F1 SPONSORSHIP and Financial News 2012

[Mothers Worry]

Marussia Virgin Racing has officially become the Marussia F1 Team as of January 1st for the 2012 season, following Marussia Cars majority acquisition of the outfit in late 2010.

[Ian G.]

Interesting to see what Branson does re future F-1 involvement,he must be having second thoughts re the huge money drain.

[bpratt]

Interesting to see what Branson does re future F-1 involvement,he must be having second thoughts re the huge money drain.

He was lucky with the BrawnGP team (now Mercedes), and thought it better to take a chance on another team.... clearly he would've been better to spend the same money he did with MV team, with the Mercedes team, even with a lower exposure and still able to get better bang for his bucks.

[DanielAquilina]

Do Ferrari still have Marlboro sponsorship or is tobacco sponsors gone completely from F1, I just wanted to know cause I don't think they have appeared on a Ferrari car since like 2009.

[Mothers Worry]

The Ferrari Formula One team was resistant to sponsorship for many years and it was not until 1977 that the cars began to feature the logo of the Fiat group (which had been the owners of the Ferrari company since 1969). Until the 1980s, the only other companies whose logos appeared on Ferrari's F1 cars were technical partners such as Magneti Marelli and Agip.

In September 2005 Ferrari announced they had signed an extension of their sponsorship arrangement with Philip Morris International until 2011. This comes at a time when advertising of tobacco sponsorship has become illegal in the European Union and other major teams have withdrawn from relationships with tobacco companies – McLaren have ended their eight year relationship with West. In reporting the deal, F1 Racing magazine judged it to be a 'black day' for the sport, putting non-tobacco funded teams at a disadvantage and discouraging other brands from entering a sport still associated with tobacco. The magazine estimates that in the period between 2005 and 2011 Ferrari will receive $1 billion from the agreement.

In December 2005 Vodafone announced that it was withdrawing its sponsorship of Ferrari in favour of title sponsorship of McLaren beginning in 2007. The Times said Ferrari were "stunned" by the decision. Vodafone's position on the car has been taken over by Telecom Italia's broadband Alice brand.

Other companies currently sponsoring Scuderia Ferrari include: Fiat (Fiat car brand, part of the Fiat car group which is the largest stakeholder (85%) in Ferrari), Shell – Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Alice, Pirelli (as tyre supplier, having took over from Bridgestone in 2010 when they withdrew), AMD, Acer, and several others among which are Mubadala Development Company (an investment company owned by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi which also owns 5% of Ferrari shares as of the 2007 season), Etihad Airways (until 2011), and Piaggio Aero. As part of the deal with Acer, they are allowed to sell Ferrari-badged laptops. On the other hand, in early 2009 semiconductor chipmaker AMD announced it had decided to drop their sponsorship of the team and is just waiting for its contract to expire after its former Vice President and Sales Executive (who was an avid fan of motorsports) had left the company.

On 10 September 2009, Ferrari announced that they would be sponsored by Santander from 2010 on a five year contract. It is believed that Santander will pay around €40 million ($56.5 million, £35 million) per season to sponsor Ferrari.

Apart from sponsors, Scuderia Ferrari currently have the following companies as official suppliers: Magneti Marelli, OMR, SKF, Bosch, Europcar, Iveco, NGK, Puma, Brembo, BBS, SELEX Communications, Technogym, Kaspersky Lab, PTC, Eibach, Schuberth and Microsoft (note: the sponsors/suppliers information is accurate for the 2010 season).

On 8 July 2011, it was announced that the 'Marlboro' section of their official team name had been removed from the British Grand Prix onwards, following complaints from fans and sponsorship regulators. The team will now be called 'Scuderia Ferrari'.[/b]

I'm not sure if the tobacco sponsorship has continued beyond last year........

[Mothers Worry]

Williams has lost one its biggest financial backers and title sponsor, US telecommunications provider AT&T, which has been with the team since 2007 which supports speculation that Williams have secured a new title sponsor, most likely that of the Qatari National Bank (QNB), who are believed to have been in the final stages of formalising a deal at the end of 2011.

[Ian G.]

