Renault to carry Hanjin tribute.

The ING Renault team will run special branding at the Malaysian Grand Prix in tribute to the man behind one of its earliest backers, Hanjin Shipping chairman and CEO Sooho Cho, who died late last year.

For this one race only, the team's Hanjin logo will be replaced by a tribute dedicated to Cho, who had been involved in Formula One since 1994, when he made his first foray into the sport with Korean Air.

The ING Renault team will run special branding at the Malaysian Grand Prix in tribute to the man behind one of its earliest backers, Hanjin Shipping chairman and CEO Sooho Cho, who died late last year.

For this one race only, the team's Hanjin logo will be replaced by a tribute dedicated to Cho, who had been involved in Formula One since 1994, when he made his first foray into the sport with Korean Air.

Then a part of the Hanjin group of companies, the airline became a sponsor of the fledgling Simtek team, before going on to partner Tyrrell in mid-1995. The company then joined Benetton's F1 operation in 1997, marking the beginning of a long-standing relationship with the Enstone-based team that morphed into Renault in 2001.

Korean Air continued as a team partner until the 'modern' works team made its bow, when the first Renault car switched to feature Hanjin branding, promoting Hanjin Shipping. Since 2002, Hanjin shared in a total of 18 grand prix wins, 48 podium finishes and four world championship titles with Renault.

Cho was instrumental in building Hanjin into the giant it is today, ranked as the seventh biggest container fleet in world terms and the largest coming out of Korea. He died on 6 December last year, leading to Renault's decision to mark his passing at the event closest to Korea.

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