Every June, Le Mans becomes a meeting point for motorsport’s past, present and future. It is where endurance racing’s greatest names compete, where technology is pushed to its limits and where partnerships built over decades continue to evolve.
Few relationships illustrate that better than the one between Shell and Ferrari.
For more than 75 years, Shell has worked alongside Ferrari in motorsport, a collaboration that today spans both Scuderia Ferrari HP in Formula 1 and Ferrari Hypercar in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). In an industry where regulations change rapidly and partnerships often come and go, that longevity is remarkable.
For Thomas Kassell, Shell’s Global Head of Motorsport Partnerships, the reason is simple: a shared commitment to innovation.
“What makes these partnerships special is our shared commitment to continually evolve,” he says. “From our first Formula One race with Scuderia Ferrari in 1950 to today’s focus on Advanced Sustainable race fuels and new lubricant technologies across a range of motorsport series, innovation has remained at the heart of our partnerships for more than 75 years.”
That approach has helped the relationship adapt through every era of motorsport. From the early days of Formula 1 to today’s hybrid power units, and from Ferrari’s historic successes at Le Mans to the modern Hypercar category, technical collaboration has remained central.
Many fans see the Shell logo on a race car, but behind that visibility sits decades of engineering expertise. Shell scientists work closely with teams to develop fuels and lubricants capable of performing in some of the world’s most demanding racing environments.
“Motorsport provides the ultimate testbed for innovation,” Kassell explains. “It allows us to collaborate with world-class partners, develop new solutions under the most demanding conditions and apply those learnings beyond the racetrack.”
In Formula 1, the focus is on optimising every component of the car to achieve maximum performance. In WEC, the priority shifts to reliability. Endurance racing requires cars to perform at the limit for hours at a time. These distinct racing environments provide valuable opportunities to develop and refine fuel and lubricant technologies.
“As motorsport and the wider automotive industry evolve, we continually refine our fuels and lubricants to meet new technical challenges, ensuring the technologies we develop remain relevant for the future,” says Kassell.
The partnership is also built on something less tangible but equally important: trust.
“Results matter, but they’re only one part of the story,” Kassell says. “The strongest partnerships are the ones built on shared goals rather than short-term commercial objectives.”
That long-term thinking has allowed Shell and Ferrari to continue learning together as motorsport changes. It is a process of constant adaptation, where engineers and scientists work to solve new challenges and improve performance year after year.
The collaboration also reflects how motorsport itself has evolved. Fans increasingly want to understand what happens behind the scenes, from the technology inside the car to the people responsible for success.
“Fans today want to feel much closer to the sport,” Kassell says. “They want to understand what happens behind the scenes, hear from the people involved and feel connected to the journey, not just the result.”
For Shell, that creates an opportunity to tell stories not only about racing, but about the science, teamwork and innovation that underpin performance.
As Formula 1 and WEC continue to evolve, the partnership between Shell, Scuderia Ferrari HP and Ferrari Hypercar continues to evolve with them.
“What excites me most is the opportunity to keep building on the strong foundations we’ve created over many decades while exploring new ways to create value together,” Kassell says.
After more than 75 years, the relationship is about far more than logos on race cars. It is a technical collaboration shaped by curiosity, trust and a shared ambition to keep pushing the boundaries of performance. In a sport defined by continual change, that may be its greatest achievement.
