Monaco, the principality of everything
Shift Happens #23 | Weekly pivots where motorsport collides with tech and culture.
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I’m Toni Cowan-Brown, a tech and F1 commentator and the Editor-At-Large at Esses Magazine. I’m a former tech executive who has spent the past six years on the floor of way too many F1, FE, and WEC team garages, learning about the business, politics, culture and technology of motorsports.
⏳ Reading time: 8 minutes
Shift Happens, weekly pivots where motorsport collides with tech and culture. And a quick roundup of the headlines in and around motorsport you should be aware of, as they explain the cultural shifts we are seeing in this space.
As I finish up this newsletter, I’ve simultaneously planned and packed for the next two weeks’ double header - the Monaco F1 GP and the 24h of Le Mans - and gotten myself on my flight to Paris. Where I’m delighted to say they’ve finally upgraded to Starlink. I hate to admit it, but it’s good. Very, very good even. For Monaco, I’ll be on the ground working with the FIA and working on a handful of stories for Esses. For Le Mans, I’ll be joining Genesis Magma Racing on a press trip and I can already tell there are a lot of stories worth telling. Happy Pride Month, everyone.
The [lead] lap
These days we throw around the word culture - and I’m certainly guilty of this - a little too easily. And then a story or a moment happens that reminds us just what culture actually is and what it’s all about. On Sunday, Daniel “Spinz” posted this moment to Instagram, and it certainly got the attention it deserved and rightly so. If you aren’t familiar with Daniel, he’s been a quiet but powerful staple of the F1 Paddock for over a decade. You may not hear from him often, but I can almost guarantee that your favourite culture x Formula 1 moments involved him in one way or the other. And in a world where everyone is claiming to have created the latest viral campaign and moment in Formula 1, his approach is a breath of fresh air - the work speaks for itself.
I asked Spinz if he was willing to share a bit more about the campaign and the meaning behind it all, and as he tells me, “this project happened because a series of parallel stories unexpectedly converged”, which is my favourite kind of story.
Toni: Take us back 20 years to the 2006 Monaco GP when Kimi Räikkönen gets gifted a unique sculpture of his McLaren MP4-21. Paint that picture for us.
Spinz: Drake and I first met 20 years ago, in the same year that Kimi Räikkönen, Formula 1’s original ‘Iceman’, was gifted the now-iconic ice sculpture at the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix. Over the following two decades, our careers moved in completely different worlds. I built mine in the world of Formula 1 and motorsport/culture, while Drake built his into one of the most influential careers in music history.
Toni: Okay, so we have an exchange that started almost 20 years ago. How do we get to today?
Spinz: Like most things, this started with a phone call.
A mutual friend, Angelo, reached out to see if there was something F1-related we could do for Drake to celebrate ICEMAN, as Ange is a big F1 fan. My mind immediately went to the biggest idea with the strongest story: recreating Kimi Räikkönen’s iconic ice car. The moment the idea was shared, everyone got it. The connection was just too perfect. Twenty years after Formula 1’s “Iceman” was honoured with a full-scale ice sculpture of his McLaren, Drake was releasing ICEMAN. It felt like one of those rare cultural alignments that was too good not to bring to life.
Huge shout-out to Angelo and Matte, this project doesn’t happen without them. We all immediately saw the storytelling potential and became obsessed with making it real.
Toni: What was it about this story that spoke to all of you so much?
Spinz: What fascinated me was the alignment of everything that happened this year. Following one of the most public moments of his career, Drake embraced the Iceman persona and released an album of the same name almost exactly twenty years after the original Räikkönen sculpture was unveiled, and just ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix week. The parallels were impossible to ignore.
The nickname itself also carries a deeper connection. ‘The Iceman’ was originally given to Kimi because of his calm, unshakeable and emotionally unreadable nature. That same sense of composure and emotional control seemingly became a defining characteristic of Drake’s Iceman era, making the comparison feel surprisingly natural despite coming from completely different worlds.
Toni: It’s worth noting that I think you are probably one of maybe (and I’m probably being generous here) three people who would make this connection and parallel between two very different worlds and personalities.
Spinz: I love finding cultural connections that already exist but haven’t yet been made visible. When I realised these two stories were separated by twenty years yet connected by the same symbolism, timing and narrative, recreating the original ice car felt less like creating something new and more like completing a circle that had been waiting to be closed.
The [number] of the week
1,000. This is the number of races that the McLaren F1 team have taken part in, and it’s a pretty impressive milestone to say the least. The numbers are staggering. 203 wins. 561 podiums. 177 pole positions. 13 Drivers' Championships. 10 Constructors' titles. But the detail that gives this weekend its real texture is the venue. Monaco was where Bruce McLaren took the M2B out for the team's very first Formula 1 race in 1966, and sixty years later, it's where race number 1,000 will be run.
