McLaren has revealed an evolved brand identity and a redesigned logo that connects its racing and automotive divisions while returning to key elements of Bruce McLaren’s heritage.

McLaren begins a new chapter with an updated identity

McLaren has unveiled a new brand identity ahead of the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The change brings McLaren Racing and McLaren Automotive closer together under one visual system. The company says the goal is to connect its past, present and future while creating a clearer expression of the McLaren brand.

The announcement was made on September 22, 2026. It comes after more than six decades of development in motorsport and road-car engineering.

The updated identity is built around several familiar symbols. It also introduces a new McLaren wordmark inspired by the company’s early history.

The new McLaren Racing wordmark is part of the brand’s evolved identity unveiled in September 2026.

McLaren says the new identity is inspired by Bruce McLaren’s vision and ambition.

The company also wants the brand to represent more than cars and racing results. Its stated aim is to strengthen the connection with customers, employees, fans and the wider global community.

That approach is especially important because McLaren now operates across several major racing programs.

Its current motorsport portfolio includes Formula 1, IndyCar and the World Endurance Championship, while McLaren Automotive continues to develop high-performance road cars.

The new wordmark looks back to Bruce McLaren

One of the most interesting details is the origin of the new wordmark.

McLaren says it was inspired by the sign above the family service station in Remuera, Auckland, which was owned by Bruce McLaren’s parents, Les and Ruth.

That location has a special place in McLaren history. According to the company, it was where Bruce built the car that later took him to his first racing victory.

The updated design therefore does more than modernize the logo.

It creates a direct visual link between the modern McLaren organization and its New Zealand roots. The company says the new treatment gives those historic elements a stronger visual language for the future.

The family service station in Remuera, Auckland, inspired the design of McLaren’s new wordmark.

The move also shows how heavily the identity relies on heritage.

McLaren has spent much of 2026 revisiting important moments from its history. Those projects include a renewed focus on Bruce McLaren and the company’s early work in motorsport and road-car development.

The new logo is the latest expression of that strategy.

The Speedmark and papaya color remain

McLaren is not abandoning its most recognizable symbols.

The Speedmark remains at the heart of the brand. The company says keeping it is important because it represents continuity and remains strongly connected with fans around the world.

The famous papaya color also stays.

However, McLaren is adding a broader color palette inspired by important moments in its history. That gives the company more freedom to adapt the visual identity across different products, racing series and experiences.

The Speedy Kiwi also remains part of the identity.

That symbol pays tribute to Bruce McLaren’s New Zealand heritage. It also preserves a link to one of the earliest visual elements associated with the company.

Bruce McLaren’s legacy remains a central part of the brand’s updated identity.

One identity for racing and automotive

The new identity is designed to work across McLaren’s entire organization.

That includes Formula 1, IndyCar, WEC and McLaren Automotive. The idea is to create a more unified visual presence instead of treating each part of the company as a separate brand expression.

The timing is also significant.

McLaren Racing recently marked its 1,000th Formula 1 Grand Prix, while the company has also announced its new WEC Hypercar project. At the same time, McLaren Automotive is expanding its UK manufacturing and engineering operations through a reported £500 million investment program.

These projects all point in the same direction.

McLaren is expanding its presence while trying to keep its historic identity recognizable.

A visual update without abandoning the past

The new McLaren identity is therefore not a complete break from the past.

The Speedmark remains. Papaya remains. The Speedy Kiwi remains. The main change is the way those elements are brought together with a new wordmark and a broader visual system.

That balance is central to McLaren’s message.

The company wants its new identity to feel modern without losing the stories that made the brand distinctive in the first place. The result is designed to connect its historic racing roots with its growing presence in motorsport, road cars and fan experiences.

The McLaren new logo marks the start of that next chapter, bringing the Racing and Automotive sides of the company under a more unified identity while keeping Bruce McLaren’s heritage at its core.

Aston Martin is using artificial intelligence with its CoreWeave AI.R Tunnel to improve aerodynamic correlation and turn massive amounts of F1 data into faster decisions.

Aston Martin is putting AI to work in Formula 1

Artificial intelligence is becoming part of Aston Martin’s daily Formula 1 operation.

The team is working with CoreWeave to process large amounts of information and turn it into useful engineering and race-strategy insights. The project covers areas that range from aerodynamic correlation to competitor radio analysis.

The latest details were published by Aston Martin on September 21, 2026. The team says millions of data points are generated during every Grand Prix weekend, making speed of analysis increasingly important.

