Hamilton casts doubt on Kingspan branding remaining on car

British Housing Minister Michael Gove has urged Mercedes to reconsider, saying he was "deeply disappointed" Mercedes were accepting sponsorship from Kingspan while an inquiry was ongoing

December 05, 2021 12:01 pm | Updated 12:01 pm IST

Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes GP talks in the press conference after qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on December 04, 2021 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes GP talks in the press conference after qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on December 04, 2021 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton cast doubt on whether branding for a company linked to the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire would stay on his Mercedes race car amid a backlash in Britain and calls for his team to terminate the deal.

The partnership with Irish-based insulation company Kingspan, some of whose products were used on the West London tower block that caught fire with 72 fatalities, was announced this week.

"This [deal] really doesn't have anything to do with me and I know [team boss] Toto [Wolff] is sorting it ," seven-times world champion Hamilton told reporters after taking pole position for the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah.

"Unfortunately my name is associated with it because it's put on my car but whether that remains the same we shall see," he added.

British Housing Minister Michael Gove has urged Mercedes to reconsider, saying he was "deeply disappointed" Mercedes were accepting sponsorship from Kingspan while an inquiry was ongoing.

Grenfell United, representing families and survivors, have also urged Mercedes to terminate the deal.

Wolff replied by letter on December 3 apologising for distress caused and agreeing to a meeting.

The Austrian told reporters on December 4 that the branding issue had been discussed "with the important people and we will reach out to Kingspan and come up with the right solution.

"There is a contractual agreement that's behind these things and we want to just do the right thing with integrity," he added.

There was no immediate comment from Kingspan.

Hamilton, the most successful Formula One driver of all time, said the controversy had taken him by surprise.

"It's not something that I feel I have to speak of publicly," he said.

"I had nothing to do with the team signing any of the sponsors, apart from probably Tommy [Hilfiger] was the only one I brought to the team. It was news to me when I heard the things that happened this week.”

"I was very much aware and watching very closely all the families that were affected by what happened there and we know there's been a huge outcry and an amazing amount of support from people in the community around there."

Kingspan has said 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".

Asked whether he had regret in hindsight that the deal had been done, Wolff said it was "clearly a situation that will make me improve in the future and my decision making. Full stop."

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.