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After the agony of defeat, success will be sweet!ESPNF1 Ron Dennis says McLaren is in negotiations with several companies about title sponsorship this year and is confident a deal will be made at some point over the next few races.
Vodafone's seven-year deal with McLaren came to an end in 2013 and the team had originally planned to announce a replacement last December. However, a deal has yet to be finalised and the car will remain without major branding at the opening race of the season.
Dennis said one reason the team has not reached an agreement with a prospective sponsor is that he is not willing to sell the space on the car for a knock-down rate following McLaren's disappointing season in 2013.
"Our cars will not feature a title sponsor at the first event, but it will definitely feature a title sponsor at some time in the next few races," Dennis said. "Why? Because I strongly believe we are [like] Manchester United, and inevitably when you have a run of poor results people try to push the rate card down and I won't accept that. I know what this company is and I know what this grand prix team can achieve, and that requires the correct recognition when it comes to the commercial relationship with the principal sponsor."
I think I might have to follow that guy on twitter.
Someone invite that guy to this forum.
he'd liven things up a bit!! Can you imagine? I've followed him on twitter so I'll keep an eye out for anything interesting.
Despite the absence of a title sponsor, Dennis said McLaren has the biggest budget in the team's history this year.
"We are negotiating with several companies at the moment, and I am optimistic it will happen sooner rather than later. Part of being the size that we are, money isn't an issue. The racing team doesn't have to worry about income and has the biggest budget that it's had in the history of the company."
Read more at http://en.espnf1.com/mclaren/motorsport ... dWkvoFz.99
Boullier has been taken aback by the Dane's start to life as an F1 driver, especially considering the increased technical demands on drivers of the 2014 regulations.
"Surprisingly, you can feel he is already very at home," Boullier told AUTOSPORT.
"He is still a bit shy maybe in terms of expressing his feedback, but it's going right.
Boullier is also impressed with Jenson Button's work during testing having never worked with the 2009 world champion before.
"I didn't know him too well, but he's a very established leading driver, which is very good for the team," said Boullier.
"They have somebody who can take decisions, give good feedback and tell them exactly what he needs. That's good."
Was Boullier in F1 during 2009? If not, probably doesn't know the circumstances of how that WDC was actually won.
After the 2009 season, the Renault F1 team was bought-into by investment company Genii Capital. One of Genii's leading figures is Gerard Lopez, who is a major backer of Gravity Sport. On January 5, 2010, Boullier was announced as the new team principal, despite never having worked in Formula One before.
Jenson Button is certain that the McLaren MP4-29 is a fast car, but he believes it will take a few races to unlock its full performance.
The Briton earlier admitted that McLaren weren't were they wanted to be, and whilst more recent comments suggest they're heading in the right direction, he still believes they need more time.
"While there's plenty of potential within MP4-29, we still think it'll take a little time to unlock that promise," he said.
"It's not quite where we'd like it to be, so I don’t think we go to Melbourne with a package that accurately reflects our progress with the car – it'll take a little longer for that to become apparent.
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