New Delhi: The India Formula 1 story continues. The scarlet Ferrari, raced by the legendary Michael Schumacher in his racing days, will for the first time feature the logo of an Indian company, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the software major headquartered in Mumbai announced on Thursday.
"Building on our existing long-term relationship of over three years, Tata Consultancy Services has entered into an historic agreement with Ferrari for an enhanced technology and marketing partnership," TCS said in a statement.
"As part of the deal, the Tata logo will be displayed on Ferrari FI car for the 2009 Formula One season," it added.
Ferrari described the development as "historic".
"For the first time, an Indian brand will appear on the Ferrari. It's historic," company president Luca di Montezemolo told reporters in Italy.
TCS had earlier inked a deal with the Italian team in 2005 to provide software solutions beginning 2007. But the Ferrari cars did not sport the TCS logo.
F1 is not a new territory for the Indian conglomerate. The Tata Motors logo was first seen in the competition in 2005 on Jordan cars when Narain Karthikeyan drove for the team.
In 2006 -- Karthikeyan was then the test driver for the Williams team, the F1 cars driven by Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg also sported the Tata logo.
The TCS-Ferrari deal comes when the world of motor sport has had a fortnight of setbacks with Honda withdrawing from F1 after four decades of participation, and other Japanese majors Suzuki and Subaru having pulled out from the World Rally Championship.
Tata Motors has a longstanding relationship with Italian auto major Fiat SpA - which owns Ferrari - with the duo having a joint venture in India for manufacturing drivetrains, apart from a combined sales and service network for all Tata vehicles and Fiat cars.
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