It is understood that the initial deal was signed late on Friday, and is for just two races, acting as a stop-gap while a more thorough partnership deal is negotiated. RealBrawnGP's research suggests that Virgin are paying somewhere in the region of £300,000 (€322,000 / $425,000) to the Brawn GP team for those two races.

A full title sponsorship deal is now up for the taking, but the final price is likely to be well down on similar deals at other teams. It is known that Brawn GP were actually offering title sponsorship for free for 2009, subject to a longer arrangement throughout 2010 and 2011. Brawn GP's budget is fully covered for 2009, but there's currently no income for 2010 and beyond, hence the arrangements on offer. Qatar Airlines were one company to turn down such an offer, according to SportsPro.

The current Virgin deal that covers the Malaysian Grand Prix is likely to be extended by another two races, covering China and Bahrain. On the return to Europe, it's anticipated that a bigger deal will be announced, potentially with Virgin taking a shareholding in the team. However, a change of name to Virgin GP is unlikely; there was resistance in some quarters, outside of FOTA, when Brawn requested a change of name from Honda Racing F1, with the change to Brawn GP by no means being a foregone conclusion. A second change is likely to encounter even fiercer opposition. A change for 2010 is more likely.

The only risk for Virgin remains that of another bidder joining Brawn GP, something that is more likely now the testing pace has been proven to be genuine. Sir Richard Branson himself admitted that the deal is cheap, telling Autosport  “I've been quite fortunate in that I have done quite a lot of sporting activities, and it hasn't cost any money as I always got someone else to sponsor it. The idea of writing tens of millions of pounds or dollars for sponsorship is just something that Virgin has not done in the past, or needed to do. You have Virgin planes in every airport, and Virgin trains, we have other ways of getting our name out. Sponsorship at the right value does make sense, and we have come in with an underdog team that needed financial help, at a time where they have had an engineer who has a fantastic track record and where they have a shot of doing well."

The very real possibility is that Branson will achieve what he frequently achieves. Massive publicity for the Virgin brand, without actually having to spend much money, and with no long term commitments. Should another bidder come along, and Brawn GP's David Butler is working on that whilst thrashing out the Virgin deal, then the Virgin deal could well be abandoned for something more lucrative.

Virgin certainly won't be forced in to raising their bid, with a total spend of significantly less than £10,000,000 (€10,074,000 / $14,179,000) being the target. "We believe it is possible that through business skill rather than financial resources, we can achieve significant benefits for the brand at very low cost," said Branson this morning. "During these uncertain economic times I believe this partnership - with a winning team - demonstrates our ability to find inventive and powerful ways to help advertise, sell our products and keep the Virgin name out there."

It remains to be seen if he'll continue to get that opportunity with Brawn GP.