Red Bull has Infiniti, Mercedes has Petronas, McLaren has Vodafone…the list goes on. Yet Lotus has yet to sign a title sponsor despite now being classed a ‘top’ team.
It’s a source of revenue many of the teams rely on as a title sponsor will pay massive amounts of cash to have their name plastered on the prime locations, such as the sidepods, engine cover and rear-wing.
It’s no secret that Lotus doesn’t have the biggest of budgets – something which deterred Kimi Raikkonen from signing a new contract – yet they haven’t secured a title sponsor, instead opting to give the valuable space to Genii – the investment firm which owns the team.
Things might be about to change though, with the outfit’s CEO Patrick Louis confirming it’s something they’re working on, as long as it’s the right company at the right price.
“We are working on a title sponsor,” he told iSportConnect. “Instead of signing a not that valuable deal we would instead prefer to wait and pick the right partner.”
There was talk of American giant Honeywell showing interest, but Louis admitted the price wasn’t right.
“It makes no sense to rush it and get the fraction of the value we need to get. We’re working on that one,” he added.
The financial benefit of a title sponsor is huge. McLaren’s outgoing sponsor Vodafone contributed upwards of £40 million ($65m) annually to the team’s budget.
According to Louis, it isn’t having a major impact on their finances as Genii fill the hole.
“Today what’s missing in the account at the end of the year is provided in loans by the company owners Genii Capital so it doesn’t really change anything for the team.
“In the end if the team gets a title sponsor it will be quite helpful for our shareholders. It will not change the funding of the team or the stability. We are stable”
