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McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s car is rolled to the starting line ahead of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix sprint race at Circuit of the Americas on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025 in Austin.<\/p>\n
Aaron E. Martinez\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
Thanks to a Netflix <\/a>docuseries, a feature film starring Brad Pitt,\u00a0Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, Formula 1 has become the fastest-growing sport worldwide\u00a0\u2014 especially in the U.S.<\/p>\n Fans know the teams, tracks, celebrity drivers and the luxury associated with it. Beyond the track, though, a bigger race is underway: The one for the technology that\u2019s transforming the elite sport.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia is seen during the Formula 1 U.S. Grand Prix auto race last weekend in Austin.<\/p>\n Eric Gay\/Associated Press McLaren driver Lando Norris steers his car through a\u00a0turn at\u00a0the U.S. Grand Prix auto race last week in\u00a0Austin. McLaren Racing has partnered with Dell Technologies for AI\u00a0that\u2019s transformed the sport.<\/p>\n Eric Gay\/Associated Press<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s ultimately the race off the track that everybody\u2019s doing,\u201d said Dan\u00a0Kenworthy, director of business technology for McLaren Racing<\/a>, which has partnered with Dell Technologies Inc.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s less visible, but the better technology you have, it translates into real-time results on the track.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n RELATED: New nine-year deal links F1, Austin\u2019s Circuit of the Americas for years to come<\/a><\/p>\n In a sport where fractions of a second can make an outsized difference in outcomes, artificial intelligence is working to separate the also-rans from those spraying champagne on the winner\u2019s podium.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Tech companies are striking new partnerships across F1. Red Bull Racing partners with Austin-based Oracle Corp. and Aston Martin partners with Arm on AI. Google Cloud provides data and AI infrastructure for the series; Amazon Web Services provides\u00a0analytics; Lenovo supplies AI and hardware.<\/p>\n Among the growing roster of tech companies at the tracks is Central Texas staple Dell<\/a>, which has been the official innovation partner of U.K.-based McLaren Racing<\/a>. Dell\u2019s role has been vital in\u00a0McLaren\u2019s turnaround in recent years.\u00a0<\/p>\n Since the turn of the 21st century, McLaren had not been a consistent winner. Despite Lewis Hamilton\u2019s maiden title with the team in 2008, McLaren was stuck in struggling partnerships and routinely failed to progress out of the first session of qualifying.<\/p>\n McLaren driver Lando Norris rounds turn 10 during qualifying for the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025 in Austin.<\/p>\n Aaron E. Martinez\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n With CEO Zak Brown taking over in 2016 and new partnerships including Dell in 2018 and Mercedes-Benz in 2021,\u00a0McLaren is back to winning.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The team set the record for fastest pit stop time, 1.8 seconds, in 2023. McLaren started that season at the back of the field but in 2024 it won the constructors\u2019 championship for the first time since 1998. McLaren won the trophy<\/a>, which goes to the team with the most total points at season\u2019s end, again just a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had to adapt to all the changes as a racing team and we had a small collection of partners who really believed in the journey of getting us back to winning ways,\u201d Kenworthy said. \u201cNow, we\u2019re sitting here as two-time world champions. Very specifically, Dell Technologies\u2019 authenticity and joint-innovation is the centerpiece of everything we do.\u201d<\/p>\n Technology now touches every facet of F1.<\/p>\n McLaren brings a mobile data center to every race, and the garage comes to life around it. The cars themselves\u00a0\u2014 \u201cprobably the most advanced edge device that you\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d according to Kenworthy\u00a0\u2014 carry more than 150 sensors to feed real-time data on speed, tire pressures, temperatures, individual part performance and life cycles.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Beyond the car, the team runs more than 300 simulations in a single race weekend to test aerodynamics, pit stop scenarios, safety car possibilities and more. The astronomical amount of data from a weekend, or a single-single simulation, informs how the cars are built and run.\u00a0<\/p>\n Oscar Piastri’s McLaren F1 team works on the car ahead of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix sprint race at Circuit of the Americas on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025 in Austin.<\/p>\n Aaron E. Martinez\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n The official technology and security partner of McLaren is Cisco Systems Inc., which recently expanded its Austin footprint<\/a>. It provides WiFi, security systems and customer service systems for the team.<\/p>\n But the sensors, data, simulations, computers and more are\u00a0all \u201cwall-to-wall Dell.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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