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LONDON — Could Intel Corp. be about to take on the sponsorship of a Formula 1 Grand Prix motor racing team? I have heard that both the McLaren and BAR teams are courting Intel. Such a move might make some sense for Intel. The demographic subset of the population that is impressed by the crazy driving of motor cars at very high speed often overlaps with the demographic subset that is extremely technofile and buys every new gadget and widget and is prepared to pay a premium price. There’s nothing like being able to say you were the first on your block to have a GPS-enabled toothbrush. And with Intel wanting to get recognition in consumer electronics and F1 racing being notoriously dependent on technology maybe a blurred rendition of “Intel Inside” would set the right mood. However, it would be more Intel’s style to sponsor the whole grand prix series rather than a single puny motor racing team. That way your team wins every race. And Intel should be warned there are perils to motorsport sponsorship other than the negative perceptions created by backing the wrong racing team, as Infineon Technologies AG has been finding out.
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