Renault expects more sponsors for R30

The currently bare advertising spaces of Renault’s R30 car could be filled in the near future.

When Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov pulled the wraps off the 2010 livery on Sunday, observers noticed the name of watch maker TW Steel alongside French oil backer Total (and associated brand Elf).

In the wake of the Genii Capital takeover, Renault’s 2010 foray also follows the so-called crashgate scandal and the loss of major sponsors ING, Mutua Madrilena, Pepe Jeans, Universia and Megafon.

“(The lack of sponsors) does not have to do with the fact that there are no ongoing discussions with sponsors — I think that we will be announcing a number of things over the next couple of weeks,” said team owner Gerard Lopez.

The Genii head also denied that team partner Renault intends to step out of F1 completely in the near future.

“Certainly at this stage, there’s no expectation from us that Renault would leave or that we would do something for them to leave and buy them out,” said Lopez.

“There is no multi-year plan that has an ending to it.  There’s a multi-year plan that has a performance edge to it, but other than that it will be business as usual this year, next year and the year after,” he added.

Meanwhile, Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reports that the R30 presented to the media on Sunday was actually a show-car.

Team engineers said the real R30 “is not much different” to the launch car, the publication added.

© RIF|GMM