The UK yacht clothing brand Henri Lloyd is sponsoring the newest team in the Formula 1 paddock this season.

The first race for team Brawn GP, newly founded this year by the former technical director at Ferrari, Ross Brawn, will be in Melbourne this weekend.

In addition to providing Brawn GP’s team and travel clothing plus the team’s official merchandise range, the Henri Lloyd brand will appear on the BGP 001 car throughout the 2009 Formula One season.

Ross Brawn, Team Principal of Brawn GP commented: “We are delighted to welcome Henri Lloyd to Formula One and to the Brawn GP team. We have faced a race against time to complete our preparations for the first race of the season in Melbourne and we would like to thank Henri Lloyd for sharing our vision for the future of the team and their commitment in ensuring that the team’s identity will be so well reflected in our team clothing and merchandise this year.”

The connection between yachting and Formula 1 is not brand new this year. Last year’s world champion, Lewis Hamilton, was sponsored by Vendee Globe skipper Alex Thompson’s backers, Hugo Boss, and took part in the Round the Island Race, in which the boat was disqualified.