Petronas to be Mercedes title sponsor
21st December 2009, 9:43 by Keith Collantine 78 Comments »
Mercedes Grand Prix Petronas artwork concept (click to enlarge)
Former BMW and Sauber sponsor Petronas will switch its backing to Mercedes next year.
The team’s official title will be the Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team.
The Malaysian state-owned petroleum company has passed up the opportunity to renew its association with Sauber or join up with the new Malaysian-run Lotus team.
Vice-President of Mercedes-Benz motorsports Norbert Haug said:
We are very pleased to begin our long-term partnership with our new title partner Petronas. Daimler, our premium brand Mercedes-Benz and Petronas will work together both on and off the track and I am sure that everybody involved will guarantee their absolute dedication to success. Petronas’ home base in Kuala Lumpur is located in the middle of a fast-growing region for the automotive industry which makes this new partnership even more valuable.
Within the limits of the new Formula One resource restrictions, the Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team will be well positioned to achieve our goals. We will all strive to present efficient success in the future knowing at the same time that the new Formula One season with some fundamental rule changes will be a particularly challenging one.
Mercedes had previously been backed by ExxonMobil lubricants brand Mobil 1. With much interest in Michael Schumacher potentially joining the team it coukd be significant that Mercedes has not signed a deal with Shell, who Schumacher has been associated with in the past.
Mercedes have issued some revised concept artwork of their 2010 F1 car livery which includes the Petronas branding as well as Aabar, MIG and Graham logos. Merging the Petronas turquoise in with the classic Mercedes silver is going to be a tricky job.
The final livery will be seen for the first time on February 1st at the Valencia circuit, which looks like another indication the teams’ plans for a joint launch have failed.
Read more: F1 2010 Season
Jonesracing82 said on 21st December 2009, 9:52
thats odd, i read a couple of days ago they wern’t being with any team, only the Malaysian GP
Prisoner Monkeys said on 21st December 2009, 9:54
They said they weren’t going to be with any new team after people saw a Malaysian oil company and a Malaysian racing team, and then put two and two together and got five.
Lustigson said on 21st December 2009, 9:57
Now that‘s a surprise…
PJA said on 21st December 2009, 10:06
That’s a bit of a surprise, I thought Petronas would either go back to Sauber or with Lotus, I hope Sauber don’t have any trouble attracting major sponsors.
NomadIndian said on 21st December 2009, 13:56
Second that. Bagging Petronas was quite a coup for Mercedes. Or rather for both sides.
Just one more challenge for Peter Sauber. Hope he gets the team back in shape.
tangof1 said on 22nd December 2009, 7:18
I think with the recent signing of Kobayashi to Sauber i think he will bring Panasonic sponsors there.
Arun Srini said on 21st December 2009, 10:08
whatever, but that silver with green is one ugly thing, bring on the orange!!!
Prisoner Monkeys said on 21st December 2009, 10:11
What green? Brawn was white, black and yellow. Ross Brawn said it himself at the beginning of the year: they chose yellow.
Katy said on 21st December 2009, 10:24
Arun was clearly referring to the silver merc picture in this article, nothing was mentioned about the Brawn colours :-S
Prisoner Monkeys said on 21st December 2009, 10:27
He said “silver with green” … I’m at a loss to work out what “green” he was referring to, unless he thinks the grass in the background should be pulled out to mae he car look better …
Katy said on 21st December 2009, 10:36
It’s quite obvious he meant the turquoise, it’s commonly called green or blue as it’s somewhere between the two. No need to be deliberately awkward.
Prisoner Monkeys said on 21st December 2009, 10:40
Deliberately awkward?
The only thing this mock-up does is add Petronas logos to a mock-up that was pitched back when Mercedes bought Brawn. That original design also included turquoise, and didn’t receive any complaints at the time.
sumedh said on 21st December 2009, 10:48
I agree, the car looks hideous with the combination of grey / silver and turquoise / blue / green (whatever you may call those colours).
Even the Malaysian team had some rainbow colors, + we have Renault’s vomit livery. Formula 1 is getting uglier by the day
Bernie, what happened to “improving the show”!!
