Emirates denies Honda F1 deal

Emirates has moved to deny rumours linking it to a possible title sponsorship of the team that is set to rise from the ashes of Honda Racing F1.

As the team moves towards a management buy-out led by Ross Brawn, which could see the team renamed as either Brawn Racing or Brackley F1, reports during the weekend suggested that Emirates Airlines could be joining the team as title sponsor.

Rubens Barrichello (BRA) Honda RA108, Brazilian F1 Grand Prix, Interlagos, 30th October 2008-2nd, No
Rubens Barrichello (BRA) Honda RA108, Brazilian F1 Grand Prix, Interlagos,…
© Peter Fox

Emirates has moved to deny rumours linking it to a possible title sponsorship of the team that is set to rise from the ashes of Honda Racing F1.

As the team moves towards a management buy-out led by Ross Brawn, which could see the team renamed as either Brawn Racing or Brackley F1, reports during the weekend suggested that Emirates Airlines could be joining the team as title sponsor.

Grandprix.com suggested that such a deal could be likely with Honda having been in talks with Emirates prior to deciding to quit F1 back in December.

Emirates already has a large sporting involvement, with its most well-known deal being with Premiership football club Arsenal - which stretches to shirt sponsorship and naming rights over the club's stadium at Ashburton Grove.

With deals already in place in other sports, including cricket, horse racing and golf, a spokesperson for Emirates denied that a deal with the Brackley-based F1 outfit was imminent, adding that it wasn't looking for new deals at the current time.

"Emirates currently has an extremely comprehensive sponsorship portfolio," he told Crash.net, "and is not actively looking to sponsor any other properties at this time."

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