Red Bull confirms ExxonMobil lubricant deal

2017 F1 season

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Red Bull has confirmed it will switch lubricant supplier from Total to ExxonMobil next year.

The team will use Mobil 1 lubricants for its power unit and gearbox. The deal will also see ExxonMobil branding appear on the RB13 plus the drivers’ overalls and helmets.

Engine lubricants have become a more critical element in car performance since the current V6 hybrid turbo regulations were introduced at the beginning of 2014.

“Mobil 1 has been an iconic brand in Formula One for more than 30 years and our new partnership provides us with a unique opportunity to tap into ExxonMobil’s world class expertise,” said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.

“In addition to welcoming ExxonMobil to the Red Bull Racing stable, I would like to extend my thanks and appreciation to the technical team at Total, who have made a valuable contribution to our success in Formula One during our partnership.”

Red Bull’s signing is a coup for the team as ExxonMobil has been a long-term supplier of lubricants to McLaren.

ExxonMobil vice-president of marketing Matt Bergeron said the company is “excited about building a relationship with Red Bull’s excellent young drivers who are establishing reputations as competitive racers and who will help showcase our brands to generations of consumers”.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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17 comments on “Red Bull confirms ExxonMobil lubricant deal”

  1. Do engine manufacturers test their engines with all combinations of lubricants that their customer teams use?

    1. @phylyp, Probably only on a very limited basis – engine supply deals normally includes a supply deal with their preferred fuel and lubricant supplier (that’s been the trend for quite a long time now).

  2. This is a surprising move for ExxonMobil because they are one of the very few powerful sponsors in F1 that actually use Formula-1 in its North American advertising campaigns. The television commercial in current rotation features McLaren/Honda running at Catalunya but it’s a few years old. RedBull advertises a great deal in the USA but do not feature their F1 teams and AT&T, a RedBull sponsor, uses the team in one of its television commercials. Infiniti used to wrap their car advertising around the then-World Champion RedBull team. And Mercedes-Benz uses their F1 cars sporadically in their television commercials. I guess it’s hard to make a technical connection between the W06 and its best selling USA-built SUV.

  3. So, what about McLaren then? Any hints at a new fuel/lubricant supplier?

    1. I read from Motorsport, Mclaren will use Castrol/BP for 2017

      1. petebaldwin (@)
        1st December 2016, 20:10

        Yeah Keith had this in the roundup a few months ago:
        https://joesaward.wordpress.com/2016/10/25/mclaren-and-bp/

        1. petebaldwin (@)
          1st December 2016, 20:11

          actually – just over a month ago.

      2. Ok thanks, I missed that!

  4. Exxon couldn’t wait any longer.

  5. I wondered whether this included fuel for the cars, and it appears that it does. Quote from the Red Bull Racing website: “…ExxonMobil will provide Red Bull Racing with leading-edge Mobil 1™ lubricants and Synergy Race Fuels.”
    http://www.redbullracing.com/article/fuelled-future

  6. Tag Heuer, Hugo Boss, Mobil 1…. how many more long haul sponsors are leaving for other teams?

  7. In the past few years I understood that the fuel and lubricants have a significant influence on engine performance leading to intensive cooperation between engine and oil companies. Does this move show that this cooperation is excaccerated? I cannot imagine Renault will work together with both exxon and Total.

    1. @mosquito Well, Renault would not have to work together with Exxon – TAG Heuer would have to. ;)

    2. @mosquito
      Ossi Oikarinen (Finnish Formula One commentator, who has worked for several teams and as a race engineer at Toyota) once said that the engine manufacturers basically first choose which lubricant to use and then build an engine around it, not the other way around. So I’m a bit surprised about this, if the other Renault/Tag Heuer teams aren’t also switching to Mobil 1.

      1. Red Bull will use Mobil 1 fuel and oil as much as they are using Renault/Tag Heuer power unite if you know what I mean. or as much and like STR and Williams used Cespa and PDSVA fuel and oil.

  8. What do Red Bull know that we don’t? Total works with Renault, works well with them, knows their engine. Surely it is a risk to use a different fuel and lubricant producer than the engine developer?

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