JANUARY 13, 2004

More money for Renault

Reports from France in the last few days have indicated that Renault is to be supported in 2004 by the Spanish telephone company Telefonica. The team is reported to have signed a deal with Telefonica for $7m in sponsorship. This will buy the company space on the cars and on Fernando Alonso's helmet. Telefonica left F1 three years ago having spent a considerble sum - believed to be around $30m on Minardi in 1999 and 2000.

The deal will not interfere with the team's other telecommunications deal with NTT DoCoMo as the Japanese deal is related to mobile services and Telefonica's deal is with a fixed-line operator.