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Santander sticks with McLaren amid sponsorship exodus

Sponsors have been leaving McLaren one after the other as the team's performance has dropped off drastically over the past few seasons. But Santander is sticking with it for another few years. The banking group first teamed with McLaren in 2007. It started sponsoring Ferrari in 2009 and originally planned to drop McLaren, but ended up sticking with – and continues sponsoring – both teams today. Under the renewed contract, Santander will continue supporting both the British team and its driver Jenson Button for another five years, through the end of 2020. The news was undoubtedly welcomed in Woking amid the exodus of several other sponsors. Former title sponsor Vodafone left before the start of last season. Longtime sponsor TAG Heuer is leaving for Red Bull. After more than three decades with McLaren, Hugo Boss switched to Mercedes earlier this year. And Johnnie Walker is expected to leave as well to join Aston Martin over at Force India. McLaren did pick up sponsorship from CNN, which previously backed Caterham prior to the team folding. It also recently signed the Chandon champagne brand and extended its deal with Hilton hotels. Other partners include oil giant ExxonMobil, business technology leader SAP, multinational accounting firm KPMG, and Segafredo coffee. Once a championship frontrunner with eight constructors' championships, 12 drivers' titles, and 182 grand prix victories to its name, McLaren has dropped off drastically in its performance over the past few seasons. It finished the 2011 season in second place, 2012 in third, 2013 and '14 in fifth, and this past season in ninth. Much of that drop in performance can be attributed to teething problems with the new Honda engine package. But without a title sponsor for two seasons now and with many others leaving, McLaren might find itself without the resources it needs to rediscover its former winning form. McLaren-Honda and Jenson Button renew partnership with Santander McLaren-Honda is pleased to announce the extension of its partnership with leading bank Santander UK plc. The agreement is set to continue the partnership for a further five years until the end of 2020, with British driver and 2009 F1™ World Champion, Jenson Button, continuing to feature prominently in Santander campaigns. Having first partnered together in 2007, McLaren-Honda and Santander have enjoyed a long and successful relationship.

Ross Brawn retiring from F1 after 16 World Championships

Ross Brawn, an icon of Formula One and one of the people most responsible for the successes of Michael Schumacher, has announced that he's officially retiring from the world of motorsport. Following the return of Ron Dennis to McLaren, many outlets speculated that the 59-year-old would join the Woking-based outfit. Instead, Brawn went fishing. "This is the busiest time of the year for Formula One, and I said I would come along and open the River Dee. If [the media] had put two and two together they would have realized I was definitely retiring," Brawn told The Daily Telegraph. "I'm retiring - it's not tongue in cheek," Brawn said of his fishing trip. "I'm going to take a year to enjoy the fishing and then see what life brings. I'm looking forward to it but I've got no other plans." Last week, Brawn was inducted into Motor Sport magazine's hall of fame, where he said he would "never say never" to coming back to F1, according to the Telegraph. But based on his recent comments, Brawn seems thoroughly committed to his retirement. The 59-year-old Brit's career has seen him capture eight World Constructors' Championships with three teams - Benetton, Ferrari and his own Brawn GP team - while Michael Schumacher captured seven World Drivers' Championships and Jenson Button took one title on Brawn-run teams. News Source: The Daily TelegraphImage Credit: Andre Penner / AP Celebrities Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Motorsports McLaren scuderia ferrari brawn gp ross brawn brawn

McLaren says it 'is a sports car brand' and won't make SUVs

You can add McLaren to the list of luxury and sports car companies to say it will not build an SUV, the automaker's CEO Mike Flewitt telling Bloomberg, "We need to remain very focused. McLaren is a sports car brand and that's exactly what we're going to remain." In spite of those words, in order to save his voice, Flewitt should get business cards made printed with that response, since the question will certainly keep being asked. And if the coming Lamborghini and Bentley SUVs do well, observers will expect Flewitt's ideas on the subject to "evolve," no matter what he or Ron Dennis says publicly. The evolution we refer to has taken place at BMW, which was never going to make a M version of its SUVs, and Porsche, which said it wouldn't make an SUV smaller than the Cayenne. Furthermore, there's Rolls-Royce, whose CEO said the company hadn't even considered an SUV because it wouldn't fit the brand's values, meanwhile rumors abounded that the company was gauging customer reaction to a sketch of a concept SUV adorned with the Spirit of Ecstasy. And five months later that same CEO said the company was "intesively thinking" about building one. Those are but few and recent examples. If McLaren doesn't waver, it will join Ferrari as the only pure-sports car company holdouts. Featured Gallery 2015 McLaren P1: First Drive View 39 Photos News Source: BloombergImage Credit: Copyright 2014 AOL McLaren Performance Mike Flewitt