Hey guys, they're not sponsoring Ferrari. It's a British team. Chill!

Well, he got it cheap, at first. As Brawn suceeds, the price is gonna go up, duh.

Branson is an expert at getting some cheap publicity. If Brawn got off poorly, I'd doubt the bearded one would have hung around. They've not really put any serious cash on the table and don't seem to be that serious. Sticking with Brawn would do any decent sponsor a world of good. Brawn is a proven winner, but Manor is hardly been a household name in F1. It is rare to see Virgin lay some serious cash anywhere. If you want the Virgin brand you pay to use it. Virgin owns very little of any enterprise that uses the brand. Even Virgin Atlantic is now half owned by Singapore Airlines. The Virgin brand still sells, but at the end of the day, do you really want an aging hippy fronting your corporate parties?

No matter how much we the fans[since 1960 personly] wail ,pontificate or rant ,the people with mega money will do what they please with f1 untill they find a new toy to play with!

Branson is a twit who's only after Button's bird.

I think Richard Branson will need to spend his money to sponsor his airline next year. Rising fuel costs and falling demand, not a good time to own an airline right now.

Has Branson lost the plot like Bernie and Max ? Is some joker putting soemthing in the hospitality water ? Virgin used to have a really cool image, unique in the Corporate world, now they just look like cheapskate chumps and have allied themselves to othe most hated team out there. Well done Richard. Not.

Source is probably the Virgin publicity machine. Not sure I would want them as a sponsor ... does not look like they are sticking by Brawn next year does it? Stability of sponsorship is important.

Bikerbaz, sounds like you've been conned by the old publicity meister. What do you mean "I admired Richard Branson for supporting Brawn GP before he knew if they were any good". He was to scared to buy Brawn for a pound and only backed them with sponsorship when he saw their pace in first practice for teh Aussie GP. Only then did he negotiate a quick deal, had some decals knocked up and slapped them on the car at the last minute. If I were you I#d take your good back to his outlets.

bbirtle.. Even with the cap, the more money that they can generate the more they have for non cap items, and or profit.

@BBirtle, they would of needed the finances in place yes, for a £40m cap, there is no cap now so it's a good plan to see if you can get extra money to be atleast slightly more competetive.

I admired Richard Branson for supporting Brawn GP before he knew if they were any good, and as a result I supported Virgin by buying products through their outlets where ever possible. I don't see the sense in Virgin dropping Brawn who's now a winner, to support a team at the back of the pack. How does he advertise? "Virgin are proud to announce that we came last again". Who would care if the Virgin logo is there or not, on a car at the back of the pack. I certainly would no longer make a point of buying from a Virgin outlet Vs another, if he made such a change, and I am sure there are other people with similar views. It's lose, lose situation that does not make business sense to me, but there again, he's the one who made millions not me.

I thought the prospective new teams had all been vetted by the FIA to prove their viability, surely that would have included finances being in place! So is it not a bit late to be negotiating?

Oh go on - everyone else does!

As it is 'unhelpful' to comment I guess the negociations are still in progress. Richard seems to have enjoyed turning up to races so it seems likely Virgin will stay involved. It seems that doesn't have to be at the front of the pack though.