Vodafone has pulled the plug on its long-running sponsorship of the Formula One team McLaren, worth $75 million a year, after conducting a review of the deal on the back of last year’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
It comes on the eve of the first race of the season in Australia and ends the mobile phone company’s association with Formula One racing that stretches back more than a decade.
Morten Lundal, chief commercial officer at Vodafone, said the decision to part ways with McLaren was a sign of the times. “Our brand is evolving, and we’ve concluded we will have less need for this kind of exposure in future.”
Vodafone has been reconsidering its involvement with Formula One since bitter acrimony broke out in April over