JANUARY 7, 2003

New sponsor deals boost F1 image - but not coffers

In recent days there have been a number of announcements detailing sponsorship deals for 2003 but neither Puma's deal with Jordan nor Toyota's deal with software company Ebbon-Dacs are huge deals worth a large amount of money to the teams. They are, however, being used to create the impression that things are perhaps rather better than they are - which is not necessarily a bad thing in the current eeconomic climate. On the whole, however, teams are still struggling to find money although many existing sponsors are being convinced to stay on.

It is anticipated that former Arrows sponsor Lost Boys will be seen in F1 again in F1 this year supporting Jos Verstappen when he signs for either Minardi or Jordan. The indications at the moment are that Jos will end up with Paul Stoddart's team as he does not have enough money to secure the Jordan drive.