Oil change – Renault teams up with BP and Castrol for 2017 F1 season

The Renault team has formed a partnership with BP and will use its fuel in the 2017 Formula 1 season, it was announced today.

Despite its chief economist issuing a warning on the outlook of the oil industry yesterday, BP, and its Castrol lubricant brand, will provide Renault with its BP Ultimate and Castrol Edge products and is also expected to announce a similar tie up with McLaren, although a BP press officer could not comment on speculation surrounding that deal when contacted by JA on F1 this morning. McLaren was previously supplied by ExxonMobil, which has switched to Red Bull for 2017.

Speaking as the news of Renault’s deal with BP was announced, Jérôme Stoll, the president of Renault Sport Racing, said: “The return of BP and Castrol, brands with such strong heritage in motorsport, is very good news and opens new opportunities for our Formula 1 team.

“BP’s commitment highlights the ongoing appeal of Formula 1 to major multinational companies. We are very proud and motivated to have a technical partner and sponsor of this calibre.”

Cyril Abiteboul, the managing director of Renault Sport Racing, outlined his belief that increased power sensitivity on the back of the new-for-2017 chassis rules will make fuel and lubricants even more important to F1 teams in the coming year.

He said: “With the new aerodynamic regulations for the 2017 Formula 1 season, power sensitivity will increase. Therefore fuels and lubricants will make an even greater difference to the overall performance of the car than they have since the new power unit regulations have been introduced in 2014.

“The teams at BP and Castrol are very excited by the challenges offered by Formula 1 and we are confident they will help us achieve our ambitions for our new car in 2017 and beyond.”

Renault, which last worked with BP and Castrol as part of its engine supply deal with Williams in 1997, will run former Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg alongside Jolyon Palmer in 2017. The Enstone-based team plans to unveil its 2017 challenger on 21 February.

The French manufacturer, which re-joined F1 as a full manufacturer for the start of the 2016 season, used Total fuel last year. In its first year back in the championship, Renault finished ninth, and scored eight points.

Oil companies racing to sell reserves before demand falls

Yesterday, BP’s chief economist, Spencer Dale, gave a presentation at the company’s annual energy outlook and warned that oil companies would face pressure to sell their reserves before a fall in demand keeps prices low in the coming years.

Dale explained that because there is twice as much technically recoverable oil in global reserves than the world is thought likely to need between now and 2050, some reserves will not be extracted and prices will not reach the $100 a barrel heights that they did before a crash in 2014.

Dale said: “Many low-cost producers have rationed supply with a view that if they not produce a barrel today they can produce a barrel tomorrow.

“I think it is increasingly likely that there will be technically recoverable oil reserves which will never be extracted and if I was the owner of one of those companies which owned that oil I would have every incentive to make sure it wasn’t mine [that was not extracted].”