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F1: Renault pace won't affect sponsor talks

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Khatir Soltani
By GMM

The Dutch bank ING is currently undecided about whether to extend its formula one sponsorship, primarily the title backing of Renault, beyond the end of next year.

The Amsterdam-headquartered company entered the sport last year, and also advertises trackside and through naming rights at a few grands prix.

ING was delighted with the results of the 2007 season, which - after Vodafone - reportedly made it the second most visible sponsor.

But even though Renault has so far failed to replicate its past successes while ING has been on board, the company's global sponsorship chief denies that this will colour its considerations about the future.

"There is no relationship between race results and visibility - the brand visibility is not dependent on the performance of the ING Renault F1 team," Isabelle Conner told the Australian newspaper.

She also revealed that ING is spending "between $50 million and $100m" on F1 annually.
Khatir Soltani
Khatir Soltani
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