Automotive: Petronas to sponsor Mercedez GP.

Today's breaking news:

*** start of article ***

Mercedes GP has signed a long-term agreement with Malaysia's national oil company Petronas to become the title sponsor of the Formula One team.

Financial details or the length of the deal were not disclosed in the announcement Monday.

The new Silver Arrows and Petronas branding will appear on the Mercedes car when it makes its track debut at Valencia on Feb. 1 for the first of the preseason tests.

Petronas also sponsors the Malaysian Grand Prix, which is schedule for April 4 at the Sepang International Circuit.

Mercedes-Benz has returned to F1 racing under its own name for the first time in 55 years by buying Brawn GP, which won the drivers' and constructors' championship last season.

*** end of article ***

Original post in The Star.

From Alex Yoong's Twitter: Petronas signs with Mercedez GP. Words fail me. Mercedez a good team, no doubt but what Lotus is doing is completely ground breaking+brave and Petronas not seeing that fills me with shame.

Hmm. While I'm sure what Lotus intends to do is groundbreaking and there are probably some strong and frustrated local sentiment simmering right now brewed by Alex's declaration of 'shame'. But personally, I think it's better for Petronas to go with Mercedez. From a brand and business point of view, this may be a lucrative partnership and I feel that it could do Petronas a lot more brand mileage than Lotus. I do understand that Lotus is fully a Malaysian backed team and all this hoo-hah about 1Malaysia. But think of it this way, who says all local brands have to 'stick' to one another in these kind of international activities? Maybe it's better for each individual brand as well as Malaysia for us to disperse and pursue our own challenges competing with one another. Sticking together sometimes brew contentment. And I say no to that.