The world of Formula One racing is experiencing a technological revolution as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly central to how teams operate both on and off the racing circuit.
Research conducted by Ampere Analysis reveals that Formula One teams have established eight new artificial intelligence partnerships within the last six months, demonstrating the sport’s rapid embrace of cutting-edge technology.
Williams, a team that has claimed nine constructors’ championships, recently formed an alliance with AI firm Anthropic to utilize their Claude technology for operational support and race planning.
“It’s much more than a sticker on a car or a sticker in a billboard,” Williams board advisor Peter Kenyon explained to Reuters. “We see it as one of our differentiating points: how can this partner help us in that journey back to the top?”
The landscape of Formula One sponsorships has dramatically shifted from previous decades when tobacco companies dominated car branding. Today’s partnerships focus heavily on artificial intelligence and technology firms that assist teams in analyzing complex data while gaining valuable marketing exposure.
“What Anthropic and our tech team are doing are understanding the opportunities and then integrating those into our business to be able to demonstrate for ourselves and them, and showcase their technology in the pursuit of getting Williams back to the top,” Kenyon continued.
These AI tools have become essential for teams navigating current regulations and working within the $215 million cost cap restrictions now governing the sport.
“Efficiency is one of the ubiquitous benefits of AI products, meaning a natural synergy between teams and AI brands,” noted Adam Lewis, a senior analyst from Ampere Analysis.
According to intelligence platform SponsorUnited, technology spending among Formula One teams reached approximately $769 million during the previous season, representing a 41% increase from the year before.
The same SponsorUnited analysis indicates that AI and machine learning companies comprise four of the top 15 new sponsorship investors, including CoreWeave, a cloud infrastructure company valued at $65 billion that has partnered with Aston Martin’s racing team.
For the 2025 season, Formula One achieved $2.54 billion in total team sponsorship revenue, making it the second-highest earning sports property globally, trailing only the National Football League’s $2.7 billion.
Artificial intelligence has proven particularly valuable for handling administrative duties and interpreting complex sporting and technical regulations, enabling engineers to make quicker decisions during race situations that would have been impossible in earlier eras.
“So it’s gone from a sort of basic AI to more of an agentic approach where rather than just searching for something, it’s actually providing decisions for us,” explained Jack Harrington, group partnership lead for Red Bull Racing.
Red Bull, home to four-time champion Max Verstappen, maintains a partnership with Oracle, the software giant valued at $494 billion, and has integrated the company’s technology throughout their operations.
“So it’s really playing into the strength of AI as an enabler for our team. Allowing them (engineers) to focus on the core responsibilities they have and perform better at what they do,” Harrington added.
Major technology corporations like Google, owned by Alphabet, are also finding value in Formula One partnerships.
“These blue-chip companies are using Formula One as a launchpad and spotlight for their own AI products or re-brandings,” Lewis observed, pointing to Google’s partnership evolution with McLaren from Google Pixel to Google Gemini, their generative AI platform.
Formula One as an organization has also adopted AI technology, partnering with Amazon Web Services to use generative AI for live television broadcasts. In 2024, the organization even employed generative AI to design the Montreal trophy, which was then created by a silversmith in the United Kingdom.
“I think F1 has the never-ending, unquenchable thirst for the latest technology,” said Arthur Hu, Global Chief Information Officer for Lenovo.
Lenovo, the Hong Kong-based technology company, has served as one of Formula One’s global partners since 2022.
Hu explained that Lenovo supports Formula One by improving productivity, mobility and remote collaboration through their laptops and devices, including AI-powered computers, to help deliver races effectively.
“Formula One is at the sweet spot where it’s an intensely technical sport … And so I think that only opens up new possibilities,” Hu concluded.
