Gatorade's new chapter in sports belongs to Formula 1 A legacy that keeps pushing performance forward
When the Seattle Seahawks comfortably defeated the New England Patriots at Super Bowl LX, all eyes were on coach Mike Macdonald once the game was over. The anticipation had little to do with an extravagant celebration or one of the quirks that have come to define the Seahawks head coach. Instead, everyone was waiting for a ritual that has effectively become NFL law: the Gatorade shower. This is the moment when players lift one of the coolers filled with the sports drink from the sideline and pour it over their coach’s head. It is a historic ritual, but also a relatively recent fixture in sports betting, becoming one of the most popular Super Bowl props. Bettors can wager not only on whether the shower will happen, but, most importantly, on the colour of the drink that will come pouring out of the cooler.
Gatorade was born in football
The name Gatorade is a combination of its inventor, Dr. Robert Cade, and the football team at the University of Florida for which the sports drink was originally developed: the Gators. Looking for a way to improve the team’s performance, particularly under the punishing combination of heat and humidity in Florida, Cade and a group of fellow researchers worked closely with the Gators’ coaching staff to develop a drink capable of replenishing fluids, electrolytes and carbohydrates. The results were immediate. After the work carried out during the summer of 1965, the team went on to win its first Orange Bowl in 1966, defeating heavily favoured Georgia Tech.
The drink quickly became hugely popular across college football and was acquired in 1967 by Stokely-Van Camp, which took over large-scale production and distribution. From there, following its first commercials, came its first partnership with the NFL. Gatorade reached another milestone with its first-ever appearance on the sidelines of a Super Bowl, during the 1970 edition, where it was used by the victorious Kansas City Chiefs. The iconic Bolt logo, Gatorade’s unmistakable lightning-bolt symbol, would arrive just a couple of years later. Within a decade, the brand had also begun expanding overseas, eventually signing an official agreement with the NFL in 1983 that remains in place to this day.
As for the Gatorade shower, also known as the Gatorade Dunk, its origins are surrounded by competing stories and a fair amount of folklore. The most widely accepted version dates back to 1984, when Jim Burt of the New York Giants dumped a cooler of Gatorade over head coach Bill Parcells. According to the story, Burt had been singled out and punished by Parcells that week after a string of poor performances, prompting the player to promise revenge if the team won its next game. Dan Hampton, an NFL Hall of Famer, tells a different story, claiming the tradition was actually copied after he became the first player that same season to drench Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka with a bucket of water. Whatever the truth, the ritual spread so quickly that it eventually reached the President of the United States himself. In 1987, Ronald Reagan was showered with a bucket of Gatorade mixed with popcorn by New York Giants player Harry Carson during the reigning NFL champions’ visit to the White House.
Gatorade’s global rise
Over the years, Gatorade continued to evolve from within as well as through its partnerships, expanding its range of flavours and formulas. In 1985, the company opened its own research facility, which would eventually become what is now known as the Gatorade Sports Science Institute. As the product itself became more sophisticated, the number and scope of its collaborations grew too. Between the 1990s and the new millennium, Gatorade became an official sponsor of MLB and formalised its partnership with the NBA, building on a relationship that had already begun with the 1984 Slam Dunk Contest.
The real game-changer, however, was undoubtedly Gatorade’s first deal with Michael Jordan. The ten-year agreement was reportedly worth around one million dollars per season and led to some of the brand’s most memorable advertising campaigns, including Be Like Mike and Sweat it out. MJ became Gatorade’s first major athlete ambassador, while the signing of footballer Mia Hamm in 1999 established the brand’s first female endorser. It also opened the door to a partnership with the United States Soccer Federation, at a time when the women’s game was leading the way.
Gatorade’s definitive global breakthrough came in 2001, when PepsiCo acquired Quaker Oats, the company that had previously absorbed Stokely-Van Camp and, in turn, Gatorade. The deal helped transform the drink into a truly global brand, with the product eventually being sold across more than eighty countries. At the same time, Gatorade maintained its long-standing relationships with the three major US sports leagues, while expanding its portfolio of partnerships to include the Professional Golfers’ Association of America, the US Pro Beach Volleyball League and the UEFA Champions League.
Independent sponsorships in athletics and tennis have also brought some of the biggest names in sport into the Gatorade family, most notably Serena Williams and Usain Bolt. Both launched personalised products with Gatorade and appeared together in the Never Lose the Love campaign during the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The lightning bolt still has a firm grip on the US sports drink market, where Gatorade accounts for around seventy percent of sales. MLS, NHL and NASCAR have all, at different points, resisted the brand’s pull — although each has previously had a partnership with Gatorade before moving on. In motorsport, NASCAR has now been replaced by Formula 1, the latest addition to Gatorade’s ever-expanding sporting universe.
Gatorade’s relationship with high-speed racing
In 1984, Gatorade signed its first deal in motorsport, becoming an official partner of NASCAR. Following PepsiCo’s acquisition of the brand, that agreement came to an end and was replaced by a partnership with the International Speedway Corporation (ISC), another giant of North American motorsport founded by NASCAR pioneer Bill France Sr. From that point on, Gatorade’s interest in racing developed along two parallel paths: technology and commercial strategy.
When it came to innovation, the brand’s Sports Science Institute developed the Gatorade In-Car Drinking System in the early 2000s, a mechanism designed to allow drivers to stay hydrated while behind the wheel. The system was launched through an advertising campaign in which Matt Kenseth explained how a lack of fluids had contributed to one of his crashes. The so-called GIDS has since been replaced by lighter technologies designed to reduce the overall weight of the car, but it remains a significant innovation in automotive racing.
On the commercial side, meanwhile, the sports drink became deeply embedded in the ISC through the naming rights of key fixtures and spaces. These included the Gatorade Duel, a pair of qualifying races held at Daytona International Speedway to determine the starting grid for the Daytona 500, and Gatorade Victory Lane, the area where the winning car was parked after the race. Inevitably, the clash between these ISC sponsor-branded spaces and NASCAR — which had switched its partnership to Coca-Cola and, consequently, Powerade — led to a number of disputes. The most famous was undoubtedly the bottle gate of 2004. In an attempt to promote Powerade inside Gatorade’s Victory Lane, NASCAR began placing large bottles of its sponsor’s drink on the cars of race winners. Pepsi drivers, including Jimmy Johnson, naturally began removing them with some force, prompting threats of further action from the governing body. At Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania, Johnson eventually chose not to touch the Powerade bottle, instead covering it with a Lowe’s advertising board. The move still resulted in a $10,000 fine.
Gatorade returns to motorsport with Formula 1
Today, however, that particular dispute has been settled for very different reasons. Gatorade’s title sponsorship of the Daytona 500 ended in 2012, when the brand decided not to renew its deal as the official beverage of the ISC, choosing instead to retain only its branded Victory Lane presence. The tradition continued for several years, before effectively disappearing after 2019, when NASCAR acquired the International Speedway Corporation, ultimately pushing Pepsi out of the competition. A sliding door moment that instead opened up new possibilities for Gatorade, making it the Official Drink of Formula 1 and Official Partner of F1 Sprint from the summer of 2025.
Beyond the commercial initiatives, the brand’s Sports Science Institute has once again played a central role, working directly with drivers. Among them is young star Lisa Billard, who underwent a series of sweat, hydration and nutrition tests at Gatorade’s headquarters. Strategic locations such as Silverstone, which has an independent partnership with the sports drink, have also hosted similar assessments. Mercedes Formula 1 drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli were among those to take part — something that must have proved particularly useful for the latter, considering his comeback and historic victory at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.