In December 2009, the team suffered an early setback when it was discovered that a planned £80m sponsorship arrangement that had been signed by Brawn with Henkel in July was invalid.^[21] Henkel claimed they were unaware of the deal and had no interest in Formula One; the deal allegedly was made by a former Henkel employee on stolen company stationery for the purposes of defrauding the company. On 22 December, Henkel announced that the dispute with the team had been resolved with a mutual agreement and that legal action would not be pursued, although the team would work with the German prosecutor’s office to clarify the matter.^[22]

On 21 December, the team confirmed that Malaysian oil supplier Petronas would join the team as title sponsor.^[23] From 2010 the team will compete under the full title of Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team.^[24] According to some reports,^[25] the arrangement is valued at €30m each year.

On 25 January 2010, the team’s livery was unveiled publicly at the Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart,^[26] with Schumacher and Rosberg in attendance.^[27] The cars race in the traditional silver colours of Mercedes-Benz and retains Brawn GP sponsor MIGfx.