Sponsor watch: 2014 Italian Grand Prix

2014 Italian Grand Prix

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As well as three new sponsors, two teams were paying special tributes on their cars at the Italian Grand Prix. Bostjan Budna casts an eye over the livery changes at Monza.

McLaren

On Saturday morning in Monza, McLaren launched a partnership with Segafredo Zanetti coffee brand of Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group. The brand first appeared in Formula One with Toleman in 1984, and sponsored Ayrton Senna again ten years later at Williams. Between that, in the mid-eighties, it sponsored McLaren.

The Segafredo Zanetti logo will appear on MP4-29’s rear wing endplates as well as drivers’ overalls for the rest of the season, on three occasions as local brand Boncafe.

Lotus

Lotus found a new sponsor in Hisense, a multi-national electronics company from China, which appeared on their sidepods where several different names have appeared already this season. The logo will reappear in the same position at the United States Grand Prix, and on the car’s air box in Abu Dhabi.

Sauber

To celebrate the tenth anniversary their partnership with Sauber, Certina launched a limited edition watch which appeared on the C33’s sidepods during the weekend.

Force India

Force India paid tribute to Gary North, who had recently lost his life, with two messages on the car – ‘You will be greatly missed’ appeared on the inside of the rear wing endplates. ‘Gadget’ had been with the team since 1995, when it was Jordan. The team said he was “enthusiastic about our sport and always contributed to the team’s success. He had the respect of everyone”.

Ferrari

As in Canada, Ferrari carried a logo on the side of their cars in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Carabinieri – Italy’s national military police. Below the logo was the Carabinieri’s motto, Nei Secoli Fedele (Faithful Throughout the Centuries). Ferrari stated both them and the Carabinieri share “the values of respect for their tradition and history and the fact they are both symbols of Italy around the world.”

2014 Italian Grand Prix

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28 comments on “Sponsor watch: 2014 Italian Grand Prix”

  1. Still no sign of that major/title sponsor at McLaren despite being told that it would be announced around 5 races into this season?

    1. More like 5 races into last season.

  2. Nice article! I do like spotting sponsors between races. Hisense was using the the previous gen V8 noise with the Lotus logo in most of the 10 ad breaks on Ch Ten Sunday.

  3. So how much do you reckon these advertising spaces cost? What about for that McLaren, a spot on the overalls and the rear wing endplate for under half a season?

    1. Check out this article in the Telegraph entitled “Where does the money go”:
      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/11077082/Formula-One-Where-does-the-money-go.html#?frame=3028323

      1. No wonder it’s hard to attract sponsors. Can Marlboro really expect to sell $100m dollars more cigarettes from sponsoring Ferrari (when not even their name was shown)…

        1. I believe that they have rights to most of car but lease out spots to the other sponsors to recoup some of the money.

          1. That would mean Ferrari is losing potential money

        2. marlboro hemp ad they will boss it

  4. Segafredo could have an awesome tie-in opportunity to promote a chrome espresso machine (if they create one, doesn’t look like they currently do) on that mclaren!

    http://www.coffeewishes.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/1/s/1s_art-t1.jpg

    1. Chrome and carbon fibre: Engineered in the MTC

    2. it would be behind spec, and comlain all the time your coffee wasnt perfect

      1. Haha yes and also malfunctioning at every other cup you make or breakdown when you do a quick pitstop to clean the thing

    3. The Blade Runner (@)
      12th September 2014, 10:52

      They’d probably call it a “Caffeine Extraction Unit”

  5. Great idea for a line of articles this! I love liveries, shame they are not more colourfull lately, although FI is a bit of a positive exception there!

    Shame the Certina deal is only a one off, having that watch on the side of the car makes it look a lot more interesting for me.

    1. @bascb
      I’m surprised I missed the giant watch on the sidepod, I guess I’m just blanking Sauber out of my mind this season.

      1. haha was thinking that too

      2. LOL, yeah, I was a bit surprised when I first saw that picture and had a good look too, Sauber has the livery to match their performance this year (completely forgettable and uninspiring) @george

  6. Good article thanks.
    Kinda sad that this half explains why teams find it harder to attract sponsors nowadays. I mean, before reading this, I had no idea about any of these changes. Did not spot one of them over the weekend.
    I know that sponsorship and promotion will go way beyond just the spot on the car, but you can spend what you like on sponsorship, if people don’t notice it, what’s the point?
    Also, coming to the car this late in the season means they won’t even be part of the ‘official’ livery used in the video game.

    1. @eurobrun this is a fantastic comment and you are absolutely right.

      Although my understanding is that in next year’s F1 2015 liveries will be updated after every race.

    2. @eurobrun

      Also, coming to the car this late in the season means they won’t even be part of the ‘official’ livery used in the video game.

      Indeed, though with Codemasters introducing download-able in the 2015 game, perhaps that will change.

      1. They will finally change the driver line up during the off season too so that your game isn’t outdated after 2 months!

        Never really understood why they launch the game in October when the season ends in November….

    3. it’s no secret that sponsors in motorsport are not meant to be convenient because of visibility. ok, in F1 that plays a part as well, but think to all the other categories. it would be suicidal to put millions on a GP3 driver. or a million on a f3 or WSR team because of visibility. it’s not visibility. it’s something called “feedback”. I give you a million. You declare officially I gave you ten millions. We get advantages because of that. Everybody does that, and as I said, it’s not as much as a secret. Like everybody knows Philip Morris is with Ferrari, even though you don’t read it on the car, it’s not a secret.

  7. I spotted all those, must have an eye for it too!

    I know one thing also; Hugo Boss won’t be sponsoring McLaren in 2015.
    That’s a long partnership ending.

    1. Indeed, following Hamilton and Paddy Lowe to Mercedes! This could be because Mercedes will no longer be McLaren’s partners and Hugo Boss want that German link.

      1. Consequently, there could be more Japanese sponsors on the Mclaren, could we presume?

        If I were Segafredo Zanetti, I’d feel hard done by with the lack of visibility on the Mclaren rear wing. You can barely read the black writing on the chrome! I’ve got an MP4-2B model at home and their company colours go nicely with the Marlboro Mclaren red and white back then.

  8. Very nice piece for another fan of sponsors! Please check what I’ve been doing at the beginning of each season: http://ww2.sinaimg.cn/large/63c307b3jw1ed8xqj6gaoj20l90sgqa4.jpg

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