Indiantelevision.com Team

(25 May 2006 6:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Telecom Italia will be making a return to the world of Formula 1 with the three year deal it has signed with Ferrari. The deal, beginning, 1 January 2007, will link Telecom Italia's high-speed internet brand - Alice - to the Ferrari Marlboro team for three years.

Ferrari's agreement with current sponsor Vodafone concludes by the end of the year on account of the latter's association with McLaren-Mercedes next season. According to a media report, the deal is pegged in the region of $25 million a year.

The agreement was signed between Telecom Italia CEO Riccardo Ruggiero and Ferrari director general Jean Todt. Alice will be one of the official sponsors of the Ferrari Marlboro Team and will be displayed on cars competing in the Formula 1 World Championship.

"I am pleased with this partnership which brings together two groups, Telecom Italia and Ferrari, which have always symbolised Italian competitiveness and technological research of the highest level," said Ruggiero.

"The decision to link the Ferrari Marlboro Team with our Alice brand is confirmation of a natural affinity based on innovation, speed, excellence, passion and vitality, qualities needed by both to compete at a time of such rapid technological change," he added.

Alice, the Telecom Italia group’s high-speed Internet brand, is also an official sponsor of Ducati in MotoGP and, together with TIM, a partner in the Luna Rossa Challenge in the 2007 America’s Cup.