McLaren will lose an important sponsor
The Brazilian government states in a communiqué that the sponsorship agreement between McLaren and the oil company Petrobras has ended.
Last year, McLaren and Petrobras signed a five-year agreement for the supply of fuel and lubricant to the Woking team. Petrobras had even become one of the team’s title sponsors.
However, last May, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro posted a comment on Twitter stating that he wished to terminate this contract. « In 2018, Petrobras signed an advertising contract with McLaren for 782 million Brazilian reais, for a duration of five years. Currently, the company, by government decision, is looking for a way to end the contract. »
For the record, the Brazilian state holds 64% of the shares in the oil company through direct and indirect means.
The situation evolved this week with the release of a report by the Brazilian Ministry of Economy claiming to have terminated the contract. An unjustifiable Petrobras sponsorship deal for the McLaren Formula 1 team, worth 163 million pounds (190 million euros), was broken.
Nevertheless, McLaren refuses to comment on this matter for the time being. A spokesperson for the English team stated that: « Such issues are commercially confidential and we are therefore unable to comment on them at the moment. »
McLaren will therefore need to find a new technical partner. Unless the team decides to use BP/Castrol products, Renault’s technical partner in Formula 1, until the end of the contract with Renault at the end of the 2020 season.
