Hugo Boss leaves McLaren to partner with Mercedes
Hugo Boss, a partner of McLaren in F1 for over 30 years, is expected to leave the Woking team at the end of the year but remain in Formula 1 by partnering with the Mercedes AMG team.
The German clothing brand Hugo Boss is expected to end its partnership with the McLaren team that began more than 30 years ago, in 1981. Hugo Boss will leave the Woking team but not Formula 1. Indeed, it could partner with the Mercedes AMG F1 team starting in 2015.
Hugo Boss recently decided to cooperate with Mercedes-Benz on a number of international marketing projects unrelated to F1. Given this, it would be inappropriate for Hugo Boss to continue its partnership with a competitor of Mercedes-Benz in F1, regardless of whether the partnership has been successful in the past and still is, a McLaren spokesperson told Reuters.
The McLaren team does not have a title sponsor this year, and losing such an important partner as Hugo Boss, even if the logos do not appear prominently on the cars, driver suits, and team members’ outfits, will not be easy for the team.
But Eric Boullier wanted to reassure about the financial situation of the British team: « We are not in a position where we are struggling to find money, everything is going perfectly well. Obviously, with Honda coming in, it’s going even better. We currently have the largest budget we’ve ever had, and it will increase next year. So it’s not a concern. »
