Castrol & Renault F1 Team work together to maximise performance. Here’s how it works

In the words of Renault Sport’s Chief Technical Officer Bob Bell, “Castrol is a tremendous partner, a great enabler. There are two key elements to Formula One that you’ve got to get right: reliability and performance. Castrol is a key partner in enabling us to do what we have to do across both, to help us win races and score points.”

Have a look at how, as a dynamic partnership, Castrol and Renault F1 work together behind the scenes to produce the results.

Castrol is leading the way in developing increasingly sophisticated oils that work with modern engines to keep them correctly lubricated. Seb Hirsz is a Senior F1 Technologist at the team’s headquarters in Pangbourne, whose ongoing role is to work with the team to develop fluids to help their hardware perform best. "And that’s not just power, that’s durability,” he says.

Seb works closely with Development Technician Jenna Hill, who tests various combinations of the Castrol products, and says the most rewarding part of his job is “when I am trackside with the team and I get to see the products I’ve developed actually deployed in the car and in the races… and enable the team to get results, and hopefully even further down the line, push them up the grid".

Ben, Castrol’s trackside analyst for the British Grand Prix weekend, is tasked with ensuring the fuel and lubricant formulations specified by Renault perform as they should.

Tests of the Castrol product during this year’s British Grand Prix found that the version produced by Seb and Jenna back at the team’s base had a positive effect on the metal-ware of the car’s components.

At the Castrol Technology Centre, lubricants can be developed and tested more rigorously to perform at the highest level.

It’s not just the Renault team that benefits; Castrol also thrives in this environment of constant rapid development. Just ask Castrol’s F1 Programme Manager, Will Pickford.

"It’s simple, really," Will explains. "We can develop our lubricants much quicker through our involvement in Formula One. The demands of the sport are extreme and the pace is relentless."

"Throughout the season, on average, there is a race every two weeks and, in between, a series of official tests," he adds. "Only by working with a major motor manufacturer in this way can we maintain a pace of development essential to helping us constantly improve our road-going lubricants. And ultimately, of course, that is our objective."