F1 team McLaren changes name to reflect its tech focus
A new 57,000 square meters 'applied technology centre' is awaiting planning permission, the racing team announced today, alongside new aerodynamic research facilities, workshops offices and training spaces which will double McLaren's estate. It did not specify where this would be.
Chief executive Ron Dennis said: "The McLaren companies now employ more than 3000 people, three-quarters of whom are not involved in motorsport. Technology drives everything we do – creating the world's most advanced road cars, working with blue-chip companies to enhance their performance and their products, and/or developing the world's most robust electronic control systems.
"Our new name therefore reflects our ever-increasing focus on innovation and the creation of disruptive technologies that will have a positive and far-reaching impact."
However he emphasized that: "Formula 1 racing is and will always be a core area of activity for us. Racing fuels our competitive spirit, it is our crucible of innovation, it enables us to attract the world's best engineers, scientists and data analysts, and the enormous popularity of Formula 1 provides a unique global marketing platform. We exist to win, and nothing will ever divert McLaren Racing's focus away from that ambition."
In November McLaren announced its in-house predictive analytics would be available for use by other industries as part of an alliance with KPMG.
The tools, used by the team for making split-second decisions on the track, have already been employed by several large UK manufacturers and oil and gas producers including GlaxoSmithKline. The manufacturer optimized the production of its popular Sensodyne toothpaste using McLaren's services.
The Formula 1 team also has a partnership with German software vendor SAP. It uses SAP Hana for data analytics and SAP cloud and database software.