Marlboro is with Ferrari for another 4 years,there is a more recent article that expressed concerned with Marlboro being in the name of a F-1 Team and also the design of the logo that resembles a cigarette packet,i'll post link when i find it again.

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2011/06/14/marlboro-extend-ferrari-sponsorship-deal-2015/

[Ian G.]

Williams has lost one its biggest financial backers and title sponsor, US telecommunications provider AT&T, which has been with the team since 2007 which supports speculation that Williams have secured a new title sponsor, most likely that of the Qatari National Bank (QNB), who are believed to have been in the final stages of formalising a deal at the end of 2011.

http://thef1times.com/news/display/05223
Another hit for Williams,they need a good season or 2.

 

[DanielAquilina]

My God that sucks for Williams, like they say it never rains but it pours I hope 2012 is a fresh start for them.

[Ian G.]

Yeah,apparently Williams is in "talks" with another Telco,the one that sponsors Senna.

 http://f1enigma.wordpress.com/2012/01/04/a-sign-on-who-gets-the-williams-seat/

[Mothers Worry]

Daimler AG is no longer a shareholder in the McLaren Group, ending its 12-year majority shareholding in the engineering company which includes its Formula 1 team.

[Mothers Worry]

Williams today announced a new sponsorship agreement between the outfit and Michael Johnson Performance Inc. MJP focuses on training top level athletes in all sports (I assume including F1).

[Mothers Worry]

Red Bull Racing has agreed an enhanced two-year extension to its existing deal with Japanese watch manufacturer Casio. Toro Rosso and Falcon Private Bank have extended their sponsorship agreement with the Italian outfit for the 2012 season, thus becoming an official team partner.

[Mothers Worry]

Santander has extended its sponsorship with Ferrari for another three years.

[f1bettings]

The sponsor money wouldn't exist without marketing powers like Massa and Alonso

[Mothers Worry]

The Lotus F1 Team has announced a three-year agreement which sees Microsoft join the outfit as a sponsor and supplier. The agreement will see Microsoft Dynamics branding on Team Lotus livery.

 

Codemasters has finalised a multi-year licensing extension to continue developing official Formula 1 games for the PC, PS3, Xbox and other gaming platforms. Over to you Bernard:

"Codemasters has created some of the best and most successful Formula One games to date. We and the teams work closely with them and look forward to creating more award-winning games together in the future."

[Mothers Worry]

Mercedes yet to sign new Concorde agreement

Saturday 24th March 2012

Mercedes are yet to sign the new Concorde Agreement which Bernie Ecclestone revealed had been signed by the majority of the grid on Saturday morning in Malaysia.

A statement from the Ecclestone confirmed that Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari had signed up to the terms of the agreement which bind them to the sport and decide what share of the profits they receive.

It's also believed that Lotus, Sauber, Force India, Williams and Toro Rosso have agreed the terms, whilst Caterham, Marussia and HRT haven't yet been approached.

A statement from the Mercedes outfit revealed very little as to why they haven't signed the document: "We would like to ask for your understanding that our team currently has nothing to say on this matter," said a spokesman. "We will, of course, inform you immediately at the appropriate time."

A recent report revealed some of the terms of the new Concorde deal, with certain clauses favouring other outfits including Ferrari and Red Bull.

These clauses give financial bonuses to teams which have won the constructors' championship since 2000, as long as they haven't changed their name since, and a 'Double Champions' payout which rewards an outfit that has won the title consecutively in any two or more seasons since 2008.

Mercedes may have won the title in 2009 under the Brawn GP moniker, but because of the name change to Mercedes in 2010, they are not eligible for the payment.

Speculation amongst paddock sources suggests the outfit may either be considering its future in the sport, or looking at taking FOM to the European anti-competition court, claiming it has been unfairly treated with the sports owners offering preferential treatment to its rivals.

Emphasis added; and with Merc starting to come on strong at the moment this is a real shame.

Yeah; this doesn't look good. It looks as if F1 may be back in court soon (or at least some part of them).

[Mothers Worry]

The Sauber F1 team has confirmed a new sponsor with the UK Premier League Football Club, Chelsea FC. The football team, owned by billionaire Roman Abramovich, has entered into partnership with the Swiss team, and will see its logos on the C31 from the Spanish Grand Prix onwards.