Enlarge (credit: Charles Coates/McLaren/Lee Hutchinson)
One of the most recognizable names in racing is pairing up with one of the most recognizable names in computing. The McLaren Formula 1 team and Dell Technologies are entering into a “multi-faceted, long-term partnership.” After several years without a major sponsor—years that mostly coincided with a precipitous fall in performance—fans of the team should see this as a positive step for the British team.
As well as seeing its name on the racing cars, Dell will provide the entire McLaren Technology Group with technology. “Dell Technologies, which consists of seven global brands—Dell, Dell EMC, Pivotal, RSA, Secureworks, Virtustream and VMware—will bring its deep technology expertise to all McLaren Technology Group companies, including McLaren Racing and McLaren Applied Technologies, as well as benefiting McLaren’s esports programme, World’s Fastest Gamer,” McLaren said in a statement.
For its part, Dell is excited to get its name in front of F1 viewers in Europe and Asia. “Think of us using it in the same way as we have used the PGA Tour golf events so successfully over the past couple of years. Over 400 million people watch Formula 1 each year, most outside of the US, and it contains a high concentration of tech-savvy watchers—which is of particular interest to us,” the company said in a statement. And this isn’t Dell’s first foray into F1; back in 2013 Lee Hutchinson took a look at how the tech company was helping (now-defunct) Caterham F1 in the sport.