Brazilian petroleum corporation Petrobras has been told to pull out of its current deal to sponsor the McLaren Formula 1 team.
And the order has come from no less an authority that the new president of the country, Jair Bolsonaro.
The national government holds almost two thirds of the shares of Petrobras, meaning that such an instruction constitutes far more than the usual political rhetoric – but has real power to be enforced.
“In 2018 Petrobras signed an advertising contract of R$782m with McLaren, valid for five years,” Bolsonaro tweeted this week. That sum in the Brazilian Real currency is equivalent to around £150 million.
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“At the moment, the company, by decision of my government, seeks a way to terminate the contract,” the president revealed.
The right wing politician has been instigating major political and economic change across the country since coming into the office at the start of 2019.
In motorsport, he’s already ceased public support for the Seletiva de Kart, which has received financial backing from the government for the last two decades.
And last week Bolsonaro said that the Brazilian Grand Prix would continue to be held only if it switched from Interlagos in Sao Paulo to a new facility in Rio de Janeiro, where he himself resides.
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