Racing
© Liauzh
McLaren has signed a multi-year partnership with Intel, making the chipmaker its official computing partner across the team’s Formula 1 and IndyCar operations, with the branding set to appear on the MCL39s of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri at next weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix.
The agreement takes effect immediately and extends beyond Formula 1. Intel branding will also feature on an Arrow McLaren entry at the Freedom 250 in Washington, DC, and at the Indianapolis 500 from 2027. McLaren said the collaboration also includes its F1 sim racing program.
More significantly for the team’s competitive operation, McLaren and Intel say the deal is built around expanding data processing and trackside decision-making. The partnership is intended to provide a secure, scalable compute foundation and edge-computing solutions at the circuit so telemetry can be turned into real-time analytics during race weekends.
That gives the agreement significance beyond a standard sponsorship announcement. It also marks Intel’s first direct involvement with a Formula 1 team in nearly 17 years, since its partnership with BMW-Sauber from 2006 to 2009. Intel had also previously held smaller arrangements with Toyota and Williams.
Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said Formula 1 and IndyCar are “some of the ultimate proving grounds for high-performance computing.” He added: “Together, Intel and McLaren will push the boundaries of what’s possible, transforming data into competitive advantage at every turn.”
McLaren CEO Zak Brown said the technical side of the partnership was central to its value for the team. “Performance in IndyCar and Formula 1 racing is driven by technology, and partnering with Intel strengthens our ability to innovate at scale,” Brown said.
Brown added that Intel “has already been an important part of our technology ecosystem, and their leadership in computing will play a critical role in how we design, build, and race our cars.” For McLaren, the deal ties a major new commercial partner directly to race-critical systems, with the first visible sign of that relationship arriving in Montreal and the longer-term impact aimed squarely at on-track performance.