Renault have seemingly struggled to find a title sponsor for the 2010 season after the turmoil of 2009 and ‘crash-gate’, which hit the team hard.
Now, it has emerged that the Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin has announced the Russian car brand Lada, will sponsor the Renault team, which is majority owned by Genii Capital, a Swiss investment firm.
Carlos Ghosn, Renault’s Chief Executive met with Mr Putin to agree upon a deal which is also likely to see the French marque increase it’s stake in the Lada parent company, Avtovaz. A stake which already stands at 25%.
“We will sponsor this activity (the F1 team) as a first step, and do not rule out later increasing our financial participation in the project,” Putin is quoted as saying by the Moscow news agency EFE.
The partnership will no doubt be an outcome of Renault’s latest signing, the young Russian, Vitaly Petrov. Putin hailed it as a “great symbol of cooperation” between the French marque and Russia.
