McLaren is getting a new name to match F1’s new era. From 2026, the Woking outfit will line up as the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team, after agreeing a naming-rights deal that pushes a growing partnership all the way to the front of the grid.
Mastercard isn’t arriving cold. The finance giant has been on the car and kit this season, but this upgrade in status comes with a promise of more than just bigger decals. The two will launch “Team Priceless,” a fan-first program that’s set to sit at the heart of the activation when the rules reset hits next year.
Zak Brown called the tie-up the ideal springboard into 2026, and he leaned hard into the message that it’s all about the people in papaya. In short: fans come first, expect to be drawn closer to the team, and expect experiences that don’t feel cookie-cutter. You can see why he’s pleased — naming rights aren’t just cheques, they’re positioning. With a fresh technical chapter on the horizon, aligning with a global consumer brand gives McLaren a louder voice and a broader reach.
Mastercard’s top marketer, Raja Rajamannar, pitched it as a values match: innovation, precision, performance — the usual F1 trinity — and a commitment to putting supporters on pole. “Team Priceless” is the banner, but the idea is simple enough: meaningful access and memorable moments, the stuff that keeps a fanbase sticky when regulations and rivals are all changing around you.
It’s also a tidy piece of timing. New rules, new opportunities, and now a refreshed identity that’s easy to sell from London to Los Angeles. The name will take a little getting used to — it always does — but the move signals intent from a team that’s been rebuilding its commercial and competitive muscle with purpose.
For the rest of 2025, it’s business as usual: the McLaren many in the grandstands already treat like a second home, the papaya army in full voice, and a partner’s logo tucked neatly into the livery. Come 2026, the branding gets bolder, the activations bigger, and the paddock nameplate changes with it.
The headline, though, isn’t about fonts and hospitality suites. It’s about momentum. McLaren sees an opening in F1’s next chapter and is choosing to step into it with a heavyweight brand at its side — and with a promise to bring the fans along for the ride.
