Lotus F1 (Not the Renault People) - new sponsorship

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

Lotus F1 have just announced that General Electric are to be one of their main sponsors and they've also signed up to use Williams F1's 2nd wind tunnel. All in all I'm hoping this bodes well for the development of the 2012 car and beyond.

[Jungles]

It's not just sponsorship they're getting from GE. Judging by comments made by Fernandez according to this article, this will be a technical partnership as well. GE has enormous expertise in aerodynamics, power, and turbine technology -- the very areas that will probably become key to F1 technical development in the near future.

After poaching some of the ex-Force India engineering staff after the end of last season, they're definitely gearing up to take on the established mid-field teams next near.

[wolfie1978]

it certainly appears that Fernandes is putting the right people in the right places

[Stack]

There is a lot more to this deal than meet the eye

http://aviationnewsdaily.com/2011/05/18/ge-aviatio...

[woof]

Stack said:

There is a lot more to this deal than meet the eye

http://aviationnewsdaily.com/2011/05/18/ge-aviatio...

Yep exactly - Air Asia uses some very expensive GE engines for their planes !
We'll give you $600million from this company - if you'll give us 5% back for "sponsorship"

[Life Saab Itch]

Jungles said:

After poaching some of the ex-Force India engineering staff

And a load from Red Bull...

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

woof said:

Yep exactly - Air Asia uses some very expensive GE engines for their planes !
We'll give you $600million from this company - if you'll give us 5% back for "sponsorship"

It's a bit more than 5% though isn't it? The deal is £30 million a year for 3 years so that represents 15% no? If you were basing it on just that £600 mill deal that represents quite a chunk of the profit they'd expect to make on it I think?

[Crafty_]

$600 million is just the start, air asia business could be worth an awful lot more than that. On going maintenance, continued expansion.. Im seeing figures of $13-17 billion.

[Life Saab Itch]

I wonder if we'll see Jack Donaghy in the pit garages.

[davepoth]

Fernandes is an operator, that much is true. Not many people could cross-subsidise an airline with an F1 team...

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

And the link below the GE deal is about Dell coming on board too (11th June announcement). I guess the court case has opened the way, following clarity that they can race as Lotus, to further sponsorship deals.

[GKP]

They can't race as Lotus as there's no connection to the sportscar manufacturer whatsoever. They are allowed (for the time being) to race as Team Lotus.

Yep, it is confusing.

[woof]

Oi_Oi_Savaloy said:

woof said:

Yep exactly - Air Asia uses some very expensive GE engines for their planes !
We'll give you $600million from this company - if you'll give us 5% back for "sponsorship"

It's a bit more than 5% though isn't it? The deal is £30 million a year for 3 years so that represents 15% no? If you were basing it on just that £600 mill deal that represents quite a chunk of the profit they'd expect to make on it I think?

I don't know the exact figures - just a guess - but yr right i think

[marshalla]

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

marshalla said:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Er, I started this thread at 8am yesterday and you've pointed me to a thread started at 7.15pm yesterday?

[zaphod42]

Conversely, I wonder if any delay to the 2013 engine regulations would give Renault a face saving exit from Renault-Lotus - able to point the finger at engine relevancy to their business rather than blame at Proton-Lotus?

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/92364

[egomeister]

davepoth said:

Fernandes is an operator, that much is true. Not many people could cross-subsidise an airline with an F1 team...

Apart from Vijay Mallya... or Branson.

[zaphod42]

I thought the Virgin link wasn't cpsting him very much as it was the creation of a brand platform which cost Branson surprisingly little?

[egomeister]

zaphod42 said:

I thought the Virgin link wasn't cpsting him very much as it was the creation of a brand platform which cost Branson surprisingly little?

Branson was added more as another example of someone who could cross-subsidise from an airline, rather than someone who has such as Mallya.