HAS PETRONAS BEEN LESS PATRIOTIC BY SPONSORING MERCEDES GP RATHER THAN MALAYSIAN-BACKED LOTUS F1?

Lotus F1 has lost Petronas sponsorship bid to Mercedes GP. With Petronas on their stable, Mercedes GP is now known as Mercedes GP Petronas. This event has drawn a lot of local criticism mainly on how Petronas is less patriotic for not sponsoring Malaysian-backed Lotus F1 team.

From day one of its inception, Petronas has been all about serious business and has never been in 'syok sendiri' mode. Sponsoring an untested Malaysian-backed team is just another 'syok sendiri' affair which is appeared not to be in Petronas vocabulary. A bet between Tony Fernandes, the Lotus F1 Team Principal and Richard Branson, the Virgin Racing Team Principal on which team would be in front is a clear evident of a Malaysian 'syok sendiri' story. Tony vowed to get Richard to wear Air Asia's flight assistant outfit and to serve on Air Asia's flight. Yes, it is good to read, but it doesn't impress Petronas at all. It won't contribute to Petronas high performance fuel and lubricant global business. In short, it would be a gain to Tony but none to Petronas rather than to get Petronas' logo displayed on the Lotus F1 cars during the races, if Lotus F1 cars ever made it to the camera. Well, it may not been covered at all if the cars left as the back markers during the races.

Azam Aris had said in the Edge of 11 January 2010, "So, in this scenario, sponsoring the Mercedes team is the perfect platform for the national oil corporation to continue its business development journey via F1. Branding wise, the exposure that Mercedes gets thorough various mediums, notably television and media - especially with seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher as the driver for the 2010 season is a sure winner. Petronas , which now gets back its corporate green colour on the team ensures the name Malaysia is also on the livery of the Mercedes GP Petronas team."

According to Aris, "on the lubricant side, Petronas will be the OEM supplier (notably Syntium) to Mercedes' operations and market in China, the UK and Turkey where Petronas lubricant will be used as "first field oil" (one fill by the manufacturer during production) and subsequently, in the "service field" as the factory recommended oil. China, which is the fastest growing lubricant market in the world, is certainly a place where Petronas want to be."

This is definitely a winning situation for Petronas. It may increase the 2% command of world lubricant market that it already has. As for patriotism, by establishing a renowned global Malaysian brand is more than what we could asked from Petronas.