Exclusive: Google and McLaren extend partnership deal

Google is extending its partnership with the McLaren Formula 1 Team, execs from the companies shared exclusively with Marketing Brew.

The announcement comes the day before the start of the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend, where Google will activate with McLaren and the Las Vegas Sphere, according to Nick Drake, global VP of marketing at Google. Drake declined to share exactly how long Google’s current deal with McLaren is set to last, but he said the extension represents a “multiyear agreement.” The sponsorship officially kicked off in 2022.

The updated deal also marks a shift in the partnership’s focus from Google Chrome, which has been a previous focal point, to its AI assistant tool Gemini, the third model of which Google unveiled on Tuesday. Branding for Gemini has already replaced the Chrome logo on McLaren’s engine covers, Drake said.

“The application of generative AI in the Formula 1 space is really, really exciting,” Drake told Marketing Brew. “It’s great from a fan perspective, we see great applications for the drivers themselves, and obviously for the team and team performance.”

Roadside assistance

McLaren, the reigning Constructors’ Champion for the 2024 and 2025 F1 seasons, first debuted Gemini on its car liveries and race suits last month at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, and the team used the AI’s image tools to help design driver Oscar Piastri’s helmet for the race. McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown told us he personally uses Gemini for tasks like research.

In addition to Gemini, the McLaren team uses Google products like its Health and Android devices to connect drivers to their crews while they’re racing and analyze pit-stop performance. McLaren set the record for the fastest F1 pit stop in 2023 while using Google tech, Drake said.

“When you put our two teams together, it kind of makes everyone feel like they’re on one team,” Brown said. “Google can take credit for our…on-track success because they contribute to that.”

With consecutive Constructors’ wins and both of its drivers in strong contention for the World Drivers’ Championship, McLaren is an attractive option for marketers looking to get involved with F1, as many have been. Already, the team has attracted more than 100 brand partners, according to Brown, including Hilton, OKX, and incoming naming rights sponsor Mastercard.

Brown said Google is an ideal sponsor for McLaren because the brand is “iconic,” “youthful,” and provides value to the team from a tech, B2B, and fan engagement standpoint.

Fan service

Brand awareness is a major KPI for the partnership, Drake said, so tracking fan engagement is important to the Google team. Campaigns featuring the McLaren drivers—Piastri and current Drivers’ Championship leader Lando Norris—tend to lead to high engagement, Drake said; in recent ads, Piastri and Norris have demonstrated how they use Gemini and Android. Drake didn’t share exact campaign metrics, but he said brand lift studies have yielded “extremely positive” results.

“We’ve just seen incredible engagement from not just McLaren fans, but Formula 1 fans all around,” Drake said. “They love the combination of the drivers in a very human way using the technology to explain the sport, and perhaps democratize people’s [access] to spaces that they wouldn’t normally get access to.”

To engage with fans at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Google team is planning a takeover of Sphere showing the McLaren F1 car reimagined with different artistic themes, like anime and Renaissance paintings.

Google and McLaren’s partnership has led to wins for both parties on and off the track, Drake and Brown said, but it hasn’t always been all champagne and podiums. When Google first signed on with McLaren for the 2022 season, the team hadn’t won the Constructors’ Championship for more than two decades and then had a notoriously poor start to the 2023 season. But Drake said Brown sold him on his plan to rise in the rankings, “and I just felt the cultural fit was right,” he added—which is partly why Google stuck around.

Even now, in an era of on-track dominance for McLaren, Drake said driving business is more important than driving the fastest laps.

“Some of my most favorite times cheering on the team has been when we got points for the first time, where we were competing for top-10 places,” he said. “Winning isn’t about first and second…Winning is also those micro-accomplishments along the way.”