Mercedes F1's Kingspan sponsorship lasted one week after Grenfell survivors objected

In December 2021 Mercedes-AMG Petronas announced Kingspan, the Irish insulation multinational, as a sponsor pitched as part of the team's sustainability programme, with the Cavan company brought in to chair a new sustainability working group. The deal was reported to be worth £4 million (€4.7 million) a year. Kingspan's logo appeared on Lewis Hamilton's and Valtteri Bottas's cars for the first time at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, which Hamilton won.

The backlash was immediate. Grenfell United, the survivors' campaign group, condemned the deal: some Kingspan insulation had been used in the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower before the June 2017 fire that killed 72 people, and the public inquiry was still ongoing, with Kingspan's UK business a core participant. Kingspan maintained its K15 board made up about 5 per cent of the facade's insulation layer, substituted without its knowledge. Housing secretary Michael Gove warned the UK could amend advertising rules for racing cars if the partnership stood.

A week after the announcement, ahead of the Abu Dhabi season finale, the two sides agreed to step back. Team principal Toto Wolff had already apologised to Grenfell survivors and bereaved relatives before the Jeddah race and thanked Grenfell United for an offer to meet. Kingspan said it was "deeply aware of the sensitivities" and that it was "not appropriate to move forward at the current point in time", while condemning the "wholly unacceptable historical conduct and emails" of a small group of employees at its UK insulation business that emerged through the inquiry's discovery process.

The team sold the deal as a sustainability partnership without weighing that its sponsor was a core participant in an ongoing fire-safety inquiry.

Kingspan wanted a world stage for its sustainability story while the Grenfell Inquiry kept producing damaging evidence about its K15 board and internal conduct.

Timing made the association untenable: the logos ran just as fresh inquiry reporting was circulating, handing survivors and politicians an obvious target.

A cabinet minister threatening to change the advertising rules turned a public-relations problem into a regulatory and commercial one.

A sponsor's baggage outweighs its cheque: due diligence has to cover who will be hurt by the association, not only what the brand gains.

The sponsorship was shelved seven days after launch, before the Abu Dhabi finale where Hamilton was fighting to retain his title. Wolff's apology to survivors and bereaved relatives stood, along with an offer to meet Grenfell United. Kingspan said it fully supported the inquiry and had carried out new fire tests it said supported the historical fire-safety claims of its K15 tests. The episode left both brands linked to the tower fire rather than to sustainability.