Vodafone will no longer be a partner of McLaren in 2014
On the sidelines of the Australian Grand Prix, the first of the 2013 season, the McLaren team and its main sponsor, Vodafone, announced the end of their collaboration, which will take effect on the evening of the last race of the season in Brazil.
Vodafone and McLaren have decided not to renew their sponsorship contract beyond the 2013 season. The team announced this news this morning. The British telecom giant had signed a contract with the Woking team in 2007, when Fernando Alonso himself joined the team, even though the announcement of this sponsorship was made well before his arrival. Their collaboration over the six-year contract was fruitful with no less than 34 victories, a world championship title with Lewis Hamilton in 2008, and numerous podiums.
After having achieved and exceeded the very ambitious goals Vodafone set for its partnership with McLaren, the company has decided to focus on other priorities, away from Formula 1. However, Morten Lundal, the company’s commercial director, wanted to acknowledge their partner: Vodafone and McLaren set very ambitious goals in 2007. Over the past six years, we have together established new standards in high-level sports marketing, and as a result, have achieved our goals. We look forward to continuing our work for the year 2013.
For his part, Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren’s director, does not hide his pride in having collaborated with such a company: “We are very proud that after setting a number of ambitious goals, we have met or exceeded each one of them. Our aim today is to continue delivering good results for all our partners throughout 2013.”
The next title sponsor of McLaren for the 2014 season will not be known before the end of the season, as confirmed by Whitmarsh: “We are looking forward to making an announcement regarding our next title sponsor, towards the end of the year.”
