Formula 1’s commercial model has traditionally been built on visibility, with partnerships largely defined by branding, exposure and logos on cars.
However, that model has been evolving alongside the sport itself, with the increasing complexity of F1, combined with its global expansion and commercial growth driving a shift in how teams and partners engage with one another.
For McLaren Racing Chief Executive Officer Zak Brown, that evolution is not a subtle change in emphasis, but a fundamental restructuring of how partnerships function within a modern F1 team.
“Back in the good old days, it was kind of just a logo on a race car,” he said during a session at Udemy’s PowerUp Live 2026 event at the McLaren Technology Centre.
At the centre of that model sits a more balanced and symbiotic relationship, where value is created in both directions and partnerships are structured around mutual outcomes rather than one-sided exposure.
“How can McLaren help you build your business? How can you help us go faster on track?” Brown said.
“Whether they’re in the technology space, helping develop technologies, helping us grow and educate our employees, or helping us engage more with our fans, we now look for partners that can help us drive our business forward.”
In practical terms, this creates an ecosystem in which partners are involved in different aspects of performance, from contributing to the development of tools and systems used by the team, to supporting the education and progression of its workforce, and expanding its reach across a growing global audience.
Back in the good old days, it was kind of just a logo on a race car…we now look for partners that can help us drive our business forward.
Zak Brown
That level of integration is further enhanced by McLaren’s presence across multiple racing platforms, which provides partners with access to a broader commercial footprint and a more diverse set of activation opportunities than a single championship can offer.
Alongside its F1 programme, McLaren Racing also competes in IndyCar and is preparing a return to the World Endurance Championship, placing it at the centre of three of the most prominent series in global motorsport and enabling a model that extends beyond a single market or audience.
“We’re in Formula 1, which is the world’s largest annual sporting series,” Brown said, before outlining the strategic importance of its presence in North America and its ambitions in endurance racing.
“We’re in IndyCar because North America is very important to us, our partners and our fans. And then we’re going back to the World Endurance Championship.”
That multi-series approach creates opportunities not only for scale, but for the transfer of knowledge and ideas across different environments.
“There are synergies in the commercial and the fan base and the partners and the racing team itself and there are learnings that we can pass back and forth,” added Brown.
Examples of that can be seen in areas such as fan engagement and activation strategy, where approaches developed in North America have been adapted within F1, demonstrating how partnerships and commercial thinking can move across markets.
“There’s a lot that IndyCar does that’s different from Formula One and vice versa and they can learn from each other and that puts us in a fortunate position because we’re the only team in those three,” said Brown.
“As an example, we were one of the first teams to start changing livery on a special basis. We did it at Monaco a few years ago and we’ve been doing it ever since.
“It happens on a regular basis in North America but didn’t happen in Formula 1, so it was a pretty ‘wow’ moment when we rolled out that car at Monaco, but that was a learning that we took from North America. So there are learnings that we can pass back and forth across the pond.”
For partners, that model offers access to a broader and more flexible ecosystem, combining the scale of F1 with the diversity of other series while for McLaren it reinforces a structure in which partnerships are no longer positioned as an addition to the business, but as a core component of how it operates and competes.
“It’s an awesome partner portfolio, the best in sport as far as I’m concerned,” concluded Brown.
That level of confidence in a partner portfolio reflects the growing importance of these relationships in modern F1, where they are increasingly central to both business performance and competitive success.
