24/04/2024
NEWS STORY
Ferrari looks set to announce a title sponsor for 2025, the first time the Maranello outfit has sported a title sponsor since 2021.
At that time the team - in a precursor to the likes of Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber and Visa Cash App RB - was known as Ferrari Mission Winnow, in respect of Marlboro cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris International.
Sport Business claims that Ferrari - no doubt in anticipation of the arrival of Lewis Hamilton and his huge salary demands - has agreed a $100m (£80m) deal with Hewlett Packard (HP) to be announced in Miami.
HP previously sponsored Williams in the early 2000 when it was still in a position to win races, the new deal with Ferrari said to be about a technological partnership and not just money.
At a time teams are claimed to be worth in excess of £1bn, it makes sense that Ferrari, other than hiring one of the world's most high-profile sports stars, has also been recruiting from the cutthroat commercial world having poached Lorenzo Giorgetti and George Prior from AC Milan in the last year, the former appointed Chief Racing Revenue Officer at Maranello and the latter Head of Partnership Asset Management.
Alongside the announcement in Miami, the cars of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc will sport a unique blue livery which is understood to echo the blue (and white) liveries sported by Luigi Chinetti's North American Racing Team (NART) in the 60s and early 70s.
Indeed, John Surtees (pictured) secured the 1964 title in a NART liveried Ferrari when he finished fourth in the season-ending Mexican Grand Prix, both works cars having sported the white and blue liveries in the United States Grand Prix also.
Ferrari has not yet given details of the livery other than the fact that the shades of blue to be used are Azzurro La Plata and Azzurro Dino.
Naturally, details of a special range of clothing for fans to purchase is already being promoted on social media.