Red Bull partnership with Infiniti clarified

It would appear that the BBC somewhat jumped the gun on their story regarding Red Bull's new deal with Infiniti.

On Monday the BBC reported that Renault were to re-brand their engines for Red Bull as part of Nissan's (who are part-owned by Renault) plans to boost their global brand awareness into Formula One.

The previous reports had suggested that the deal was worth around £6.8 million a year, as Red Bull would no longer have to buy their engines as they have done previously.

The announcement was suppose to be made at today's Geneva Motor Show, however following the previous reports, the deal has now been clarified by Red Bull Racing and Infiniti.

In short, Infiniti will become a major sponsor of Red Bull Racing for the next two years, with Infiniti's logos featuring on team clothing and the cars rear wing and nose.

However the reports that Red Bull would be re-branding the Renault's engines were incorrect and Renault will remain as a the team's official engine supplier.

'Infiniti is all about being genuine - so rebranding an engine would not have been genuine. Infiniti's senior vice president Andy Palmer told Autosport Magazine when asked about the previous reports.

'Obviously there is a very strong relationship between Renault and Nissan anyway. Through the alliance partnership, Renault owns 44 per cent of Nissan and Nissan owns 15 per cent of Renault, so there is obviously a strong linkage there, but simply changing the badge on an engine would not have been a genuine thing to do.

'So Renault will continue to be the supplier of engines to Red Bull, and our involvement is very much about working together on the car itself.'

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner added: 'We will continue to work closely with our colleagues at Viry-Chatillon [Renault], and their name will remain on the car for the foreseeable future,'

'Renault has introduced us, through the alliance, to colleagues at Nissan and Infiniti, and that partnership will be working in tandem with Renault, but mainly focusing on some of the future technologies with an eye on what the future engine [from 2013] will possibly be.'

So a little bit embarrassing for the beeb to get such a story so emphatically incorrect, not that Red Bull Racing or Infiniti will complain too much, with all the speculation the story has been covered in much more detail than it would have received under normal circumstances.