Virgin opens door on 2010 Brawn deal

It is a slow news day, maybe as everyone — FIA officials, FOM workers, the teams and the journalists — try to catch their breaths following a busy week or so from the beginning of Brazil through the Brawn/Button wins and trickling out with the Trulli/Sutil row.

Today, one of the world’s masters of getting PR (no, Grace, not Peter Windsor and USF1GPEXYZ), Sir Richard Branson, has thrown a little curve into the 2010 sponsorship field.

As the BBC reports, Branson — who reportedly has a deal next year with Manor — isn’t willing to give up quite yet on that little team he gave money to this season and that then went on to win it all.

Further, the BBC says that Brawn officials have told the BBC there is a 2010 title sponsorship deal in place for 2010, but they wouldn’t say with whom.

Hmm….

Now, this could be a matter of the BBC pushing together two, in the end, unrelated stories so it seems like Virgin has actually signed on to another year with Brawn. I, for instance, might have pulled the Brawn 2010 title sponsorship story out and made it its own story — I think that’s pretty big news given the lack of logos on the Brawn cars all year. [It also might mean that there is the money to pay Jenson Button in 2010.]

Probably the key quote in the whole story is this from Branson:

"

“It was the perfect relationship. Virgin loves to support an underdog but they are now one of the most expensive teams out there and certainly not underdogs any more.

“But we will make an announcement in the next month but at the moment we just want to celebrate a magnificent season with the Brawn team, Jenson and Rubens Barrichello, who did fantastically also.”

"

That certainly suggests Virgin will not be back with Brawn, but how exactly does Branson walk away from the world championship team? Even if Brawn does not win it all next year, the team will get plenty of coverage. Unless Manor surprises us all (and Brawn showed that’s possible, although there was all that Honda money to begin with), it will be part of the “new teams” story throughout the year and nothing more.

Certainly, Branson and Virgin are not going to get the bang for their buck they did this year.

Does this story change anyone’s expectations or does Virgin Manor F1 seem a sure thing? But who might the unnamed Brawn sponsor be?

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