Financial services giant ING has terminated its contract with the RenaultF1 team with immediate effect in the wake of the deliberate crashing scandal that has already claimed the team's two senior managers and resulted in the company receiving a ban from Formula One, suspended for two years.
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It means the team will be without a title sponsor for the remaining four races of the season. Due to the global financial crisis ING had already announced that it would be withdrawing from Formula One at the end of this season, following a three year partnership with the French manufacturer that has been heralded by sponsorship experts as one of the best of its type in recent years.
In a statement issued just hours before first practice began at the Singapore Grand Prix – the same venue where Renault team principal Flavio Briatore and engineering director Pat Symonds ordered Nelson Piquet Jr. to deliberately crash to help team-mate Fernando Alonso’s strategy – ING said it was "deeply disappointed" at the incidents "especially in the context of an otherwise successful sponsorship" and would be withdrawing all branding immediately, its terms of contract having been breached by the team’s actions.
The news came just a day after Spanish insurer Mutua Madrilena, another prominent team sponsor, announced it too would be ending its deal early. Its statement said that the team's "substantial breach" was behind its decision, adding: "The behaviour of relevant people in the team was of extraordinary seriousness and it compromised not only the integrity of the sport, but also put in danger the lives of spectators, drivers and circuit personnel, which is something that can affect the image, reputation and good name of the team's sponsors." ING paid Renault around US$54 million annually for title sponsorship rights while Mutua Madrilena was thought to be contributing US$7 million.
The emotive language of the Mutua Madrilena statement is thought to have prompted ING's decision. However the Dutch-based company will continue with its trackside sponsorship programme – including space at this weekend’s night race on Singapore’s streets – until the end of the season. Despite the ignominious end to the partnership with Renault, ING internally regards its sponsorship to have been hugely successful. Speaking exclusively to SportsPro last year sponsorship coordinator Isabelle Conner said: "What Formula One has done is pulled the organisation together so it acts more as a global organisation. We are a global organisation and we have used it to overcome the lag between the reality of the business and the perception of ING.
"It was really all about ING becoming a household name. It has really worked."
Renault has appointed technical director Bob Bell, a veteran of the team, as interim team principal following the forced resignations of Briatore and Symonds.
