Virgin to sponsor new Brawn Grand Prix Team

According to this article from the Beeb, SRB is about to announce that the Virgin group will be the official sponsor of the new Brawn GP Team (formally known as Honda F1).

Now this is an interesting one. Of course it marks the first real foray into sponsorship of a major team by the Virgin group (I think they sponsored the London Broncos Rugby League team back in the day and I think DJ have some sort of sponsor agreement at the moment).

Personally I think it will be a great way to get the Virgin brand further out there, especially in places like China, Abu Dhabi, Brazil etc that may be less used to the Virgin brand and then there is the TV audience which is huge.

And then there is the feel good factor of SRB supporting a British based company at a time when it has been struggling. Those of you not into F1 Honda was only changed into Brawn F1 at the last minute, it almost shut down completely causing potential loss of jobs in Brackley.

Of course there is the argument that the money could be spent on improving aspects of Virgin group companies but then again one does have to look at how much income the sponsorship will bring into those companies. If the deal costs 2m but brings in 20m clearly its worth it.

It sounds like a good opportunity for Virgin but I wonder how those who have recently been made redundant from the Virgin Group will see it?[:?]

[Bazz]

Nothing on the BrawnGP site about it yet. http://www2.brawngp.com/index.asp

quote:Originally posted by willd
(formally known as Honda F1).


Or 'formerly'?

Good news if it turns out to be real - would Virgin Group be the lead sponsor and would the cards therefore be all red I wonder?

quote:Originally posted by slinky09
quote:Originally posted by willd
(formally known as Honda F1).


Or 'formerly'?


[:I]

quote:
Good news if it turns out to be real - would Virgin Group be the lead sponsor and would the cards therefore be all red I wonder?


YEs I think they will be lead sponsor eg: Virgin Brawn GP Team a bit like Renault is the Renault ING F1 team and Williams are Williams AT+T F1. I doubt we will see the sponsorship changing depending on the region of the races as I think the sponsorship will be aimed more at the TV watchers than those at the circuit (if you see what I mean). I did hear that Virgin Money could get the majority of plastering on the side of the car.

There are certain Virgin brands that wont appear. For example I doubt we will see VX on the side of cars as Americans arent into F1. Equally I doubt VS/DJ need to be on the side of the cars as they are established brand.

quote:Originally posted by bazz
Nothing on the BrawnGP site about it yet


Not going to be announced until tomorrow or Sunday when SRB gets to Melbourne apparently. Is fairly hush, hush and Brawn has just given 'no comment' to all the questions about it. Although the major news channels and broadsheets are reporting it today, as well as Autosport who are normally very accurate with their info. The cars will be driving round in all white this weekend as its too late to change the cars.

[Neil]

quote:Originally posted by slinky09
quote:Originally posted by willd
(formally known as Honda F1).


Or 'formerly'?

Good news if it turns out to be real - would Virgin Group be the lead sponsor and would the cards therefore be all red I wonder?



Being a bit of an F1 geek also, this story was first talked about on Wednesday and pretty much confirmed yesterday although not officially yet.

As for the colour of the car, well currently the BrawnGP car is predominantly white, with black and also a fluorescent green trim. When they announced this, they said it was to keep it simple, but also as it was very natural and would help them attract potential sponsors, so long term it could mean an all red car (although it might might the Ferrari a bit too much). However, I have never seen a team do a colour change during the first race, and not even sure it would be allowed, so I imagine the Virgin brand name might just get plastered all over the current colour scheme for this season at least.

Neil

quote:Originally posted by Neil
Being a bit of an F1 geek also, this story was first talked about on Wednesday and pretty much confirmed yesterday although not officially yet.

As for the colour of the car, well currently the BrawnGP car is predominantly white, with black and also a fluorescent green trim. When they announced this, they said it was to keep it simple, but also as it was very natural and would help them attract potential sponsors, so long term it could mean an all red car (although it might might the Ferrari a bit too much). However, I have never seen a team do a colour change during the first race, and not even sure it would be allowed, so I imagine the Virgin brand name might just get plastered all over the current colour scheme for this season at least.



Exactly what I was thinking but then remembered that DC was allowed to drive a different coloured Red Bull car in Brazil last year (albeit for something like 20 yards before he crashed). I would be shocked if the FIA didn't allow the change of colours (after all money talks), if thats what Virgin want. Come to think of it didn't Spyker change the colour of the cars when they brought Midland mid season back in 2006?

Cant wait for the tomorrow morning. Great news the f1 is back on the Beeb.

[Neil]

quote:Originally posted by willd
Exactly what I was thinking but then remembered that DC was allowed to drive a different coloured Red Bull car in Brazil last year (albeit for something like 20 yards before he crashed). I would be shocked if the FIA didn't allow the change of colours (after all money talks), if thats what Virgin want. Come to think of it didn't Spyker change the colour of the cars when they brought Midland mid season back in 2006?

