Formula E and Google Cloud have expanded their partnership in a new multi-year agreement that gives Google Cloud a new name of “Principal Partner” and “Principal Artificial Intelligence Partner” of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.
The organizations said the deal is intended to push AI deeper into championship operations, product development, and fan-facing experiences.
From pilot projects to embedded Gemini
The announcement builds on an “official partnership” first formalized in January 2025, with Formula E saying it will adopt more Google Cloud technologies across its ecosystem.
While financial terms were not disclosed, Formula E said the expanded deal will integrate Gemini models more broadly across championship operations, signaling a shift from limited pilots toward wider operational use.
On-track experiments: Monaco “Mountain Recharge” and DriverBot
Formula E and Google Cloud pointed to earlier joint work to illustrate how that integration is intended to function in practice.
In the “Mountain Recharge” project tied to the Monaco E-Prix, Google’s cloud blog says the GENBETA car started with 1% battery and the teams used Gemini and AI Studio to plan a descent designed to regenerate enough energy through braking to complete a lap of the Monaco circuit.
Formula E’s Google Cloud partner page also says the companies used a Google Cloud-developed generative AI “DriverBot” to support an indoor land speed Guinness World Record attempt by driver Jake Hughes.
Broadcast copilots: Strategy Agent and the ROI gap
The expanded deal also leans into broadcast products as a near-term proving ground. Formula E said it has already deployed a “Strategy Agent” into live broadcasts to generate tailored explanations and predictions, and it claimed “millions of viewers” have benefited, without publishing independent viewership or usage metrics.
Formula E did not publish independent usage or performance metrics alongside the broadcast deployment, leaving the company’s claims as directional rather than as a quantified ROI case study.
Digital twins and operational planning
Operationally, Formula E said it will use Google Workspace with Gemini and apply advanced modeling to its back office, including creating race and event digital twins that “have the potential” to reduce the series’ carbon footprint by simulating and optimizing site builds virtually.
The emphasis on “potential” reflects a common industry caveat: outcomes depend on data quality and model validation.
Research and consulting literature generally supports the sustainability angle. McKinsey, for example, describes digital twins as a lever for sustainability efforts and cites examples of material and waste reductions in manufacturing contexts.
More broadly, cloud providers have been using elite sports as a high-visibility sandbox for real-time analytics and AI experiences, then, potentially, repackaging the playbooks for enterprises.
AWS has positioned itself as Formula 1’s cloud and machine learning provider since 2018 and continues to launch fan-facing experiences built on race data, such as the “Real-Time Race Track” experience. Microsoft and the NFL, meanwhile, have expanded their partnership around Copilot and Azure AI for sideline and operational workflows.