Red Bull confirms ExxonMobil deal as McLaren loses partner

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Red Bull has confirmed its deal with ExxonMobil to use its fuel and lubricants in 2017, securing a former McLaren partner.

McLaren has used ExxonMobil's Mobil 1 oil for the past 21 years, but that deal will come to an end with the announcement of a new partnership between Red Bull and the oil giant. ExxonMobil will become "team partner, official fuel partner, official lubricant partner, and official motor oil partner" with Red Bull, and team principal Christian Horner says he is pleased to secure such a well-known F1 brand.

“Mobil 1 and Red Bull Racing are two global brands that share a passion for racing, performance and innovation," Horner said. "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.

“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 recently announced it will continue to use the Tag Heuer name on its power units in 2017, which will be supplied by Renault. Tag Heuer was also formerly a long-term partner of McLaren until joining Red Bull ahead of the 2016 season.

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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.