McLaren loses TAG Heuer, sponsor to join Red Bull Racing for 2016 F1 season

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief

TAG Heuer, the Swiss watch maker, will end its 30-year relationship with McLaren at the end of this season and will join rival Red Bull Racing in 2016.

The brand has had a history with McLaren since 1985, with former TAG Heuer CEO Mansour Ojjeh having been involved two years prior.

“Yes, we just signed with Red Bull Racing in F1 for next season,” current TAG Heuer CEO Jean-Claude Biver told Swiss magazine L’Hebdo, when asked about reports that it would depart from McLaren for Red Bull.

“It is a young, dynamic, go-getter, perfectly consistent with the TAG Hearer strategy,” Biver continued.

TAG Heuer is just one of many in the latest of sponsorship hits to the McLaren squad.

The team has been without a primary sponsor since the end of 2013, when Vodafone left. McLaren has also seen Hugo Boss, which it shared a 33-year tenure with, depart recently.

About Joey Barnes 624 Articles
Joey Barnes is the Founder of Motorsports Tribune, an outlet that began with the goal of helping aspiring journalists break into and grow the industry. A regular on the racing scene since 2013, the journey for Joey started by covering a Grand-Am event at Circuit of The Americas in his home state of Texas. He has since primarily focused on the IndyCar Series, with appearances in the garages of NASCAR, paddocks of Formula 1, IMSA and World Endurance Championship, while also occasionally engulfing clouds of dust at the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals and select Supercross rounds. With previous stops at Autoweek, IndyCar.com, Motorsport.com and RACER, among others, Joey evolved from the singular task as a freelance writer to advanced roles behind the copy desk and alongside some of the best editorial teams in the business. Recognized as a multi-time award winner by the National Motorsports Press Association, Joey currently resides in Dallas-Fort Worth with his trusty four-legged canine companion, Rocket.

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