The objective is not to replace engineers.

Instead, Aston Martin wants its engineers to find important information faster. In Formula 1, saving even a few seconds can affect a setup change or a strategy decision.

The CoreWeave AI.R Tunnel became a central part of Aston Martin’s technical operation as the team prepared for the 2026 regulations.

The wind tunnel is at the center of the first application.

Aston Martin’s CoreWeave AI.R Tunnel provides precise aerodynamic measurements. However, a laboratory cannot reproduce every condition found at a Formula 1 circuit.

The team points to changing kerb heights, weather conditions and dirty air as examples.

Those variables can create a gap between what simulations predict and what the driver experiences on track. That difference is known as aerodynamic correlation.

AI helps Aston Martin close the correlation gap

Aston Martin describes correlation as one of the biggest challenges in modern F1 aerodynamics.

The team and CoreWeave developed analytical methods that compare historical race data with vehicle-dynamics research. The goal is to identify the factors that can cause real-world performance to differ from controlled testing.

The result is a more accurate prediction of how aerodynamic components could behave at a Grand Prix.

That information can then be used before the cars arrive at the circuit.

Aston Martin says its Vehicle Engineering team uses the insights in the week before a race to help calibrate the car’s setup. The aim is simple: make the car behave as closely as possible to the engineers’ expectations during the first practice session.

CoreWeave branding is visible on Aston Martin’s Formula 1 machinery as the partnership expands into AI-powered engineering.

The second application happens during the race itself.

Aston Martin says engineers can face 22 competitor radio channels plus more than 15 internal channels at the same time. Finding a specific piece of information manually can take valuable minutes.

That becomes a problem when a strategy decision has to be made quickly.

AI turns F1 radio into searchable data

CoreWeave has built a system that listens to, transcribes and categorizes radio communications.

The tool processes competitor and internal audio. Engineers can then search the information through a dedicated interface instead of manually reviewing long audio streams or noisy transcripts.

The system also uses a large language model to standardize terms.

For example, different ways of saying “Turn 1” can be organized as T1, making the information easier to filter.

This can help answer questions about tire performance, grip, strategy or driver feedback much faster.

Race engineers remain responsible for interpreting the data and making the decisions during a Grand Prix.

The scale of the system is significant.

At the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix, Aston Martin says the platform processed tens of hours of radio, thousands of messages and hundreds of thousands of words.

CoreWeave has also described a broader system capable of processing 40 radio channels simultaneously. Its technical report says the platform can transcribe, categorize and make those feeds searchable within seconds.

That system was tested during the final two races of the 2025 season before being deployed for 2026. CoreWeave says its development included 75 model iterations, seven hours of hand-annotated F1 radio and more than 3,000 labeled samples.

AI is another tool for Aston Martin’s engineers

Aston Martin is clear about the role of the technology.

AI is not replacing the people making decisions. Instead, it changes how much information those people can process and how quickly they can access it.

That distinction matters in Formula 1.

An AI system can organize data. It can identify patterns. It can surface relevant information.

But engineers still need to decide what that information means for the car.

The same principle applies to aerodynamic development. The AI can help predict how a component will behave, but the engineering team still decides which solution should be developed and tested.

The AI work fits a larger technical transformation

Aston Martin’s AI project is part of a much broader investment at its AMR Technology Campus in Silverstone.

The team’s new wind tunnel began operation in 2025 and was created to support both the existing car and the transition to the 2026 regulations.

Adrian Newey has also acknowledged that Aston Martin started its 2026 development cycle later than many rivals. He said the first 2026 model did not enter the AI.R Tunnel until mid-April, leaving the team roughly four months behind in that phase of aerodynamic testing.

That makes efficient use of every available development tool even more important.

The AI work is therefore not a separate experiment. It is part of Aston Martin’s effort to connect simulation, wind-tunnel data, vehicle dynamics and race information more effectively.

The Aston Martin AI and CoreWeave partnership shows how Formula 1 is moving beyond simply collecting more data. The focus is increasingly on finding the right information quickly and turning it into decisions that can improve the car on the track.

Cadillac enters the most demanding phase of its debut F1 season with eight races across roughly 11 weeks, putting major pressure on its track, factory and production operations.

Cadillac faces a new challenge in the 2026 F1 season

The Cadillac F1 2026 campaign is entering a demanding final phase.

