Mercedes and Kingspan announce end to partnership

Mercedes and Kingspan have confirmed that they have mutually agreed to end their partnership. A deal between the two parties was announced last week, but was met with dismay from a survivors' support group related to the Grenfell Tower tragedy. In 2017, the Grenfell Tower residential block caught fire and 72 people lost their lives in the inferno. Kingspan Insulation are linked to the tragedy through their products being in use in areas of the building and, in the wake of the Mercedes deal being made public, the Grenfell United survivors' group penned an open letter to the team urging them to cut their ties. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff wrote an open letter in response, in which he apologised for the distress the announcement had caused, and explained that the team were looking at the deal "with a matter of urgency" . A statement released today from Mercedes reads: "Announced last week, the new partnership included Kingspan chairing a new Sustainability Working Group for the team, and aimed to deliver carbon reductions through their leading-edge environmentally sustainable solutions for the team's future campus. "However, both parties have subsequently concluded that it is not appropriate for the partnership to move forward at the current point in time, notwithstanding its intended positive impact, and we have therefore agreed that it will be discontinued with immediate effect."