For the sales reps at ING , the Dutch bank’s involvement with Formula One racing was a dream.
The bank’s marketing team rolled through central and eastern Europe last summer, arriving at shopping centres and universities with a replica Renault Formula One car in tow. Wherever they went, crowds queued to be photographed with the show car, all wanting a taste of the sport’s glamour.
Having collected personal details, salesmen would turn up at the fans’ homes a week later with a copy of the photograph. It was the perfect way to get their attention.
ING said that between 6% and 7% of the people it visited ended up buying financial products – a far higher proportion than from a regular sales push. …Â More info
Honda have confirmed that Richard Branson’s Virgin Group are interested in acquiring their British-based Formula One team.
Nothing has yet been resolved, but a spokesperson for the Japanese car firm said on Wednesday: “We are negotiating with several buyers and one of these parties is the Virgin Group.”
The news that the sale process is continuing will be encouraging for Jenson Button, who remains under contract with the team, and also for Bruno Senna, who has been widely tipped to make his Formula One debut with Honda should the team make it to the grid in Melbourne in five weeks’ time…. More info
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was fastest in a Formula One testing session Tuesday, although the Italian team missed out on three hours of track time because of a KERS malfunction.
Raikkonen set a fastest lap of one minute 32.102 seconds at the Bahrain International Circuit to edge Jarno Trulli of Toyota by about one-10th of a second. BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld was further behind.
Ferrari used trouble-free weather to test various setups and its Kinetic Energy Recovery System…Â More info
An American team will be racing in Formula One from 2010, and IndyCar driver Danica Patrick is a candidate to fill one of its seats.
USF1, which will be officially unveiled Feb. 24, will have a staff of at least 100, a working budget of 50 million euros (C$79.6 million) and an aim to put two American drivers on the starting grid. The team is looking at testing out a number of candidates, especially the 26-year-old Patrick.
“She’s great. She gets a lot of press,” USF1 technical director Ken Anderson said. “(Indianapolis Motor Speedway president) Tony George would probably be pretty mad with me if I took her out of the IRL but we’ll see.
“I don’t know if it’s something she wants to do…. More info