Let’s get one thing straight before the corporate lawyers at KLCC start twitching: I love the smell of Petronas Primax in the morning. I am a fan of the silver arrows. I believe the sight of a Mercedes-AMG F1 car screaming through a corner is one of the few things that justifies the existence of physics. I am not suggesting for a second that PETRONAS should stop spending billions to ensure George Russell has the aerodynamic profile of a greased otter.

But, while the “Global Brand” is busy conquering the tarmac of Silverstone, it has developed a rather tragic case of corporate amnesia regarding its own origins in the gravel pits of Terengganu.

I’m talking about Petanque. Yes, the sport that involves throwing heavy metal spheres at a tiny wooden ball called a Jack. Most of you think of it as a leisurely pastime for retirees in the south of France who have run out of things to complain about. But for PETRONAS, Petanque isn’t just a game; it’s a birthright they’ve unceremoniously dumped in the “Misc” folder of history.

Back in 1992, at Sekolah Rantau PETRONAS (SRP), the company didn’t just support the sport—they pioneered it. They built the first dedicated courts in Malaysia. They were the original “Godfathers of the Gravel.” But somewhere between the first Twin Tower being topped out and the first F1 podium, PETRONAS decided that Petanque wasn’t “future-forward” enough. They traded the clack of steel for the whine of the V6 turbo, and in doing so, they left a massive amount of social capital on the table.

Here is the kicker: Re-entering Petanque doesn’t require PETRONAS to auction off a single F1 front wing. In the grand scheme of their marketing budget, Petanque is a rounding error. It’s the loose change you find in the corporate sofa. And yet, the returns in terms of “Goodwill” and “Innovation” would be staggering.

If PETRONAS is truly the “Technology and Engineering” powerhouse it claims to be, why are they leaving the development of the sport to the hobbyists?

Imagine a PETRONAS Sports Science Activation that actually uses that massive R&D brainpower. A Petanque boule is, for all intents and purposes, a spherical metal projectile. PETRONAS has labs full of people who understand metallurgy, surface friction, and material integrity better than anyone on the planet. Why hasn’t there been a “Petronas Sprint-Tech Boule”? I want to see a ball with anti-corrosive coatings developed from pipeline technology. I want a surface grip designed using the same computational fluid dynamics that keeps a MotoGP bike from flying off the track.

The potential for Sports Science is endless. We could be using AI-driven motion analysis to help Malaysian students perfect their “Lob” or “Carreau.” We could have wearable sensors—the kind they use to monitor engine heat—tracking the biomechanics of a shooter’s wrist to prevent repetitive strain.

Instead of another generic “CSR” program where executives stand awkwardly in a field holding a giant mock-check, imagine the Petrosains Petanque Lab. A traveling exhibit that teaches kids the physics of parabolic curves, momentum transfer, and kinetic energy through the lens of a sport they can actually play in their own backyard. It’s STEM education without the boredom; it’s engineering with a scoreline.

The irony is that while PETRONAS has been looking elsewhere, Malaysia has quietly become a Petanque powerhouse. We are hosting the 2026 World Petanque Championships in September The world’s elite are descending on Malaysia to throw metal at dirt, and the company that literally introduced the courts to this country is nowhere to be seen, likely busy debating the Pantone shade of their next carbon-neutral brochure.

It’s not about choosing between a Formula 1 car and a Petanque ball. It’s about realizing that you can be a global energy titan and the champion of a grassroots legacy. You can have the high-octane glory of the podium and the high-precision “Goodwill” of the gravel pit.

PETRONAS doesn’t need to sacrifice its motorsports empire. It just needs to stop being the corporate equivalent of a deadbeat dad who forgot he fathered a national sporting movement in Kerteh thirty years ago.

It’s time to bring the “Science of the Sphere” back to the people. Give us the innovation, give us the tech, and for heaven’s sake, give us a boule that’s been through a wind tunnel. Because if you can fuel a car at 300km/h, surely you can engineer a way for Malaysia to dominate the world from six meters away.

Or is that too much “Fluid Technology” for you to handle?