Insulation firm Kingspan and Mercedes Formula One have agreed to terminate a sponsorship deal, amid a backlash about the Irish company’s link to the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire.
British government ministers and survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire had called for the motorsport team to end the sponsorship deal due to Kingspan’s link to the London disaster.
Kingspan’s branding is on the car that seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton will driving at this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff had said last week that he would meet survivors of the fire after apologising on behalf of his team for any distress caused by the sponsorship deal.
Kingspan said by way of a statement it had no role in the design of the cladding system on Grenfell Tower, where its K15 product constituted approximately 5% of the insulation.
It added that this “was used as a substitute product without Kingspan’s knowledge in a system that was not compliant with the buildings regulations.
The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team and Kingspan today announced that they have mutually agreed to end their partnership with immediate effect. pic.twitter.com/NiQjvX5BIh
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) December 8, 2021
