Why influencer marketing is working in F1
Shift Happens #7 | Weekly pivots where motorsport collides with tech and culture.
Thank you for being here. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to Idée Fixe, the newsletter for curious minds. I’m Toni Cowan-Brown, a tech and F1 commentator. I’m a former tech executive who has spent the past five years on the floor of way too many F1, FE, and WEC team garages, learning about the business, politics, and technology of motorsports.
⏳ Reading time: 5 minutes
Shift Happens, weekly pivots where motorsport collides with tech and culture. Essentially, a roundup of the headlines in and around motorsport you should be aware of. I’m introducing this alongside my weekly deep dives. I hope you enjoy this new curated format.
The lead lap
Adrian Newey being announced as Team Principal at the Aston Martin F1 team from 2026 is not something that any of us saw coming, but it’s also not completely out of left field. Widely regarded as Formula 1’s greatest designer with 25 world championship titles to his name, Newey originally joined Aston Martin in September 2024 as Managing Technical Partner after leaving Red Bull Racing, where he had spent nearly two decades. Red Bull announced in May 2024 that Newey would be leaving his day-to-day F1 design duties, with his departure becoming official in early 2025.
Newey will be combining this new role with his existing position as Managing Technical Partner. Andy Cowell, who had been serving as both Team Principal and CEO after joining from Mercedes in 2024, will transition to the newly created role of Chief Strategy Officer, focusing on optimising partnerships with Honda (their new works engine supplier), Aramco, and Valvoline.
According to The Race, Adrian Newey suggested that the reason he got the job is largely that he was attending the first Formula 1 races of 2026 anyway, and it does not add much to his workload. Who knew landing a job as Team Principal in F1 was so straightforward and pragmatic - I mean, I’ll be there anyway, so I might as well do the job.
Why is this happening? The timing is strategic. As Sky Sports alluded to, Aston Martin views the 2026 season, which brings entirely new technical regulations and their transition to becoming a works team with Honda, as their major opportunity to join F1’s front-runners. The idea is that this restructuring plays to both leaders’ strengths; Newey focusing on car design and trackside operations while Cowell manages the crucial technical partnerships for the new power unit era. Here’s the thing, though, I see Newey as a phenomenal individual contributor (IC) and leader but not so much a day-to-day manager, which I fear he’ll end up having to do a lot more of than he thinks which is only going to distract him from the one thing he really wants to do - design world championship cars.
The number of the week
31 videos. This is a little bit of self-promotion so bear with me. 31 is the number of videos I’ll be doing for a new mini series about what I’ve learned these past five years creating educational content in motorsports - specifically navigating the F1 space. I posted the first video yesterday, and I’ll be posting one a day, every day in December.
If there is a topic you would like me to focus on or if you have any burning questions, just leave a comment below, and I’ll do my best to incorporate any insights into my videos. Follow along here, the first video is up and the second is on its way.
Three stories that need to be on your radar
Influencer marketing in F1 is a hit. You may not like it, but it’s working and popular with the brands in and around Formula 1. I watched this video a few months ago about the salaries of MotoGP riders and how much they make from all the product and leather goods sales in the space - far more than any F1 driver. And teh reason is pretty simple, look at the parking lot of any MotoGP race, and it’s full of motorbikes - these fans want to ride and wear all the gear from their favourite athletes. And they can. Unlike in F1, where absolutely no one is showing up in an F1 car or anything close to it. Which got me thinking about influencer marketing in F1 and why it’s widely popular, unlike MotoGP, F1 is not selling products but rather a lifestyle. And who better than to sell these emotions and lifestyles than influencers themselves?
The 2025 F1 Driver Championship status is wild. And as one post put it - the race in Qatar was pure cinema. But the reality is that the entire F1 season has been incredible, and anyone who says otherwise is simply not paying attention. The fact that there was a 100+ point gap between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in August and now there is a mere 12 points separating them as they go into the last race of this season in Abu Dhabi, which incidentally is exactly where I’m heading as we speak. Zak Brown did say back in the summer of 2025 that he wouldn’t have it any other way and would not be prioritising one driver over the other, and I’m so here for this.
Last week’s hate on social media directed at Mercedes F1 Team driver, Kimi Antonelli, stirred up yet another debate around online safety and the roles everyone needs to play in this space - from the teams, the FIA, to teh actual platforms (and obviously us as fans and our own conduct). The problem is that this topic arises every time a driver gets heat and hate online, it’s discussed for 24hours, and then we all move on. Meanwhile, not a lot changes, and for fans being bullied online, especially women, the reality of cyberbullying remains very much the same. Link
One video worth your time
This video is well worth watching - it’s a sit-down interview with Oscar-winning Cinematographer Claudio Miranda as he reveals everything for that went on behind the scenes with (2025) F1 Movie. How they used the DJI Ronin 4D, how they used an insane amount of VFX shots 2500, and how they layered in Cinema Verite into a $280M film, and it paid off.
I’m actually working on a few videos specifically around the incredible tech that was built for this movie, and this deep-dive just added a whole other layer of appreciation to it all.
One [event] that caught my eye
Somehow, this year I’ve attended three RM Sotheby’s events, having never attended one prior to 2025. Not only that, but for two of them, I was actually moderating these discussions with the likes of Zak Brown and Mika Häkkinen, Former McLaren Formula One Driver and the 1998 & 1999 FIA Formula One World Champion
Yesterday I hosted a conversation centred around McLaren’s recent Triple Crown auction in Abu Dhabi, ahead of the F1 race weekend and during the Collector’s Week. This auction is a first of its kind as McLaren is auctioning off this week a trio of McLaren Racing’s future competition cars. The idea is to own one of its Triple Crown cars before they have even taken to the track or been launched – a 2026 McLaren Formula 1 Team car, 2026 Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team car and 2027 McLaren United AS WEC Hypercar. The conversation took place on the beachfront amidst some of the most incredible supercars and racing cars you’ll ever see. Mika Häkkinen, Mark Norris, who looks after commercial trackside operations, and I had such a lively conversation about the Triple Crown, McLaren’s comeback into the World Endurance Championship, what it’s like racing in Monaco, Mika’s two World Championships with McLaren and os much more. I’m hoping to share with you more about the trackside operations side of things as it is truly fascinating.
Such a great point on influencers & an interesting comparison point with MotoGP!