The Mercedes Formula One team has ended its sponsorship deal with a firm that made combustible insulation used on Grenfell Tower after outrage from bereaved friends and relatives, the survivors and the UK government.
Lewis Hamilton the Mercedes formula 1 driver and champion had distanced himself from the sponsorship deal.
Lewis Hamilton wins thrilling Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after Max Verstappen collision
Lewis Hamilton drove the break-up
The team, whose main driver is the current champion Lewis Hamilton, terminated its short-lived partnership with Kingspan after just one Grand Prix in which the logo of the firm that made some of the foam boards used on the tower was emblazoned on the nose cone of cars driven by Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.
When the deal was announced before last week’s Grand Prix in Saudi Arabia, survivors called on the team’s boss, Toto Wolff, to sever the relationship, describing it as “sports washing sins”. It was called “disgusting” by Nabil Choucair, who lost six members of his family in the fire.
Mercedes team ends deal with Grenfell firm
The team said on Tuesday that the deal had been intended to promote sustainability, but that: “Both parties have … concluded that it is not appropriate for the partnership to move forward at this current point in time, notwithstanding its intended positive impact, and we have therefore agreed that it will be discontinued with immediate effect.”
Kingspan’s actions have been heavily scrutinised by the public inquiry into the disaster, which has already found its materials “contributed to the rate and extent of vertical flame spread”.
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