Sponsor leaves Renault after crash-gate scandal

(GMM) As a direct consequence of the crash-gate scandal, Renault sponsor Mutua Madrilena has cancelled its sponsorship of the French team with immediate effect.

The Madrid based insurance company, whose deal with the formula one team was estimated at 3.5 million euros, already intended to leave the sport at the end of 2009.

Spanish news agency EFE reports that the firm wrote a letter to Renault in the wake of Monday's World Motor Sport Council hearing pointing out that it is no longer contractually bound to the team because Renault had broken the sport's rules.

Mutua Madrilena requested that the contract be terminated immediately, and indeed in the Renault garage on Thursday the Singapore-specification R29 cars no longer featured the company's logos on the monocoque sides.