Sir Jim Ratcliffe's Ineos to become Mercedes F1 sponsor

Business tycoon Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos will become a sponsor of Mercedes’ Formula One (F1) team in time for the new F1 season in March.

According to the Financial Times, the deal, which is reported to be around £20m a year, is likely to be announced in weeks.

Read more: Sir Jim Ratcliffe hit with legal claims over North Sea pipeline

The agreement means that reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton will see his car emblazoned with the logo as he begins his title defence.

The move is yet another investment into the world of sports by Ineos, the petrochemicals company set up by the UK’s third-richest man in 1998.

Ratcliffe’s company has already partnered with Olympic yachtsman Sir Ben Ainslie in an attempt to win sailing’s prestigious America’s Cup in 2021.

Last year he bought record-breaking cycling outfit Team Sky, which was rebranded Team Ineos. In its first competitive season Colombain Egan Bernal won the Tour de France, cycling’s premier race.

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In December the firm had announced a partnership with Mercedes’ applied science division to work on innovation for the cycling and sailing teams.

Ineos, which owns oil and gas assets in the North Sea in addition to its core chemical plants, is also developing a new 4×4 inspired by the iconic Land Rover Defender.

The firm will build the car, which is called the Grenadier, on a new site in Bridgend, where Ford announced it was cutting 1,700 car manufacturing jobs in 2019. The project will cost about £600m, and will see production begin in 2021.

Recently American oil firm Apache launched legal claims against Ineos over plans to double the price of using the Forties pipeline which it bought from BP in 2017 for $250m (£191m), from next year.

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It was reported that the firm, which has called on the High Court to intervene, also faces Ineos refusing to commit to transporting all the oil Apache wants to transfer through the pipeline from 2021.

City A.M. has contacted Ineos and Mercedes for comment.