In a Formula 1 cockpit Paolo Barilla didn’t quite hit the heights he’d achieved in sportscar racing a few years earlier, but now his family business is taking a seat at the top table as an official partner of F1 itself.
The deal incorporates a veritable platter of activations, from trackside signage and customer promotions to pasta bars within the paddock and within F1’s official hospitality.
Focusing on the company’s Italian heritage and values, the iconography is a striking and clever adaptation of Barilla’s corporate logo in which the red oval becomes a table viewed from above, with people in different race clothing sharing a meal.
It's a mark of the respect in which Paolo Barilla is held in the racing community that the official announcement was attended by Piero Ferrari and many old F1 ‘faces’ including Gerhard Berger, Jean Alesi, Flavio Briatore, Ivan Capelli, Herbie Blash and Federico Gastaldi.
Although of course, who could resist an event catered for by Massimo Bottura, chef patron of Modena’s Osteria Francescana and the holder of three Michelin stars and a green Michelin star?
On the face of it, you might see few synergies between F1 and a comforting bowl of pasta – except perhaps as a driver’s personal race fuel of choice. But Barilla himself begs to differ.
“When we see a Formula 1 car it's very sophisticated,” he said, “it's incredible, the performance, how they achieve the shape, and we know there are thousands of technicians working intensely every day to make it faster.
“And then we see one spaghetto, something that has been the same for 200 years, 300 years – and they say, what do they have in common? One thing is changing continuously, and the other is standing still.
“Well, behind the scenes there is an organisation that tries to make a better system, a better product – and to make a better product means a lot of things are applied from agriculture to the dish.
“What is very particular in Formula 1, which I think is one of the reasons we are here and what we have to learn, is the continuous focus on trying to make it better, and to focus on things that matter and let go of the things that don’t matter.”
The Barilla business began as a bakery set up by Paolo’s great-grandfather Pietro in Parma in 1877, and it remains in the family: having hung up his helmet in the early 1990s, Paolo returned and became co-chairman with his brothers Guido and Luca.
“Italy is the country of tradition and culture,” he added, “and we like to talk about tradition, but then we have to think about the future, and innovation, because things change – and we want to be part of the change. That is our commitment, but we do it with a lot of passion.”
Of course, the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, where both Barilla and Ferrari are based, has a rich tradition of engineering and cuisine. The tradition hails from the Roman era: retired legionaries who had fought with honour were granted parcels of land in this part of the country, and many of them turned to farming or artisan metalwork.
“F1 is a sport of human beings, passion, a lot of emotions,” said Ilaria Lodigiani, Barilla’s chief category and marketing officer. “At the same time, pasta is not just food.
“Pasta is really a lot about sharing emotions, stories, love, all around the table. Pasta is what really unites people.
“And around the table, all the strangers turn into friends and into family. So the reason we are here is really to invite everybody to sit around the same table, to enjoy a plate of pasta, to go beyond rivalries or antagonisms, to actually bring together people with the same passion, with the same emotion.”