The current official calendar places eight races between the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on September 26 and the Abu Dhabi finale on December 6. Between them are Singapore, the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Las Vegas and Qatar. That creates a long run of flyaway events with very little recovery time.

For an established Formula 1 organization, this type of schedule is already difficult. For Cadillac, the pressure is even greater because this is its first season as an F1 team.

The team is still building processes, expanding its workforce and developing infrastructure. At the same time, it must keep two race cars running every weekend.

Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas form Cadillac’s driver lineup for its first Formula 1 season.

Cadillac’s drivers are Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, two of the most experienced racers on the grid.

That experience is valuable during a long season. However, some roles cannot simply be rotated from one race to another.

Race engineers, performance engineers and senior trackside personnel often need to remain closely connected to their drivers and cars. With races spread across several continents, the workload can become particularly intense.

The factory faces pressure too

The challenge extends well beyond the paddock.

Cadillac must keep its production and support operations running while the race team moves from country to country. Parts have to be manufactured, inspected and shipped quickly when a car needs repairs or replacement components.

That task becomes harder late in the season.

Teams are already preparing their 2027 cars at this point of the year. Cadillac must therefore balance current-season demands with the development work required for its next Formula 1 project.

For a new operation, that can create a difficult overlap.

Manufacturing capacity also matters. Cadillac is still expanding its internal structure, so not every component is necessarily produced in-house. External suppliers remain part of the team’s early operating model.

That makes scheduling and logistics even more important when several races arrive in quick succession.

Three demanding sequences are on the way

The current schedule also creates several compressed blocks of racing.

Baku is followed by Singapore on October 9-11, then the United States Grand Prix follows on October 23-25. Mexico and Brazil come next, before Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi complete the season.

The geographic distances are significant.

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix is held on September 26, while the following round takes place in Singapore on October 11. That leaves the team with only a short window between events once travel, freight handling and preparation are included.

There is one useful feature in this sequence.

The Baku and Singapore rounds are both flyaway races, but their logistics can be planned as part of a broader European-to-Asia movement rather than a return to the team base after every event.

Even so, the workload remains high.

Cadillac’s first F1 season has already taken the team through a wide range of circuits and operating environments.

The final phase also raises the risk of production bottlenecks.

By this stage of a season, teams normally have inventories of many components. Yet crashes or unexpected failures can quickly change that situation.

A major accident can require a large number of replacement parts in a very short period.

For Cadillac, that pressure arrives while the organization is still developing the systems that established teams have refined over many seasons.

Baku brings a technical test as well

The first stop in this demanding sequence is Baku, where Formula 1 will race on September 26.

The Baku City Circuit is 6.003 kilometers long and combines very long straights with tight sections around the old city. The race covers 51 laps.

That combination puts a premium on aerodynamic efficiency and energy management.

Cadillac is therefore arriving with a small aerodynamic update aimed at improving the car’s performance. The team has also confirmed that Sergio Perez will receive a new-specification Ferrari power unit in Baku.

The power-unit change could be particularly relevant on a circuit with extended full-throttle sections.

Cadillac currently uses Ferrari power units, while General Motors is developing its own F1 engine for a future full-works program. Formula 1 currently lists Ferrari as Cadillac’s power-unit supplier, with the GM Cadillac unit planned for 2029.

The Cadillac team is continuing to develop its car during its first year on the Formula 1 grid.

The Baku upgrade package is intentionally small.

At this stage of the season, teams are careful about how much new hardware they introduce. Development resources are increasingly focused on the following year’s car, while the current car still needs to deliver results.

That makes every upgrade decision more important for Cadillac.

The team must determine which developments can deliver useful performance without consuming too much manufacturing capacity or trackside manpower.

Cadillac must manage growth and racing at the same time

This is what makes the final part of 2026 particularly complicated for Cadillac.

The team is not only racing. It is also building its organization.

Every trip provides more data about the car, the crew and the processes behind the operation. But those lessons have to be absorbed while the next race is already approaching.

That leaves little margin for delays.

The upcoming stretch will test Cadillac’s ability to coordinate its engineers, drivers, factory staff, suppliers and logistics teams. It will also provide one of the clearest indications yet of how quickly the new American operation can establish the routines required to compete across a full F1 season.

The Cadillac F1 2026 schedule now moves into its most demanding phase, with Baku opening an eight-race run that ends in Abu Dhabi. The team’s challenge is not only to improve the car, but to keep the entire organization operating efficiently while the races arrive week after week.