Mobile for McLaren

[PG_Gabriel]

McLaren will be running a Mobile livery for oz. Could McLaren end up like Williams by running different liveries dependent on the race? They are however working on a new tittle sponsor, Dennis said he would like to have an announcement within the first few races.

http://www.mclaren.com/formula1/partners/Mobil1/mobil-1-and-mclaren-celebrate-20-year-partnership-formula-1/

[John S]

I've always wondered why teams and their marketing departments have never gone all out to sell the ad space on the cars on a race by race or regional basis. I know there are rules about the colour schemes of liveries from the sport's governors, but some of the lower end teams could benefit enormously from taking more but smaller amounts from sponsors.

Risk of a default on season long contracts is diminished with race by race revenue and with the right sales force much more revenue in total should result. There is also probably an untapped pool of companies, and brands, out there that only want country or regional coverage but would love to be part of the F1 circus when it comes to town. This approach may have saved quite a few teams that have fallen by the wayside over the years, and still could.

Perhaps instead of only concentrating on the cost cap the powers that be should be more pro-active about how teams can vary their livery to aid more race/regional sponsorships. This approach could well have saved quite a few teams that have fallen by the wayside over the years, and it may still.

   

[cosworth151]

It would certainly make life interesting for die cast manufacturers, dealers and collectors.

Rotating sponsorship does look like it could open up opportunities for teams that they don't currently have. It's certainly worth looking into.

[Scott]

I agree it would be ok, as long as the background colour of the car doesn't change, so we can still recognize them on track from race to race.

Another alternative is to allow different liveries for each car within a team.  They could have in principle two title sponsors that way, along with quite a few other minor sponsors.  I remember BAR wanted to brand each car differently, but the FIA (FOM?) jumped in and forced them to have identical liveries, so they made that infamous zipper down the car with each side of the car different.  Why are they such sticklers about both cars having the same livery, while allowing the livery to change for each race if the teams want?   

[Jericoke]

It would certainly make life interesting for die cast manufacturers, dealers and collectors.

Rotating sponsorship does look like it could open up opportunities for teams that they don't currently have. It's certainly worth looking into.

I remember seeing this at the Toronto Indy (CART edition).  The locally sponsored cars tend to be the ones out early though, or at the back of the pack without getting much mention on TV