15 Mar 2013

Vodafone to end sponsorship of McLaren

1:03 pm on 15 March 2013

The British mobile operator Vodafone will end its seven-year title sponsorship of Formula One team McLaren at the end of this season.

Vodafone said the sponsorship, which started in 2007 and was worth up to $90 million a year, was being ended following a review of marketing strategy.

British-based McLaren is one of Formula One's most successful teams, winning 182 grands prix, 12 drivers' championships and eight constructors' championships in the 50 years since it was founded by New Zealander Bruce McLaren.

The team won the world title through Lewis Hamilton in 2008, the second year of the Vodafone deal, and have also had another British world champion, Jenson Button, driving for them since 2010.

Vodafone said it had decided to end the deal because it believed its brand no longer needed the reach and level of exposure that it gained through sponsoring McLaren.

In 2008 the company pulled the plug on its sponsorship of the English cricket team.