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Renault splashes out with colourful new official partner

The Renault Sport Formula 1 Team has announced that premium automotive paint brand ixell is to become their official paint partner.

ixell was key to the successful application of Renault's distinctive liveries on both the 2016 R.S.16 and this season’s R.S.17 chassis.

"Renault Sport Formula One Team has a distinctive look on the grid. This is owed in part to our relationship with ixell," said the team's managing director Cyril Abiteboul.

Abiteboul explained the importance of ixell's contribution to the team's on-track success. "For Formula 1, we required the best finish possible at the lightest weight.

"We created a new paint and preparation facility at Enstone," he continued. "ixell supplied the expertise, know-how and products to enable us to facilitate this with very short lead times.

"The technology which is applied on the R.S.17 can be applied to road cars," Abiteboul pointed out.

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With the announcement that ixell was now an official partner to the race team, Abiteboul was looking forward to more breakthroughs in the future.

"We look forward to harnessing this relationship for further gains in performance and presentation for the team," he said.

Like the Formula 1 team, ixell is part of Groupe Renault. Brand manager Guillaume Calvar said he looked forward to increasing the co-operation between the two companies in the future.

"ixell are honoured to have worked on the formulation and the implementation of the paint which gives the R.S.17 its distinctive look," he said.

"We have been working closely with Renault Sport Racing in our development of new and highly efficient products.

"Being the Official Paint Partner of Renault Sport Formula One Team is a great opportunity to increase the synergies within Groupe Renault for a unique goal: enhancing car performance."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.