its owner William Storey baled out at the last minute and instead opted for a cheaper arrangement with Haas, leaving a contract unsigned. It was back to square one.

Then a little bit of magic happened - and ROKiT came looking for Williams. Once contact was made, it didn't take long for a deal to be agreed, one that is not just about the cash involved.

"We had a gap to fill, with some partners having left us," says Claire Williams. "But we knew that was coming, and we planned accordingly - as you would expect any publicly listed business to do, and especially an F1 team that relies heavily on sponsorship.

"So from a financial perspective, ROKiT was happy news for us. I've always been confident that we'd get the budget that we'd need. We're in good shape for this year financially.

"But there's more to it than that. When you are a team that finished 10th, and a sponsor like that comes in, it's a real shot in the arm.

"It's just given everybody at Grove a really big boost, because they've seen that a company is willing to be a part of our journey, and has the belief in us that we all have in ourselves. And that's really powerful."

The ROKiT deal is a fascinating case study in how, for all the thousands of hours teams spend chasing prospects, sometimes these things just fall into place as if they are meant to be - even if it wasn't quite as random as the day in 1993 when a Rothmans marketing man who had been talking to Sauber got a message that then champion team Williams might be searching for a title sponsor, and had to ring directory enquiries to find its switchboard number. The loss of Rich Energy may prove to be a blessing in disguise.

The man behind ROKiT is 61-year-old Jonathan Kendrick, a colourful self-made serial entrepreneur who started from nothing and has built himself a fortune, and confesses to having lost a couple of fortunes along the way too.

Kendrick grew up in the Wolverhampton area, close to the UK arm of the tyre company that would set him on an unusual career trajectory.

"I actually wrote a handwritten note to Sir Frank, saying, 'You don't know who I am. I'm sure you get loads of these letters, but just Google me'" ROKiT's Jonathan Kendrick

"I got expelled from school when I was 15, so I've got no qualifications," he says. "My dad would have killed me, so I still used to get dressed in my uniform and go out, but I never went to school. If he'd known, he would have gone mad!

"Then I blagged my way into Goodyear, and they put me into what was known as 'The Squad' - young kids who went round each department.

"I ended up in the accounts department, which was the most boring thing in the world, until a job opportunity came up in the racing division, as assistant to the sales manager, and I got it.

"Then Bernie Ecclestone proposed to the manager there that he form a business called IRTS, and they took over doing all the Goodyear racing sales in the UK and Europe. The sales manager left, so I started to learn how to be a tyre engineer in the lesser categories. I worked with Nelson Piquet when he was doing F3 in Europe.

"In 1978 they were short of an engineer for the smaller F1 teams, and there was this new team called Williams Grand Prix Engineering. So they flew me out to Buenos Aires and I was Alan Jones's tyre engineer at the age of 20. I was the very young kid, so the more mature engineers looked after Lotus, Tyrrell and Brabham."

Kendrick also worked with other teams at the poor end of the grid, including ATS and Hans Stuck (pictured below). Then at the end of 1979 Goodyear switched its F1 manufacturing operation to the US, and Wolverhampton was used only for servicing. Kendrick, with £500 in his pocket, decided to start his own business.

"I went knocking on the doors of every tyre company in Europe saying, 'You should be in racing.' Then a little company called Yokohama said, 'We'll give you a chance.' They had sponsored Andrew Cowan and put some tyres on his car for the Scottish Rally. I noticed them, and basically called them up."

Kendrick travelled to Japan and convinced Yokohama to make him its representative in Europe. He subsequently hired several key ex-Goodyear people - including the legendary Bert Baldwin - and set about finding business.

At the time the European Formula 3 Championship was open to any supplier, and Yokohama first made an impact with Eddie Jordan Racing and drivers including James Weaver and Tommy Byrne. In 1983 Martin Brundle and Ayrton Senna used Yokohamas when they contested European rounds in the UK, with Brundle winning twice in his EJR entry.

Later Yokohama backed Byrne in Gary Anderson's Anson F3 team. As well as being the sponsor Kendrick became involved in the ownership of Anson Cars, which also built SuperVees for the US market, before its demise.

In 1989 he sold the European rights back to Yokohama, and left racing. It was the era of Glasnost, and he'd spotted an opportunity in Eastern Europe.

"I went to Russia and Belarus and started buying stuff incredibly cheaply, and exporting it to underdeveloped countries. I made a fortune doing that."

Later he formed a phone pre-payment company and after selling that in 1998, opted for an early retirement.

"Then my wife said, 'You've got to get out of the house, you're driving me nuts,' so I formed ROK - which actually stands for 'Return of Kendrick.'"

Kendrick's partner in ROK is American entrepreneur John Paul DeJoria, the pair having met at a charity event in London. They gelled largely because billionaire DeJoria had followed a similar rags to riches path.

"We just hit it off," says Kendrick. "We had the same values. He's also come from nothing. We struggled, both of us. And here we are today where I'm not struggling so much now!"

Best known for building the massive Paul Mitchell hair products business, DeJoria's other interests used to include Patron tequila, which backed several motorsport teams over the years - including the NHRA drag racing programme of his daughter Alexis.

