JANUARY 28, 2006

Williams some new sponsors under the wire

The Williams car launch and announcement of Narain Karthikeyan as the team's fourth driver stole much of the thunder yesterday but what was not noticed was that the team took the opportunity to bring onboard some new sponsors, each with potential for the future. The most obvious was Tata, the Indian conglomerate that has been supporting Karthikeyan in recent years. Tata will appear on the nose of the car, on the drivers' helmets and on their overalls. Perhaps of more interest was the announcement that Williams has signed a deal with the Japanese wireless technology company Mobilecast, which had been linked to a possible deal with the new Super Aguri F1 team. Mobilecast is the title sponsor of the Impul team in Formula Nippon in Japan but has ambitions to expand its business on a global basis and has decided that joining Williams will be more effective than doing a deal with the new team. Also interesting is the deal which the team has done with the DeWalt tool company, an American outfit which to date has had a very successful sponsorship history in NASCAR, winning the 2003 Winston Cup title.