Mercedes announce Microsoft as core technology partner ahead of 2026 Formula 1 reset

The agreement arrives as Formula 1 prepares for its most significant technical overhaul in decades, with the 2026 regulations introducing a new power unit formula, increased electrification and a renewed focus on efficiency and sustainability. Against that backdrop, Mercedes has positioned the partnership as a foundational step in how it intends to operate and compete in the next era of the sport.

Mercedes Team Principal and Chief Executive Officer Toto Wolff said: “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.

"By putting Microsoft’s technology at the centre of how we operate as a team, we will create faster insights, smarter collaboration and new ways of working as we look ahead to the next generation in F1," Wolff concluded.

Modern Formula 1 competition has become a pure data exercise, with races routinely decided by tenths of a second and every strategic call underpinned by real time analysis. Each Mercedes car carries more than 400 sensors and produces in excess of 1.1 million data points per second, spanning tyre degradation, aerodynamic behaviour, energy recovery deployment and constantly changing track conditions.

Microsoft Azure and its AI capabilities will now expand the team’s existing high performance computing environment at both Brackley and trackside. The platform will support simulation workloads, performance analysis, race strategy modelling and cross team analytics, with the stated aim of ensuring engineers and strategists have actionable insights at the moments that matter most.

The partnership is positioned as a stress test for enterprise systems under extreme conditions, combining massive data volumes, global operations, real time decision making and zero tolerance for error.

Microsoft Commercial Business Chief Executive Officer Judson Althoff said: “This partnership puts Microsoft’s cloud and enterprise AI technologies at the heart of racing performance, where milliseconds matter and data determines outcomes.

"Together with the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team, we are harnessing data and turning it into real time intelligence that powers faster decisions, smarter strategies and sustained competitive advantage both on and off the track," he added.

Beyond race weekends, Microsoft technologies already underpin large parts of the team’s day to day operation. Microsoft 365 and GitHub are embedded across engineering and operational workflows at Brackley, Brixworth and within the paddock.

The new agreement formalises and expands that relationship, with Mercedes planning broader deployment of Microsoft 365 to improve agility, collaboration and operational efficiency across the business.

GitHub’s development tools will be used more deeply across engineering, simulation and software development groups, with the team targeting faster innovation cycles, greater consistency and improved efficiency in design, modelling and simulation workflows as it develops cars under the new ruleset.

Chief Commercial Officer Richard Sanders said: “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, and this partnership opens new opportunities to innovate as we look toward the next era of technological development.

"I look forward to seeing how our teams collaborate to unlock new ways of working across the organisation," Sanders concluded.

The partnership also extends to how Mercedes experiments with and scales new technologies under strict financial and regulatory constraints.

Working with Azure, the team has already piloted intelligent virtual sensors using real time data and cloud based tools, enabling rapid testing without the delays associated with new on premises infrastructure.

Through Azure Kubernetes Service, Mercedes can dynamically adjust computing power, scaling resources up during peak demand and down when not required.

The team says this flexibility allows it to pursue meaningful technological advances while remaining compliant with Formula 1 cost controls and governance requirements.

The agreement builds on more than 30 years of collaboration between Microsoft and Mercedes Benz across the wider automotive value chain, including AI enabled smart factories, electric vehicle telemetry and cloud based engineering systems.

By extending that relationship into Formula 1, both organisations are framing the partnership as a direct transfer of enterprise technology into the most demanding competitive environment in global motorsport.

As Mercedes prepares for the 2026 reset, the partnership signals a clear intent to treat data, cloud infrastructure and AI as core performance differentiators, not support tools.

With the new regulations reshaping the competitive landscape, the team is betting that how it processes, interprets and acts on information will be as decisive as any mechanical or aerodynamic breakthrough.