Honda flew the nest at the end of last season which has prompted ITV to seek out a new sponsor ahead of the F1 season starting next Sunday.

Initial reports indicated that a figure of around £5million was anticipated to be required to claim the rights however the rumours are that Sony’s new contract will only see ITV claim £3million - still a pretty penny.   No doubt ITV were hoping the Lewis-factor would have loosened the pursestrings in boardooms around the globe, however it was not to be.

So why would a company want to associate themselves with F1?