03-Jul-09: Virgin Switch Sponsorship to Manor

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It’s the 3rd July 2009 and this is F1 Minute.

There have been rumours floating around for a while now that Virgin would switch their sponsorship from Brawn GP to Manor Grand Prix, and it looks like this might be closer to fact than rumour. The Guardian have published a leaked email from Alan Donnelly, the FIA representative, who says the deal is done and dusted. It’s unclear why Donnelly is involved at all, with Autosport reporting that FOTA have written to the FIA to question his neutrality, and the FIA suggesting he is simply helping the new teams as part of their bid to improve the sport. No one from Virgin or Manor will comment on the potential sponsorship deal though.

Elsewhere today, organisers of the Valencia street circuit have confirmed that they will be reducing the number of grandstand seats available, down by over 30,000 from last year’s 112,000. Ticket sales have not been very good, and organisers blame both the economy and also the ongoing arguments between the FIA and FOTA.

That’s it for today, please join me again tomorrow for another F1 Minute.

Brawn GP Announces Partnership With Virgin

Brawn GP is delighted to confirm that the team has agreed a partnership agreement with Sir Richard Branson and the Virgin Group on the team’s debut race weekend at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

The partnership brings together the world championship winning experience of Ross Brawn and the technical expertise of the Brawn GP team with the marketing and business skills of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group.

This is Virgin’s first foray into the world of Formula One and the first step in what is anticipated to be a broader relationship between the two.

The Brawn GP team’s BGP 001 car will take to the track at Albert Park later this afternoon in qualifying for tomorrow’s Australian Grand Prix featuring Virgin branding.

Ross Brawn, Team Principal of Brawn GP commented; “On behalf of the Brawn GP team, we are delighted to have signed a partnership agreement with Sir Richard and Virgin in Melbourne today. An exciting debut race weekend for our team has become even more important as we have secured our second commercial agreement of the season.  We look forward to working closely with the Virgin Group and sharing our on-track successes.”

Sir Richard Branson said; “I have always said I would love for Virgin to be involved in Formula One and I am thrilled that we will be entering this fantastic sport with people as skilled as Ross Brawn and the Brawn GP team. Over the years Virgin has had the great honour of partnering with technical geniuses and I truly believe that Ross Brawn is to F1 what Burt Ratan is to space travel with Virgin Galactic. We are confident that the Virgin BGP 001 car driven by Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello will go from strength to strength this season and we look forward to a great future working with the Brawn GP team.”

Richard Branson Bids for Honda

Richard Branson is a guest of Force India at the Italian Grand Prix 2008. A Honda statement confirmed today that, amongst others, Branson’s Virgin Group has made a bid for the team. At the moment, there is no more information forthcoming, and speculation is still rife over who will buy the team, who will drive for them, and whether they’ll actually make it.
Credit: Force India Formula One Team

18-Feb-09: Honda Confirm Virgin Group Bid

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Today is the 18th February and you’re listening to F1 Minute.

The main news of the day returns to Honda, as a spokesman issued a simple statement: “We are negotiating with several buyers and one of these parties is the Virgin Group.” Richard Branson’s name has been touted around the rumour mill for a few days, and we now know that he is at least interested in the team. The last time Virgin were involved in F1 was in 2002 when they sponsored Jordan, and since then Branson has been wary of the spiralling costs in the sport.

Meanwhile, in Bahrain, Glock posted the fastest time today, but once again the three teams were separated by only half a second. Massa took over from Kimi, but the Ferrari suffered a gearbox problem after only four laps. They soon got it running again, though. Heidfeld’s BMW had a few mechanical problems and the car stopped out on track a couple of times. They managed just 82 laps to Ferrari’s 105 and Toyota’s 132.

That’s it for today, please join me tomorrow for another F1 Minute.