Vodafone unveiled as new McLaren sponsor
McLaren have unveiled their new title sponsor after poaching mobile phone giant Vodafone from Ferrari.
Vodafone have been associated with Ferrari for several years but they will switch to McLaren from January 2007 after concluding a lucrative long-term contract.
The team will be known as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes and boss Ron Dennis was delighted to seal the deal.
He said: “This is only the third time for more than 30 years that the opportunity to become the team’s title sponsor has existed.
“The status of the brand and the level of activation in support of the sponsorship were key criteria for our choice of title sponsor and Vodafone over-delivers in all respects.
“In addition, as our agreement is long-term, this provides important stability within the team, allowing us to focus fully on our objective of winning races and championships together.
“We are delighted to welcome Vodafone to the team and look forward to many future successes.”
McLaren have been without a principal sponsor since cigarette brand West left in the summer, but they were expected to link up with computer firm Intel.
However, world governing body the FIA’s association with Intel’s rivals AMD is believed to have caused problems.
