DECEMBER 16, 2002

Petrobras extends relationship with Williams

There has been a lot of bad news in F1 in recent months but it is nice to be able to report a major sponsorship deal which is being extended.

There has been a lot of bad news in F1 in recent months but it is nice to be able to report a major sponsorship deal which is being extended. Petrobras has just announced that it is continuing its relationship with the BMW Williams F1 team for another two years. The deal is for sponsorship but is also a technical partnership. The two companies have been working together for the last five years and the fuel used these days by Williams is being produced at Petrobras's Cenpes Research Center in Brazil where a $1m laboratory has recently been built just to develop, test and produce specialist F1 fuels.

Petrobras intends to use some of the knowledge gained from F1 in a new road car fuel being produced in Brazil which will be called Podium, which will enable high-performance vehicles to perform better.