From GMM

Renault's title sponsor ING and Mutua Madrilena cancelled on Thursday their sponsorship on the French team "with immediate effect".

Spanish insurance backer Mutua Madrilena pulled its logos from the R29, the Dutch bank ING said it has also decided to end its association with Renault because of the crashgate scandal. It is believed that both sponsors cite a clear and serious breach of contract, due to clauses requiring the Enstone based team to comply with FIA rules and regulations.


The Madrid based insurance company, whose deal with the formula one team was estimated at 3.5 million euros, already intended to leave the sport at the end of 2009.

Spanish news agency EFE reports that the firm wrote a letter to Renault in the wake of Monday's World Motor Sport Council hearing pointing out that it is no longer contractually bound to the team because Renault had broken the sport's rules.

Mutua Madrilena requested that the contract be terminated immediately, and indeed in the Renault garage on Thursday the Singapore-specification R29 cars no longer featured the company's logos on the monocoque sides.

"ING is deeply disappointed at this turn of events, especially in the context of an otherwise successful sponsorship," a media statement issued late on Thursday read.

The statement went out to the world's media in the dead of the Singapore night, after team mechanics had throughout Thursday worked on the fully ING-branded cars in the pits of the Asian city-state's street circuit.

All team equipment as well as personnel and driver apparel also carried prominent ING branding as per usual on Thursday, the day before official practice for the weekend's Singapore grand prix begins.

Like Mutua Madrilena, ING had previously decided not to stay in formula one beyond 2009.