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Mercedes F1 team ends sponsorship deal with Grenfell tie-in

December 8, 2021

Days of pressure against Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes team has prompted it to make a sponsorship u-turn. Survivors of the Grenfell Tower apartment block fire and UK government opposed the deal.

https://p.dw.com/p/4407r
Kingspan’s logo is on the side of the nose cone on the Mercedes F1 car at the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix
Kingspan's logo was on the side of the nose cone of Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes at the Saudi Arabia Grand PrixImage: Hasan Bratic/dpa/picture alliance

The Mercedes Formula One team and a British building materials company, Kingspan, scrapped a sponsorship deal on Wednesday after prolonged pressure over the company's link to the Grenfell Tower apartment block fire that claimed 72 lives.

Lewis Hamilton's team had faced calls from Grenfell survivors and the UK government to drop the deal.

"It was not appropriate for the partnership to move forward," Mercedes said in a statement on Wednesday, barely a week after announcing the new partnership.

Kingspan's logo appeared on Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas's cars at this past weekend's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Survivors happy Mercedes severed ties with Kingspan

Survivors and family members of the 72 people who died in the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire welcomed the move saying they were "pleased to hear this morning's news."

So did British housing minister Michael Gove, who after the deal was announced last week, threatened to change the country's advertising and sponsorship laws.

"I am grateful to Toto Wolff from Mercedes for listening to @GrenfellUnited, engaging with government, and ending this deal," Gove wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.

Falling burning debris caused by the 2017 fire at Grenfell tower block in London
72 people were killed in the 2017 Grenfell Tower blaze in LondonImage: picture-alliance/Zumapress

Criticism of the deal was difficult for Mercedes because Hamilton has been outspoken in his support of the Grenfell community.

He is in second place in the Formula One driver's standings with one race left in the season, in an unusually close battle with Max Verstappen at Red Bull.

Kingspan denies roll in Grenfell refurbishment

The company said it was "deeply aware of the sensitivities raised in recent days, and so we have jointly agreed that it's not appropriate to move forward at the current point in time."

Kingspan said it had no role in the Grenfell Tower refurbishment thought to be the primary cause of the fire's spread.

"Our K15 insulation board was misused in this unsafe and non-compliant system,'' the company said. "We did not supply or recommend K15 to Grenfell Tower ... It was substituted without our knowledge.''

lo/msh (AP, AFP, Reuters)