Honda F1 scraps sponsorship logos

The Honda Racing F1 team is scrapping sponsorship logos from its cars and replacing them with an image of the earth in a bid to boost its environmental credentials.

The team is offering its fans the chance to purcase a pixel of the image from the website myearthdream.com, which will help build the image and will include the owner’s name if it is magnified.

Alistair Watkins, marketing director at Honda F1, says the move is part of a strategy by the team to move away from the traditional sponsorship model of having branded sponsors towards licensing agreements. The team’s sponsors will now be able to use images of the car as well as the team website to promote their association with the team.

Universal Music and Gatorade have signed up to become partners in the new concept.

Watkins says: “The environment is the number one issue at the moment and F1 has a role to play in that. We probably need to talk more people then any other sport apart from the Olympics and the World Cup, and can put that information to good use.”

He added the concept was also giving ownership of the team back to the fans.