The sponsorships stopped after DeJoria sold his business to Bacardi for an impressive $5.1billion in 2018, although he remains an advisor. Based in Austin, he has an ongoing link to racing as a shareholder in the Circuit of the Americas.

DeJoria and Kendrick have created a portfolio of businesses under the ROK umbrella, including interests in diamonds, gold, energy drinks, mineral water and the Bogart spirits brand. The logos of their 700-year-old German craft beer ABK, recently voted best in the world in the prestigious IBC awards, appear on the FW42.

But the main thrust of the Williams deal is telecommunications company ROKiT, which has created a range of new handsets, from budget versions aimed at poorer countries to innovative 3D models. The other focus is creating 'smart city' wifi networks - deals have already been signed with 27 major Indian cities, and there are plans to expand worldwide.

There's a massive marketing push behind ROKiT, which kicked off with deals with the Houston Rockets in the NBA and the Los Angeles Chargers in the NFL. As he looked for a global platform, it was perhaps inevitable that Kendrick turned to F1.

In November advertising agency M&C Saatchi, via sponsorship broker Chris Welch, began to explore potential opportunities - and Williams emerged as the favoured candidate.

"Williams just fitted on so many levels," says Welch. "Jonathan saw the opportunity as the entrepreneur that he is to be part of the future at Williams, to grow with the team, and help them get back on the podium."

Having agreed that Williams was the ideal partner, Kendrick made his intentions clear personally: "I actually wrote a handwritten note to Sir Frank, saying, 'You don't know who I am. I'm sure you get loads of these letters from all over the world, but just Google me. And I'm interested in talking to you about sponsorship.'"

"It was probably one of the quickest deals we've ever done" Claire Williams

After word of ROKiT's interest in F1 began to spread, three other teams tried to get a slice of the action. Kendrick remained focused on his number one choice, and in late January he made a visit to Grove to meet Claire Williams.

"Somebody must have told her that I love bacon sandwiches with HP Sauce. I live in the States, so I can't get them. And what did she do? She had a whole row of bacon rolls with HP Sauce as soon as I walked in!

"She showed me what her vision was, what her strategy was, and she showed me how the car would look. That was it, it was Williams for me. I was sold."

"It was probably one of the quickest deals we've ever done," says Williams. "I'd had a few conversations with Jonathan prior to meeting him. He's based in LA, but when he had a slot to come over to the UK he did, and it was a very productive first meeting.

"We pretty much did the deal there and then, obviously having worked with his team in the background on what that deal could look like. But it was a pretty quick turnaround from start to finish."

The bottom line was that Kendrick and Williams had an immediate rapport, with both quickly realising that they could do business together.

"He's a great guy. I think from the outset, when he was looking at potential teams, just having that history of being Alan Jones's tyre engineer made a difference," says Williams.

"And from a personality perspective we both have the same beliefs and values. I've always said that good partnerships are based on shared values, and I think he recognised that in us. As much as we're in different industries, there are a lot of synergies there."

"I actually believe companies are about people," says Kendrick. "I got on very well with Claire. I think she's a wonderful person, and she sold it to me without even selling it.

"Lotus, Tyrrell, Brabham, Cooper, BRM, they've all gone. What I like about the team is that Frank is one of the few left with his name above the garage. We're a family company, there are only two shareholders in it, just me and John Paul, apart from some management. And Williams is also family, so it knits with me."

On paper selling title sponsorship for a team that finished comprehensively last in 2018 shouldn't be that straightforward. Kendrick insists that he looked beyond the recent results and "absolutely" focused on the determination of all concerned to bounce back.

"You can't be further down than last. I think they will be successful again. I want to be part of that success. They've got the drive. They've still got one of the fastest tyre changes on record, which shows that everybody is still committing 100% to that team."

"We're very much on a shared journey," adds Williams. "As much as that might sound a bit trite. I think he recognised a lot of what he's trying to do with his business as being very much on a par with what we're trying to do. He knows himself how hard it can be to build a business, he recognises that, and he very much wants to be a part of a journey and help where he can."

Could the deal expand to include other ROK brands?

"We want to go past our multi-year agreement," says Kendrick. "I'm with them now, and I'm very loyal. Yes, we'll be talking to them about putting some other stuff on the car, but it's a bit early. At the moment it's ROKiT and ABK, that's what we're focusing on."

Whenever a big player comes into F1 it's natural to speculate that an initial sponsorship deal could morph into a shareholding - Vijay Mallya, Lawrence Stroll and Sauber's Hans Rausing are just a few recent examples of partners who became team owners. In this case both parties insist that a shareholding is not on the agenda right now.

"I'd love to obviously," says Kendrick. "But for the moment I'm just content to help the Williams family and Claire and give them whatever help I can to get them back to where they should be."

And while there might not be any victories on the track this year, Williams can at least celebrate a significant success off it - having beaten other teams to the punch to secure this deal.

"Of course when you have that win it puts a smile on your face," she says. "I really believe that Williams is the best destination for ROKiT, and I know we're going to do a great job to help them achieve their objectives."