McLaren are only the second team in the sport's history to reach the milestone, after Ferrari got there in 2020. The special metallic papaya livery carries the '1000' on the sidepod and runs at Barcelona the following weekend too. It's one of those rare moments where the sport's instinct for nostalgia actually makes sense and is welcomed. The symmetry of Monaco, the continuity from Bruce's dream to Zak's rebuilt empire, and a team that was genuinely on its knees not that long ago, now defending both titles as it walks - or drives - into four figures.
Three [stories] that need to be on your radar
If you want to understand why the Miami Grand Prix may feel like the most culturally alive race weekend on the F1 calendar, look no further than who’s running it. At just 28, Katharina Nowak became the youngest president of any Formula 1 event in the sport’s history and one of only two women globally holding an F1 event president position. She joined the Hard Rock Stadium organisation in 2019 on the Dolphins side, before F1 was even part of the conversation and was there when the Miami Grand Prix was built from scratch. She didn’t just land the gig; she earned it from the ground up. The results speak for themselves. This is a ‘newish’ race on the F1 calendar that has impressed me beyond words over the years. They’ve been open to trying new endeavours and programming every year, and are more than happy to pivot when things aren’t working. Nowak isn’t just managing a race - she’s building a cultural phenomenon that bridges the gap between traditional motorsport and America’s vibrant, and diverse audience. Miami feels different, most likely because it’s being shaped by someone with genuine cultural fluency (and a lot to prove). It’s a perfect reminder that representation at the leadership level isn’t just the right thing - it produces better outcomes and is very much needed. More of this, please. LINK
There was always something slightly incongruous about Genesis Magma Racing running in silver and black. The name is right there on the car - Magma - and yet for the opening rounds of the season, the GMR-001 looked more boardroom than volcanic. And I get it: when talking with Cyril Abiteboul during the opening round in Imola, he mentioned that now wasn’t quite the time to be too flashy and bold. That changes for Le Mans. For its debut at the 24 Hours, the team has switched to a livery that runs from deep red to vibrant Magma Orange, making good on the promise of the concept shown in the Manufacturer Village last year. And it looks absolutely stunning. The colours reference the volcanic origins of the Korean peninsula and the idea of power beneath the surface - a quality the team frames as embodied in the quiet confidence of Korean culture. SO in some ways this is the flip side of that quiet confidence.
McLaren aren't racing at Le Mans this year, but in some ways they're already there. The MCL-HY GTR - the client track variant of the Hypercar that will contest WEC from 2027 - is a fascinating piece of programme architecture. Built around the same 2.9L V6 twin-turbo engine, Xtrac 7-speed sequential gearbox, and carbon/carbon brakes as the race car, it's described as the first time since the 1995 Le Mans-winning F1 GTR that it's possible to own a variant of the car McLaren will actually race. The hybrid system is stripped for the track car, but power still exceeds WEC's regulated output. It's less a car purchase than a co-ownership of a motorsport moment and a smart way to fund and build a fanbase around a programme even before the team hits the track in 2027. Also, I did tell you at the end of last year that ‘orange’ - or Magma or Papaya - was having a moment. Although apparently the boldest colour is now Yves Klein blue.
One [video] worth your time
I fear this will be me with cheese and wine for the next two weeks.
[Bon goût] - for those with an acquired taste.
I’m on a plane (Air France to be exact, as I know some of you will ask) heading to a place that screams ‘good taste’ and understated style and presence - Monte Carlo. And for one weekend a year, this place turns into one of the most talked about venues and events of the year - The Formula 1 Louis Vuitton Grand Prix.
I have a few events lined up that I’m excited about - specifically the TAG Heuer and Gucci parties. I’m incredibly curious to see what both of them have in store, especially as this will be merely a week since Gucci announced that it will be entering the world of Formula 1 as a title sponsor of the Alpine F1 team.
Funnily enough, just last month I finally tracked down, on The RealReal, a Gucci dress I had been searching for for over a year, so that one was immediately packed and on its way to Monaco with me. And if I haven’t said enough, please buy secondhand when you can, and avoid the last-minute fast-fashion purchases for a race weekend. And please repeat your outfits - who cares if you wore them before.
This piece really drove home two points I already knew:
1) Spinz is an absolute legend, and
2) I don’t know if I’m mentally or physically prepared for my first Monaco Grand Prix weekend (😅). Cannot wait to read/ hear what stories you have to share after the weekend.
No McLaren in GT3?