Zoom Plenty of media exposure at McLaren Mercedes

Vodafone has overtaken Marlboro as the most visible sponsor in Formula One, a report has found.

The British mobile operator was ranked fourth in the table in 2006, when represented on the Ferrari livery, but tripled its exposure and climbed to top spot with its new title sponsorship of the Mercedes-powered team.

The media-watch business Margaux Matrix also found that four more McLaren sponsors featured in the top-10 of 2007, while Ferrari's Marlboro backing was relocated to second place.

The only other Ferrari sponsor in the top ten was Shell (fourth), while McLaren's Mercedes-Benz, Hugo Boss, Mobil 1 and newcomer Aigo all featured.

Renault sponsor Elf, meanwhile, dropped out of the top ten, as only new title sponsor ING made the 2007 list (eighth) for the dethroned world champions.

Apart from common tyre supplier Bridgestone, energy drink Red Bull - with its two Formula One teams - was the only other non-McLaren or Ferrari brand in the ten.

Source: GMM
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