Virgin set to announce Brawn deal

Richard Branson's Virgin Group is set to be announced as a major sponsor of the Brawn GP team later this weekend, ITV.com/f1 understands.

The Brawn team is currently running without sponsorship after its last minute rescue over the winter following Honda's decision to pull out of Formula 1 and sell its squad.

Branson has interrupted a skiing holiday to fly to Melbourne to make the official announcement on Saturday and will then stay for the race.

ITV.com/f1 understands that the deal was only finalised last night, after the FIA rejected protests against the legality of Brawn's diffuser design and declared the car legal to race this weekend.

The matter is subject to an appeal, though, and this will not be heard until the eve of the Chinese Grand Prix.

Virgin was briefly mooted as a potential saviour for Honda earlier in the winter, before Ross Brawn's buy-out was finalised.

At the time, Branson conceded that he was interested in taking his brand into F1, but felt the sport had to become more cost-effective and environmentally friendly before he could seriously consider it.

Despite its future being uncertain for much of the winter, Brawn GP showed outstanding form from the moment its BGP 001 hit the track.

The team dominated the final winter tests and ran in the top six during today's practice sessions in Melbourne - a substantial improvement over predecessor Honda's awful 2007 and 2008 form.

Source:itv-f1

Now that the team is performing well(at least in practice), everyone seems to want a piece of them!

Brawn surely suprised everyone in the First race itself and already a 1-2

Branson might have put Aero-Engine in that ;)