Mercedes F1 urged to rethink sponsorship deal with Grenfell insulation firm

The housing secretary has joined Grenfell Tower survivors in condemning Formula One team Mercedes for striking a sponsorship deal with a firm linked to insulation on the Grenfell flats.

Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, described Mercedes' decision as "deeply disappointing" and said he would write to the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team to ask them to reconsider the deal with Kingspan, which made some of the insulations installed on the Grenfell building.

Grenfell United, a group representing the survivors and bereaved families of the 2017 tragedy, called the deal "truly shocking" and said the news had "shattered" them in an open letter to Mercedes.

An inquiry is examining how Grenfell Tower came to be coated in flammable materials that contributed to the spread of the fire that killed 72 people in 2017.

Shadow levelling-up secretary Lisa Nandy said she supports Gove in his criticism of Mercedes, but has written to him asking him to "take the same principled stance in relation to the decision by the Conservative Party to take millions of pounds in donations from property developers responsible for flats that have been covered in the same dangerous ACM cladding" since the fire.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, Nandy described the team's join-up with Kingspan as "deeply disrespectful" to Grenfell survivors and bereaved families.

"They felt very invisible in the political system," she said. "That was what allowed this to happen in the first place.

"We’ve got to send a clear and unequivocal message that they are invisible no more, that people’s lives matter, and that we’ll stand with them while this inquiry is ongoing."

She also called on Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton to put pressure on his bosses to reverse the decision.

Kingspan’s K15 insulation was one of the products installed on Grenfell Tower during its refurbishment.

The firm said it did not design the tower block's cladding system and that its insulation was used as a substitute product without the firm's knowledge.

The majority of the insulation used on the west London tower block was made by another company.

A spokesman for the Mercedes team said on Thursday: "Our partner Kingspan has supported, and continues to support, the vitally important work of the inquiry to determine what went wrong and why in the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

"Our new partnership announced this week is centred on sustainability and will support us in achieving our targets in this area."

In a statement Kingspan said: "The Grenfell Tower fire was a tragedy that should never have happened, and Kingspan supports the vitally important work of the inquiry to determine what went wrong and why."

"Kingspan played no role in the design of the cladding system on Grenfell Tower, where its K15 product constituted approximately 5% of the insulation and was used as a substitute product without Kingspan’s knowledge in a system that was not compliant with the buildings regulations.

"The new partnership with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One team reflects the ambitious sustainability targets of both organisations."