McLaren confirm deal with BP and Castrol

2017 F1 season

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McLaren has joined Renault in announcing it will use fuel and lubricants from BP and Castrol in 2017.

As well as introducing BP’s products to its car, McLaren will use Castrol lubricants and greases in its chassis rig.

The Honda-powered team has split from long-standing supplier ExxonMobil, who will now supply Red Bull. The change means BP and Castrol will create products for two different engine manufacturers in 2017.

“This agreement between McLaren, BP and Castrol is between brands who both share a long-standing and well-recognised passion for innovation in all we do,” said McLaren’s chief operating officer Jonathan Neale.

“Our McLaren-Honda team provides a global platform for Castrol to supply bespoke advanced lubricant technology.”

McLaren is due to launch its 2017 car, the MCL32, on February 24th.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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26 comments on “McLaren confirm deal with BP and Castrol”

  1. White-green-red-yellow McLaren then?

      1. Nick (@theawesomefish)
        10th February 2017, 12:21

        Orange, white and green. So it’s a Force India?

        1. Michael Brown (@)
          10th February 2017, 17:01

          Back when Force India’s liveries were good

    1. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
      10th February 2017, 12:33

      I’m hoping for an orange testing livery to throw us off the scent, and a classic red/white/green Castrol livery in AUS

    2. @davidnotcoulthard I thought of this like @fullcoursecaution but then I clicked @gordess link

      I’d be happy with the superbike livery that or the Johnny Rea livery touring car livery

      The thing is, I suspect the car is going to be orange grey and a little red, and not fully audacious.

      1. @ppeartree The sight of Dutch fans wearing Oranje cheering about an Orange car being overtaken (by VES) would be interesting though, I guess.

        1. @peartree And I was personally thinking about https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-bSirCECoG0/maxresdefault.jpg , plus a BP logo of course (unless BP for some reason decides against it).

          1. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
            11th February 2017, 15:08

            That Celica (or Corolla?) is what immediately sprung to my mind too @davidnotcoulthard , and the super GT Supra’s from the 90s with the same design

          2. That would be game over for McLaren. When you say GT Supra I see this

  2. Great news! Considering Mobil 1 left and a rumor BP would sign a deal with Reanult, I’m now relieved. Mclaren desperately needs fuel/lubricant partnership to win championship. I guess Mclaren would suffer setback due to new partnership and R&D direction but it won’t be visible since Honda PU should be significantly improved. Lagging behind fuel/lubricant war means Mclaren can’t be the team to beat this season after all.(but who expects it?) Still brighter future than yesterday.

    1. @eggry BP signed a deal with both Renault and McLaren. It’ll be interesting to see how that pans out, since they would have to split their resources between two different engines. Can’t imagine it’s the most perfect situation to not have a dedicated fuel/lubricant partner.

      1. @maarten-f1 Oh I didn’t knew that. Yeah, two rabbit at once. Might be too ambitious for them :(

        1. @eggry, the indication is that Renault are BP’s preferred client in this arrangement (there is also a suggestion that whilst the deal is publicly with McLaren, it is really more of a deal with Honda given that Honda has a long standing commercial arrangement with Castrol, a sub-brand of BP, through their motorcycle division).

    2. I don’t understand McLaren fans. First, the engine is at fault. Then, the token system is at fault. Then, the lubricants are at fault.

      Anything to divert attention from the fact that McLaren’s downfall has started 2 years prior to Honda’s arrival. They weren’t the quickest Mercedes powered team in 2013 or the quickest Mercedes powered customer in 2014. Team bosses have gone on record saying that the weakest engine last year was the one on Toro Rosso.

      There is ample evidence to the fact that McLaren have botched up their chassis for 4 consecutive years.

      1. Nobody denied Mclaren chassis is not on par with rivals.

        1. McLaren did 😂

      2. It’s all about diverting attention to the bigger of the 2 evils. Mclaren’s chassis has been pretty rubbish, no doubt about it…. but it isn’t even close to the disaster that is Honda.

  3. Anyone know if there are any links between BP and Castrol? Or are they two independent companies?

    ExxonMobil previously provided both fuel and lubricants. Are there any disadvantages to these now coming from two different companies?

    1. @eurobrun Castrol, once private lubricant company, now part of BP group. so they’re virtually same company. I believe BP would offer fuel and Castrol would offer lubricants. Maybe both come from BP divisions but Castrol should be the brand of lubricants for them.

      1. @eggry Many thanks, that makes sense. Cheers for clearing that up for me :)

  4. ExxonMobil were one of those very rare F1 sponsors that actually promoted its affiliation in North American advertising. There was a Mobil 1 television commercial that calls out the McLaren team and used their race cars(2015) on track in Barcelona.

    1. @photogcw – great point. literally the only commercials ive seen stateside with any F1 references.

      1. @fletchuk – AT&T has one television commercial in national/regional rotation involving the Red Bull team and I have seen one Petronas lubricants advertising with the works Mercedes team on CNBC. I was not aware Petronas sold its products in the USA.

    2. Shell is another, ive seen them use ferrari f1 cars in advertisements at gas stations

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