Poll: Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2021, Jeddah - Race 21

Rate the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix out of ten


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Soldato
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Did Kingspan actually do anything wrong? I will admit I'm not educated on it, but from the wiki it looks like the blame seems to lie with the contractors using materials they shouldn't and regulators for approving it. Kingspan seem to be no more involved than the manufacturers of the aircraft used in 9/11 were for that. As such I fail to see what the fuss is about.
I don't want to derail this thread, however Kingspan are not innocent in the Grenfell disaster. Their original cladding specification for that used on Grenfell passed the required safety standard testing. The problem was that Kingspan changed the composition of the plastic foam boards, resulting in them being much more flammable, but they didn't resubmit them for compliance testing and continued to sell the sub-standard components under the guise of the original safety inspection.
 
Man of Honour
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So the Kingspan thing being discussed now.

Kingspan makes a product.
Product was used incorrectly by another company in construction.
Big fire.

It's all Kingspan's fault....

Eh?
 
Soldato
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So the Kingspan thing being discussed now.

Kingspan makes a product.
Product was used incorrectly by another company in construction.
Big fire.

It's all Kingspan's fault....

Eh?

No.

Kingspan knowingly faked the flammability testing, then later changed the formulation to make it more flammable but better insulating, whilst still using the certification for the old product. Product was certified for tall buildings when it wasn't suitable. Then tried PR spin and smearing others to get away with it.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...val-product-after-grenfell-blaze-inquiry-told
 
Associate
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No.

Kingspan knowingly faked the flammability testing, then later changed the formulation to make it more flammable but better insulating, whilst still using the certification for the old product. Product was certified for tall buildings when it wasn't suitable. Then tried PR spin and smearing others to get away with it.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...val-product-after-grenfell-blaze-inquiry-told

Eeek thats bad , not that this makes it any better, but we are racing this weekend in choppy choppy land, another in a long line of race venues in authoritarian poo holes, plus F1's numerous and dubious sponsors over the years.

Frankly it feels remarkably on point for F1, wouldnt be suprised if Red Bull have a Rohypnol sticker and Ferrari get the team going with a chorus of Do You Want to be in my Gang.
 
Soldato
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Eeek thats bad , not that this makes it any better, but we are racing this weekend in choppy choppy land, another in a long line of race venues in authoritarian poo holes, plus F1's numerous and dubious sponsors over the years.

Frankly it feels remarkably on point for F1, wouldnt be suprised if Red Bull have a Rohypnol sticker and Ferrari get the team going with a chorus of Do You Want to be in my Gang.

I can only assume Merc didn't do any due diligence and Lewis didn't know ... having previously posted support for Grenfell survivors groups on Instagram. I'll leave you to draw you own conclusions about that.

It even made the BBC One o'clock news, so this ain't going away quietly with a twitter press release.
 
Associate
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If they think their going to shame F1 over money then they'll probably be disappointed.

Maybe hassling Lewis might swing it, but he'll probably end up 10 million down to cover the loss plus a donation for nice PR, might even have to sell his spare Jet.

Ps big Lewis fan, but his activism is about to bite him in the arse, through someone elses greed.
 
Soldato
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Merc can preach all they like about "We race as One" and making lots of PR gestures. When they sign a "partner" who's reputation is in tatters for being complicit in 72 deaths having lied about their products, then they need to feel a bit of pain for being so dumb.

I won't even start on the the F1 racing in Saudi Arabia issues...
 
Soldato
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I think we get it.
Do people think Lewis was literally the person who sat in the back office on the phone arranging a sponsorship deal with them for the love of god?
 
Associate
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I think we get it.
Do people think Lewis was literally the person who sat in the back office on the phone arranging a sponsorship deal with them for the love of god?
Nope not all, but now the Twitter outrage engine plus the Grauniad is on the case, it won't matter.

Any other driver, it would be a non story, but Lewis likes to stick his fingers in every activism pie.
 
Soldato
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Just so you know, 95% of the Grenfell insulation was Celotex, they used 5% Kingspan when the Celotex temporarily ran out. Kingspan weren't told.

Why should Kingspan be told? It's a commercially available.


Well aware of the 5%. Doesn't change the fact that Kingspan were selling something as certified that wasn't as they'd faked the test and then changed the formulation to make it more flammable. When queried by the NHBC in 2015 they lawyered up then threatened to sue for defamation, while knowing that they were selling something dangerous.

Yeah, the cladding is primarily responsible, but the Kingspan product helped the fire spread more quickly and put out vast quantities of poisonous fumes.
 
Soldato
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I'm not having a go at Lewis, just presenting some facts. I get that he's an employee and has to do as he's told. Doesn't mean he can't get asked a difficult question or two.

Lewis quite rightly should respond with "no comment". Job done. Why does he need to talk about anything other than going racing this weekend? Why should he still not feel the same about Grenfell? His view won't change. It's a business deal he would have had no control over. Toto can respond on the matter. Seems like he already has offered apologies on it. I dislike this whole world we live in now where it's all about blaming and finger pointing about how bad people/groups are and being negative. Yes a disaster occurred. It was tragic. The world carries on. But ya know...let's bring Merc and Lewis into this and deflect all our hate and anger to them for a bit to make us feel better.
 
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