Following yesterday’s shock announcement that Petronas has signed up as the title sponsor of Mercedes GP, Malaysia’s ex-Formula 1 driver Alex Yoong has showed disappointment at the snub towards Lotus F1. Yoong is now head of driver development for the Malaysian backed Lotus F1 team.
“Petronas signs with Mercedes GP,” he wrote. “Words fail me. Mercedes is a good team, no doubt, but what Lotus is doing is completely ground-breaking and brave and Petronas not seeing that fills me with shame,” he posted on his Twitter account.
Lotus F1 boss Tony Fernandes has been courting the national oil company as a sponsor after the latter ended its deal with BMW Sauber, and was quoted before as saying: “We would love Petronas to sponsor us
Petronas has just moments ago announced that it will be the title sponsor of Mercedes GP! This comes as a surprise after it was widely reported that the national oil company will be ending its involvement in F1 as a team sponsor. The choice of Mercedes GP is also unexpected – after all Malaysia has its “own” team in Lotus F1.
The five-year agreement with Mercedes comes after Petronas’ deal with BMW Sauber ended in the just concluded 2009 season. Under this new deal, Petronas will be the title partner to the Silver Arrows works team, which will be officially known as the Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team.
The official media statement explains that “this partnership allows related business arrangements with Mercedes that will support Petronas’ international business expansion efforts, particularly in its global lubricant business. The exclusive rights of a title partner and association with the premium, internationally-renowned Mercedes brand will further enhance Petronas and Malaysia’s ongoing global brand positioning efforts. Petronas will also be able to continue to leverage on the extensive international exposure offered by the sport to grow its existing business activities.”
This tie-up also presents Petronas with the opportunity to utilise and leverage on Mercedes’ long motor sport heritage to further supplement its talent development initiatives as part of its contribution towards the development of Malaysia’s motorsports industry, it said.
Petronas will continue to be the title sponsor of the Malaysian Grand Prix, as reported earlier.
Quotes from Norbert Haug, Vice-President of Mercedes-Benz Motorsports and Ross Brawn, Team Principal are after the jump.
UPDATE: The Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team’s race car will make its track debut in its new livery at Valencia on 1 February to start pre-season testing ahead of the 2010 season.
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