McLaren confirms BP Castrol as new technical partner for 2017 F1 season - MotorSportsTalk

McLaren has confirmed that BP Castrol will be its official fuel and lubricant supplier from the 2017 Formula 1 season, taking over from ExxonMobil.

McLaren’s long-running partnership with ExxonMobil came to an end in 2016, with the American company jumping ship to supply Red Bull with its fuel and lubricants.

BP confirmed it would be returning to F1 for 2017 last month when it signed an agreement with Renault, and has now also joined forces with McLaren for the forthcoming season.

“McLaren is pleased to confirm it has joined forces with BP and Castrol for the provision of Formula 1 fuels and lubricant technology as well as the supply of products for McLaren Automotive, the renowned British manufacturer of luxury sports and supercars,” a statement from McLaren reads.

“BP is already working with McLaren Applied Technologies, the fast-growing technology arm of the McLaren Technology Group that works to improve lives and solve crucial business performance challenges.

“In the fierce proving ground of Formula 1, BP is supplying a range of performance lubricants for Honda’s Internal Combustion Engine (ICE). The team will also benefit from Castrol’s high-performance lubricants and greases that will be used in the team’s Mazak-powered machine shop and dynamic chassis rig.”

“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,” McLaren chief operating officer Jonathan Neale said.

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

McLaren Automotive CEO Mike Flewitt added: “The partnership between McLaren Automotive and Castrol is an important step in our journey to deliver the highest levels of performance and efficiency from the engines in our Sports and Super car ranges.

“Not only will the lubricants provided by Castrol play a wide-ranging role in delivering the efficiencies across our existing cars, but our future engine generations as well.”

McLaren will unveil its new F1 car, the MCL32, on February 24.

Follow @LukeSmithF1

Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

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