Julian Jakobi has been in driver management for over 30 years and has represented the interests of some of the biggest names. At one time, he managed to coach Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost at the same time, while more recently he scored a coup by landing a Red Bull Racing drive for Sergio Perez.
As a die-hard negotiator, he remains highly regarded by both the drivers he works with and the teams on the other side of every deal.
Julian Jakobi with Eddie Jordan
Photo by: Rainer W. Schlegelmilch
Born in 1951, Jakobi attended Oxford University to study philosophy, politics and economics – a course that gave him a solid foundation for his future career. He then trained an auditor who qualified in 1977.
He then moved to IMG, the giant management company founded by US sports business legend Mark McCormack. He was head of International Client Financial and Motorsport and worked with names like Björn Borg and Nick Faldo as well as Senna and Prost.
On the Beyond the Grid podcast about juggling the interests of the two F1 superstars, he said, “I will never give financial details from one customer to another. With customer confidentiality, you just don’t do that.
Ron Dennis, McLaren Team Principal, speaks to Julian Jakobi, CSS Stellar Management.
Photo by: Mark Capilitan
“So if a customer still says:” By the way … “and asked me a question that is not right, I say to him:” I’m sorry, I won’t answer this question, you know the rules ” .
“And it only happened once with Ayrton and once with Alain that they tried to get information and I refused to give it and they never tried again.
“That doesn’t mean that the drivers talk. Do it. Even today. But what they say to each other is fine. I don’t mind, but they’ll never get the information from me. “
In 1992 he left IMG to focus on Senna and became both its manager and head of the international arm of the Brazilian Legend Organization. At the end of the year and in the 1993 season, Jakobi helped Senna with his lengthy negotiations with McLaren.
After Ayrton’s death in Imola in May 1994, Jakobi continued to work with the Senna family and the charitable foundation.
Flavio Briatore, Renault F1 team manager, speaks to Julian Jakobi
Photo by: Sutton Images
In 1997 Jakobi founded the Stellar Management Group. He looked after Prost, Jacques Villeneuve, bike ace Max Biaggi and aspiring IndyCar star Dario Franchitti and also played a key role in starting British American Racing – the team that would one day transform into the Mercedes F1 outfit .
Two years after the start of Stellar in Jakobi, the company was merged with the well-known PR and marketing group CSS Promotions from racing. Jakobi became CEO of the newly named organization CSS Stellar and later assumed the role of chairman.
In 2010, he took another step forward in his career by founding GP Sports Management, the company he still runs to this day. His best known client on the current F1 grid is Perez, and Jakobi steered the Mexican through his Force India and Racing Point days. He faced a major challenge last summer when Lawrence Stroll decided to sign Sebastian Vettel in 2021, potentially leaving Perez unpowered.
Julian Jakobi
Photo by: Rainer W. Schlegelmilch
From the start, Jakobi saw Red Bull as a potential home, despite the team’s established policy of using its own drivers. He didn’t give up and helped Perez, who performed at the highest level on the track in 2020. He was able to secure the seat.
Jakobi also represents Haas F1 reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi, who joined the US team in the last two races in 2021, as well as the alpine protégé and F2 racing driver Guanyu Zhou.
In the US, he looks after Juan Pablo Montoya, who is returning to McLaren this year for the Indy 500, and sports car racer Katherine Legge.
Julian Jakobi, CSS Stellar Management, speaks to Juan Pablo Montoya, McLaren
Photo by: Sutton Images
Jakobi’s company has become an increasingly influential player in the Formula E scene. His clients include Sam Bird, Nick Cassidy, Lucas di Grassi, Andre Lotterer, Jean-Eric Vergne and Oliver Turvey.
He has continued to work with many big names who have retired from the cockpit including Franchitti, Allan McNish, Jerome d’Ambrosio and Pedro de la Rosa, while the company also represents stars from the skateboarding and surfing worlds.
For Jakobi’s birthday, we asked some of the drivers he worked with to pay tribute to him:
The post The manager who was juggling with Prost & Senna at the same time first appeared on monter-une-startup.
