Sir Richard Branson is taking his Virgin brand to the world’s most expensive sport, but his annual budget of $90 million will still see his new Formula One team have the lowest budget in the competition.

Sir Richard has slapped his Virgin logo on everything from record labels to cola bottles to budget airlines, with varying degrees of success, and the £40 million annual budget for his newly announced Formula One sponsorship is just the latest chance to expand the brand.

The British business tycoon’s Virgin group backed Brawn GP in its debut season last year and is now the primary sponsor of Manor Motorsport, a Sheffield-based team which is moving into Formula One with the former Toyota driver, Timo Glock, and Lucas di Grassi,

Virgin is putting in the money with the goal of getting a return, something no other F1 team has ever managed, by attracting new sponsors, with 10 major sponsors – all new to the F1 arena – signing up for 2010.

Sir Richard may have picked the best time to get involved in the sport, with Honda, BMW, and Toyota all pulling out of Formula 1, leading to the end of manufacturer dominance within the sport, although Mercedes Benz will re-enter as a manufacturer in 2010 after its purchase of Brawn and split with McLaren.