Tech Companies Were Everywhere at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Except One

If you wanted to understand how much Formula 1 has become a technology story, you didn’t have to look at a single lap time in Las Vegas. All you had to do was walk around.

Google was there, partnering with McLaren, including prominent Gemini, Android, and Chrome branding throughout the weekend. HP is literally in Ferrari’s team name. The same is true for Oracle and Red Bull Racing.

T-Mobile was the official 5G partner of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, and built out major magenta-branded experiences. Peloton, serving as the race’s official fitness partner, created on-site activations tied to its workout and training content.

Amazon, through AWS, was there. The cloud giant continued its long-standing role as a technology and data partner of Formula 1, powering everything from race analytics to broadcast graphics. Paramount+, the streaming service, had an entire corner painted with its logo. Meta had its logo on the top of the Mercedes helmets. And across the paddock and garages, companies like Salesforce, Siemens, CrowdStrike, Dropbox, 1Password, and Zoom were represented through their team and series-level partnerships.

Everyone showed up. Well, except one.

Apple takes over F1 rights in the U.S. next year

At a race where it seemed like tech companies were everywhere, there was one obvious absence: Apple. And that’s strange, because next season Apple will be the exclusive U.S. broadcast partner for Formula 1—taking over for ESPN, which has held the rights since 2018.

For Apple, it’s the most ambitious sports-rights deal the company has ever done. You would think this would be the moment Apple started telling a story. Something. Anything. But at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Apple was invisible.

There were no Vision Pro racing simulators tucked into the paddock clubs. Unlike the Super Bowl, there were no Apple Music performances. No Apple TV fan zones or “shot on iPhone” installations. No Apple Maps AR activations, even though the event is literally a street circuit.

Expanding the relationship

Sure, technically Apple’s deal doesn’t start until next year, but the companies already have a relationship through F1: The Movie. And, with Formula 1, holding its flashiest U.S. race in front of the largest concentration of tech, media, and entertainment decision-makers imaginable, it seems a little strange that Apple didn’t even bring a banner.

To be fair, part of that is how F1 works. It’s a maze of sponsorship categories and exclusivities. The commercial rights structure is notoriously rigid. Almost everything inside the paddock is spoken for. If someone already owns the wearable category, Apple can’t just plop Vision Pro units down wherever it wants. If another partner holds streaming rights, Apple TV can’t set up a branded stage.

But here’s the thing: everybody else figured it out. After all, Google managed to turn McLaren’s wheel covers into Chrome logos. If Apple wanted to be seen, it would have figured out a way.

I mean, Atlassian—an enterprise software company—literally wrapped a Formula 1 car in a livery celebrating its AI assistant. If they can find space for Jira on a race car, surely there’s room on the Strip for an Apple activation.

Which leaves the more likely explanation: Apple doesn’t show up until it can control the experience. And right now, it can’t.

More than just logos on a car

The problem is that brand presence in Formula 1 isn’t just advertising; it’s signaling. It tells fans—and executives, and partners, and teams—what you think this sport is worth. And right now, one of the world’s most valuable companies is about to take over the broadcast of the world’s fastest sport, and hasn’t given fans any hint of what to expect.

Obviously, the 2026 season hasn’t arrived yet, and Apple usually waits to show its hand until it’s ready. The company doesn’t do anything that hasn’t been fully considered and intentionally rolled out. When it decides to reinvent an experience—music, phones, payments, fitness—it starts quietly and then rewrites the script.

But if the Las Vegas Grand Prix is a preview of the future of Formula 1 as a cultural event, one thing is clear: tech companies aren’t just attending these races. They’re taking over the grid. This year, it seemed as though everyone was in Las Vegas. Well, everyone except the one company that’s about to own the broadcast.

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