APRIL 9, 2002

Lauda loses Parmalat sponsorship

There are not many racing drivers who keep their sponsorship after the end of their racing careers but Niki Lauda was highly successful in this respect and was rarely seen without his Parmalat baseball cap.

THERE are not many racing drivers who keep their sponsorship after the end of their racing careers but Niki Lauda was highly successful in this respect and was rarely seen without his Parmalat baseball cap. The sponsorship goes back 25 years to when the Italian dairy and ham business embarked on an international advertising campaign which began in 1975 with sponsorship of the World Cup downhill skiing race in Val Gardena. The following year the company decided to switch to Formula 1 racing and signed a deal with Lauda. In 1978 the F1 involvement was increased with Parmalat becoming the major sponsor of the Brabham F1 team and that continued until 1985. Since then Parmalat has been associated with Pedro Diniz as part of the company's sales drive in South America.

Lauda's baseball cap is therefore available for any company wanting to sponsor a Formula 1 team boss...