A small logo on the Mercedes Formula 1 car causes a lot of trouble. Because the new sponsor Kingspan is considered to be one of the main culprits for a devastating fire in London in which a total of 72 people died in June 2017. Because of the new treaty, politicians even have their say.
In Germany, the building materials company Kingspan is probably hardly known to anyone. In Great Britain, however, it is causing public and harsh criticism that the Mercedes Formula 1 racing team has entered into a partnership with the Irish company. At the racing weekend in Saudi Arabia, the Kingspan logo can be seen for the first time on the cars of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, it can be found on the side of the nose of the racing car. It was only this week that the works team of the German automaker Daimler presented the new sponsor.
“The announcement of your new partnership with Kingspan is really shocking,” writes the Grenfell United interest group, which accuses Mercedes of participating in a system “that puts profit above human life”. It goes on in that open letter addressed to Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff: “We therefore urge you to distance yourself from Kingspan.” Even British politics commented on the sponsorship in person Michael Gove, Minister for Housing: “I am deeply disappointed.” Mercedes has its team headquarters in Brackley, near the Silverstone circuit.
Because Kingspan is not just a building materials company; it is also the focus of prosecution investigations. In June 2017, a fire broke out in Grenfell Tower in London. After a defective refrigerator had set a kitchen on fire, the flames spread to the facade cladding of the high-rise building within minutes, and it was only 24 hours later that the emergency services could bring the fire under control. 72 people died. Grenfell United advocates the needs of survivors and bereaved.
Kingspan is accused of having recommended and supplied panels for the facade, which was renovated a few months before the devastating accident, even though they were found to be highly flammable in fire reports. According to official reports, the fire had spread from the fourth floor to the roof of the 24-story building within 20 minutes. The morning after, London’s then fire chief Dany Cotton said: “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Survivors’ group calls for termination of contract
The investigations and investigations are still ongoing, but many see the responsibility of the new Mercedes sponsor as proven. “Kingspan played a central role in the pain and suffering we feel today,” writes Grenfell United to the Formula 1 team. Minister Gove asked the racing team to “reconsider the contract. The Grenfell community deserves better.”
Mercedes team boss Wolff also replied with an open letter. “On behalf of our team, I apologize for causing you additional pain.” The investigation and clarification of the allegations against Kingspan is important so that such a disaster can not happen again. However, “we did a lot of research with Kingspan, what impact their products had on what happened”. The building materials company “stated that they had no say in the design or installation of the Grenfell Tower facade” and that “their products were used without their knowledge” in a “system that did not comply with the regulations and was not safe” .
For Grenfell United, the group of survivors and bereaved, that’s not enough. If Mercedes believes Kingspan’s submission, “you are kind of asking them to grade their own homework”. However, that is exactly the approach that made the fire with 72 fatalities possible in the first place, is called in one Reply to the letter from Mercedes. “The investigation found Kingspan tampered with tests and brought potentially lethal products to market.”
Grenfell United does appreciate the intention of the Formula 1 series winner, but: “We urge you to support us in our fight for justice.” Because Kingspan had “opened a door for other companies to trick the system” with his behavior, so to bypass security standards. “While 72 loved ones have died, 18 of them children, Kingspan and others are [Beteiligte, Anm. d. Red.] so far remained undamaged. “The termination of the sponsorship contract is the minimum of what Mercedes are demanding.