Brazil’s president urges Petrobras to end McLaren F1 deal

Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has requested Petrobras to terminate its collaboration with the McLaren Formula 1 team early.

McLaren announced a five-year technological partnership with Petrobras in early 2018 and has raced with the Brazilian company’s branding prominently featured on its F1 car.

Petrobras is responsible for developing and providing fuel and lubricants for the Woking squad, which began the year unsure whether the switch from former suppliers BP/Castrol would be completed in time for the new season amid reports the Brazilian government was looking to scale back its F1 investment trough state-backed companies.

Bolsonaro took to social media to say he had requested Petrobras to terminate its deal with McLaren, which he claimed was worth around £150 million (R$782m).

"In 2018 Petrobras signed an advertising contract of R$782m with McLaren, valid for five years," Bolsonaro said in a tweet posted to his official Twitter account.

"At the moment, the company, by decision of my government, seeks a way to terminate the contract."

Upon being contacted for comment by Crash.net, a McLaren spokesperson responded saying "such matters are commercially confidential and therefore we are not able to comment further."

Em 2018 a Petrobrás assinou contrato de publicidade de R$ 782 milhões com a McLaren, válido por 5 anos. No momento, a empresa, por decisão do meu Governo, busca uma maneira de rescindir o contrato. Boa noite a todos!

— Jair M. Bolsonaro (@jairbolsonaro) May 18, 2019