Cant wait for the tomorrow morning. Great news the f1 is back on the Beeb.


You are probably right, just with it hardly ever happening I guess it is something that very rarely comes up, is brought to the public's attention.

I imagine with the Virgin Brand being Red & White anyway, they might be able to use the existing colour scheme and maybe just have Virgin in red or something.

Can't wait for tomorrow, so glad it's back on the BBC too, no adverts is going to be fantastic, glad they kept Brundle though, like him a lot.

[Bazz]

Martin Brundle has done a fantastic job for ITV F1 and I too am really pleased they (BBC Sport/Brundle) were able to strike a deal to keep him in the team - his grid walk-abouts are legendary! [y] He has the respect of the drivers and teams as he has had a good racing career himself albeit Le Mans was kinder to him then F1. I guess he has a bit more time on his hands this year as I assume he is no longer DC's manager?

[Bazz]

Actually maybe my last sentence is inaccurate as I have just read that DC has been named as Red Bull's stand-in driver for the 2009 season... ...DC is also now a BBC pundit!

This from the BBC web site:

quote: The BBC has put together a top-notch team to guide you through the 2009 Formula 1 season.

Jake Humphrey presents our TV coverage, alongside 13-time Grand Prix winner David Coulthard and former F1 team boss Eddie Jordan. Commentary will come from Jonathan Legard and award-winning broadcaster Martin Brundle.

The 5 live commentary team is led by David Croft alongside new signing Formula One driver Anthony Davidson and pit lane reporter Holly Samos.

quote:Originally posted by Bazz
Martin Brundle has done a fantastic job for ITV F1 and I too am really pleased they (BBC Sport/Brundle) were able to strike a deal to keep him in the team - his grid walk-abouts are legendary! [y] He has the respect of the drivers and teams as he has had a good racing career himself albeit Le Mans was kinder to him then F1


Absolutely [y]

quote:Originally posted by Bazz
Martin Brundle has done a fantastic job for ITV F1 and I too am really pleased they (BBC Sport/Brundle) were able to strike a deal to keep him in the team - his grid walk-abouts are legendary! [y] He has the respect of the drivers and teams as he has had a good racing career himself albeit Le Mans was kinder to him then F1. I guess he has a bit more time on his hands this year as I assume he is no longer DC's manager?


Hit the nail on the head, his walkabouts are so good because the paddock respect him. Will be interesting to see if David 'it wasn't my fault I crashed' Coulthard can go more than 2 minutes without moaning or blaming his commentary on someone else [}:)]

Believe Brundle manages alot of other drivers also. Bit like Fishchella does.

[Bazz]

No mention on his web site of him managing anyone other than DC? It does say he managed DC's 'commercial affairs' from 1998 to 2008 so it looks like that relationship is in fact now over.

[Neil]

I see this is all confirmed now and the Virgin brand name has been very quickly put on the car for this weekend. Interesting too that there is a possibility that Virgin could take over the team name, with SRB stating it is a possibility and if it was going to happen it would be likely in the next 3/4 weeks.

Also, loved the fact SRB appeared on the BBC's live qualifying coverage and proceeded to swear, quality!

With pole and second in qualifying it's great timing for Virgin. I'm not sure how much SRB has invested but if the cars do well in the race too then he may just have got his money back with advertising like that.[^][y][:D]

Apparently we will see a new colour scheme in Malaysia [:D]

quote:Originally posted by Neil
Also, loved the fact SRB appeared on the BBC's live qualifying coverage and proceeded to swear, quality!


Tops [y]

Button wins, Barrichello 2nd...so top 2 for Team Brawn

[Darren Wheeler]

You can almost hear the sound of Honda kicking themselves...

quote:Originally posted by Penny_L
Button wins, Barrichello 2nd...so top 2 for Team Brawn


Fantastic for Jensen, Brawn and Virgin - loved it!

[Nottingham Nick]

There may be downside to all this. With SRB saying that he is now addicted to F1, does this mean that less of his time, passion and money will be devoted to VS? - at a time when I think they REALLY need him.

Nick

quote:There may be downside to all this. With SRB saying that he is now addicted to F1, does this mean that less of his time, passion and money will be devoted to VS? - at a time when I think they REALLY need him.

Nick

Maybe it will spark some additional passion that will filter through the whole group.

[Scrooge]

I don't think SRB has really been paying much attention to VS for a while, but way to go Mr Button.

Late News : Hamilton gets third after Trulli was penalised for overtaking under SC rules, not bad from 18th on the grid in a 'crap' car.

Respect to Button and Brawn though, spectacular debut.

Miopyk[8D]

[Neil]

It was a great result for Button and more so for Brawn GP.

I think SRB is really taken with F1 from what I have seen, heard and read and am pretty certain Virgin will be investing a lot more money in Brawn in the near future.