Former McLaren technical director and Mercedes executive director Paddy Lowe has returned to Formula 1 as a sponsor of Sauber via his Zero Petroleum company.
Lowe is the founder and CEO of the carbon-neutral synthetic fuel concern, whose early investors include 1996 world champion Damon Hill. Sauber uses Shell fuel and lubricants, but is free to sell sponsorship to other companies in the sector. As previously reported, it has concluded a deal with US brand Sunoco for the three American races. Zero will feature on the Swiss cars at all other events for the next two years, prior to the switch to Audi identity in 2026.
And now you have three or four for the year. Incredible. And now you look back and think, why didn't we introduce that constraint before? “And this will be the case with fossil fuel versus synthetic fuel. So we're here to bring that message, because so few people know about it. And so aligning it with F1, is also just the most fantastic thing, because we share the same culture, the culture of innovation. “We've seen what F1 did for hybrid, bringing along battery technology.