TommyB said on 21st December 2009, 11:02
I think she means the fact you don’t understand what colours people are saying unless it is refered to in the exact name. We all get what Arun meant
Ned Flanders said on 21st December 2009, 11:17
PM, everyone seems to get exactly what he means except you. Stop being a prat
TommyB said on 21st December 2009, 11:24
A 9 comment arguement that turqoise can be refured to as green or blue.
For the best F1 discussion come to f1fanatic.co.uk
ajokay said on 21st December 2009, 13:03
I think that the Black of the carbon fibre, the Silver, and then that beautiful shade of turquoise look great together.
bobo said on 21st December 2009, 13:51
haha, kids, grow up… its just a guess.
Maciek said on 21st December 2009, 14:55
Besides all of which, some us here are slightly colour-blind – if nobody told me that was turquoise, I wouldn’t know what to call it, but I still see that it looks ugly as hell on this picture.
sato113 said on 21st December 2009, 15:15
pm, since when did the original Mercedes GP livery contain turquoise? I remember it only had silver and carbon fibre…
pSynrg said on 22nd December 2009, 21:15
lol, u r arguing about a colour…
Katy said on 21st December 2009, 10:14
Well that’s a surprise!!
I think the colours would work if they just had the name in turquoise, that’d look well nice
gabal said on 21st December 2009, 10:16
Now that is one ugly livery, at least they will be easy to spot from distance…
Piffles said on 21st December 2009, 10:24
So what’s the McLaren going to look like next year if Mercedes concentrate on Brawn?
Will they stay in Mercedes Silver or will they look like a Vodaphone phone box?
PJA said on 21st December 2009, 10:47
When McLaren and Mercedes annouced they would be seperating, McLaren said they would be keeping their current livery.
LewisC said on 21st December 2009, 11:03
I have a horrible feeling they’re going to look like they’re sponsored by Dyno-Rod…
New McLaren Livery
Current McLaren shirt…
Lustigson said on 21st December 2009, 10:27
Here’s a different angle for the Mercedes in its concept livery:
(Hope the image works, otherwise, here’s the link.)
Bullfrog said on 21st December 2009, 10:33
Silver, turquoise, probably Schuey’s red helmet – might as well have some Brawn yellow on it too.
It’ll still look better than the Hondas did – remember the green trousers?
Petronas’ll get more exposure this way but I’d rather see their name in big letters on a Sauber, I don’t like to see sponsors switching to the big teams. Similarly I’ve read about Campos struggling for backing, with all the big sponsors in the Spanish market clamouring to be associated with Alonso and Ferrari. Anyone heard anything about this?
Prisoner Monkeys said on 21st December 2009, 10:38
Side-view rendering. Looks way better:
http://www.f1today.nl/cms/thumbnails/show_article.php?filename=../fotos/lk10on4n2.jpg&file=lk10on4n2.jpg
TommyB said on 21st December 2009, 11:05
Yeah I assumed it would look more like that anyway. Not too much Turqoise on the car just having Petronas written in Black.
James_mc said on 21st December 2009, 10:51
At least it’s better than the ghastly Brawn colours, especially with the clashing yellows in Brazil
TommyB said on 21st December 2009, 11:05
I know that made the Renault livery look great compared to that hideous Brawn
Ned Flanders said on 21st December 2009, 11:20
Brawn in Brazil was bad, but this has the potential to be much, much worse. Silver and turquoise simply don’t go
Katy said on 21st December 2009, 12:26
Aw I think silver goes with anything, it’s one of those colours that doesn’t clash. I’m looking forward to the new liveries
Ned Flanders said on 21st December 2009, 11:22
I agree that this has the potential to be a very bad livery. But remember, Petronas sponsored BMW for 4 years without ever using their corporate turquoise on the car. Perhaps they’ll do the same with Mercedes
TommyB said on 21st December 2009, 11:32
Yeah I agree. Shame they didn’t stick with Sauber – a turqoise car like the old Sauber would have looked cool in my opinion
Lustigson said on 21st December 2009, 12:42
The best-looking cars in turqoise would have to be the late 80s, early 90s Leyton House March’s.
Zahir said on 21st December 2009, 11:36
Am i the only one who likes it?
I think it looks great… especially the side view. Oh well i guess its like the renault 09 livery, you either hate it or love it.
Chalky said on 21st December 2009, 11:41
How many more times will we see that same image photoshoped before the 2010 season starts?
Red Andy said on 21st December 2009, 11:43
ARGH, MY EYES!