JetBlue will become a sponsor of Sauber
The most observant will have noticed, in China, the slogan "Out of the blue" on the engine cover of the Sauber cars, without any sponsor name indicated by the team. In Bahrain, it was replaced by "True Blue", suggesting that the American low-cost airline JetBlue is behind this teasing.
Indeed, this second slogan is that of JetBlue’s loyalty program, while the first can be seen on the aircraft in the airline’s colors.
It seems that the company has decided to wait for the next Grand Prix, namely the one in Spain, to reveal itself, as the political context in which the Bahrain Grand Prix takes place is somewhat tense. This virtually puts an end to the rumors about the arrival of Intel, IBM, or even an obscure Canadian beer sponsor of McLaren in the 1970s. The most original idea was to mention a possible support from Chelsea Blues, owned by another billionaire, Roman Abramovich.
This arrival at Sauber can be explained in different ways. The first is that it allows them to capitalize on the return of the United States to the F1 calendar with Austin in 2012 and New York next year. The company has numerous flights to and from these two cities. Furthermore, the presence of Mexican Sergio Perez is a strong marketing argument aimed at the large Hispanic population, which is more attracted to F1 than the majority of Americans.
The presence of its logo in such a prominent location suggests that JetBlue is preparing to become a major sponsor of the team since it has replaced Claro, one of the companies owned by Carlos Slim, the world’s richest man and a longtime supporter of Sergio Perez. This could lead to a fundamental change in its colors to maximize media exposure for its new partner. There are rumors that the cars of Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi might be dominated by blue starting in Barcelona…
With the participation of RacingBusiness.fr
