Sebastian Vettel - New Infiniti Ambassador

In a very clever move Japanese car maker Infiniti signed an sponsorship deal with Red Bull Formula 1 team at the beginning of 2011 season.

As part of this deal, they are now allowed to use Red Bull drivers, Mark Webber and the world champ Sebastian Vettel in their advertising and promotional campaigns. They have made them to use Infinitis at public events and special appearances.

With Vettel they’ve gone a step further and named him as the first global ambassador of the brand. The 23 year-old F1 star will be taking an active role in raising the profile of the Infiniti brand and its products during race weekends and at selected events linked to Infiniti’s business and product programs. We’re guessing Vettel is going to have to work on his fake smile a bit more, if he is to pull this off properly!

Infiniti press release:

Infiniti, the luxury car manufacturer from Japan, today announces it has signed Formula One World Champion Sebastian Vettel as its first ever Global Brand Ambassador.

The collaboration with Sebastian Vettel comes two months after Infiniti announced a major partnership with the Red Bull Racing team.

From the start of the 2011 Formula One season, Infiniti has joined as a major partner of the Red Bull Racing team and features prominently on the race-winning RB7 driven by Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. Like many in the Red Bull Racing team, Sebastian has been driving products from the Infiniti range, both as his personal car but also at the different races around the world.

Commenting on his new global role, Sebastian Vettel said: “Since our first contact with Infiniti I liked their cars. A car can impress you in two ways: its looks and its handling. After I had the chance to test some cars in the range I became a big fan. They are comfortable as well as sporty when you ask for it. I am sure we as a team and myself can benefit a lot from the experience of Infiniti and I am very much looking forward to our partnership in the future.”

Simon Sproule, CVP Global Marketing Communications, Nissan Motor Company added:  “Red Bull Racing have demonstrated over the course of their short history in F1 that they are a great challenger brand, unafraid of taking their own approach to creating a winning team. At the core of this emergence has been the inspired performance of Sebastian Vettel. As we developed the partnership with the team, so it was a natural progression to also work more closely with Sebastian and today we formally welcome him to the Infiniti team”