NEOM has formed a strategic partnership with McLaren Racing to become the title sponsor of the McLaren Formula E and Extreme E racing teams. For the first time, the partnership has brought together two all-electric race championships under the banner of ‘NEOM McLaren Electric Racing.’
McLaren will work with NEOM in a variety of ways, including becoming a founding partner of OXAGON, a city in NEOM that will serve as a model for the future of advanced and clean industries. McLaren will be housed on OXAGON’s Research and Innovation Campus, which was built by international architects Grimshaw. The campus will feature cutting-edge facilities and collaborative spaces, bringing ideas from labs to develop future industries and technologies.
NEOM, a new smart city supported by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund as part of its Vision 2030 initiative, formerly had a partnership with Mercedes‘ Formula E team and has been suggested as a future venue for a Formula E race.
NEOM also hosted Extreme E’s second-season debut race, which took place in February of this year. The race helped to raise awareness of the issues posed by climate change, as well as the requirement for the region to continue developing sustainable motorsport technologies.
The announcement is Saudi Arabia’s latest move in motorsport, since the country already has a long-term arrangement in place to host Formula 1 races after staging its maiden race in 2021.
Nadhmi Al-Nasr, CEO of NEOM, said, “Our partnership with McLaren Racing complements NEOM’s commitment to driving sustainable solutions and tackling some of society’s most pressing challenges. The partnership will allow us to share our collective resources and experience to yield exciting results, not only for our own organizations, but also for the broader automotive and sports industries. NEOM is an economic engine for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and will be a hub for innovative businesses like McLaren Racing to conduct cross-industry research, incubate, collaborate and bring new technologies to the world.”
Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing, said, “We are delighted to welcome NEOM to the McLaren Racing family. This is an incredible way to kick off our entry into Formula E and to unify our electric racing series. We are thrilled to introduce NEOM McLaren Electric Racing and to work with NEOM to nurture talent and drive innovation. Working with OXAGON will allow us to make meaningful contributions through our Accelerator program and assist with the development of advanced and clean industries.”