17 Feb 2009

Briatore says Renault will survive

7:32 am on 17 February 2009

Renault team boss Flavio Briatore believes Formula One's cost-cutting measures should secure their future in the sport despite the departure of title sponsor ING.

Dutch-based banking and insurance company ING, whose backing has provided a significant slice of the former world champions' budget, announced earlier that they were pulling out of the sport at the end of the season.

ING confirmed today not to renew the three-year sponsorship contract with Renault F1 and to end its presence in F1 beyond the 2009 season.

Briatore says they have been aware for quite some time that the world's current financial climate was calling for a restructuring of their sport and with the Formula One Teams' Association they have moved in that direction.

ING were the largest sponsor on Renault's books and, according to some estimates, ranked with global mobile phone company Vodafone as the second biggest-spenders in the sport after Philip Morris cigarette brand Marlboro.

A Formula Money report estimated that ING paid some 166 million dollars into the sport last year with 125 million going to Renault... it said that sum represented more than half of the team's total sponsorship revenues.

The Formula One teams have already agreed on significant cost cutting measures for 2009 but the International Automobile Federation (FIA) wants far more for 2010.