Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team has announced a multi-year partnership with Microsoft, starting from the 2026 Formula 1 season. The deal marks a shift for Microsoft, which ends its long-standing sponsorship with rival team Alpine. The collaboration will integrate Microsoft's AI and cloud technologies to enhance team performance both on and off the track.
The partnership between Microsoft Corp. and the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team was officially announced on January 22, 2026, from locations in Redmond, Washington, and Brackley, United Kingdom. This multi-year agreement positions Microsoft's technologies at the core of the team's operations as Formula 1 enters a new era with 2026 regulation changes emphasizing electrification, efficiency, and sustainability—one of the sport's most significant technical evolutions in modern history. Microsoft, previously a sponsor of Alpine since 2012 (when the team was known as Lotus), concluded that deal after the 2025 season and has now aligned with Mercedes, the eight-time consecutive Constructors' Champions from 2014 to 2021. The Microsoft logo will appear on the airbox and front wing endplates of the W17 car, as well as on drivers' overalls, combining branding with technical integration. Microsoft's Azure cloud and AI capabilities will bolster the team's high-performance computing and data analysis, supporting simulation workloads, performance evaluation, race strategy modeling, and cross-team analytics. This will provide real-time insights crucial in a sport where races are decided by tenths of a second and cars generate over 1.1 million data points per second from more than 400 sensors. The team already uses Microsoft 365 and GitHub in its workflows and plans to expand these for greater agility, innovation, and efficiency across its Brackley and Brixworth headquarters and trackside operations. Toto Wolff, CEO and Team Principal of Mercedes, stated: “Our sport is driven by those who lead through innovation. We are delighted to partner with Microsoft, one of the world’s foremost technology leaders, whose name is synonymous with groundbreaking innovation. This partnership also reflects our commitment to staying at the forefront of performance and progress.” Judson Althoff, CEO of Microsoft’s commercial business, added: “This partnership puts Microsoft’s cloud and enterprise AI technologies at the heart of racing performance, where milliseconds matter and data determines outcomes.” Richard Sanders, Chief Commercial Officer for Mercedes, noted: “It is a privilege to welcome Microsoft into the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team partner ecosystem. Microsoft’s technology already plays a central role in how we operate as a business.” This collaboration builds on over 30 years of ties between Microsoft and Mercedes-Benz in automotive innovation, aiming to set new standards in enterprise technology for competitive advantage in Formula 1.
