A partnership between a Formula One team and a lighting company may seem one of motorsport’s more unusual unions, but it emphasises just how far the series has come.
For starters, the collaboration between Mercedes and Signify was being activated in Las Vegas, which was a previously unthinkable location for a Grand Prix. It also highlighted the range of brands viewing Formula One as a hugely attractive commercial proposition.
What’s more, the pact demonstrates the sheer breadth of possibilities now on offer within the series. For Signify, it was Mercedes’ focus on sustainability that piqued its interest. But only through working with the Brackley-based outfit has the former Philips subsidiary realised how much further this partnership can go.
This is Signify’s first step into sports sponsorship, though the Dutch company has been getting a taste for Formula One through outfitting the lighting at both the Singapore and Las Vegas Grands Prix since 2023.
For the latter event, 1,700 LED luminaires are installed on ten-metre-high trusses that produce a light that is 75 times brighter than street lighting. Mercedes driver George Russell has gone as far as saying that “racing at night is no more challenging than racing in the day because the lights are so strong”.
Delivering a meaningful partnership with a global powerhouse like Mercedes, though, is a different sort of challenge for Signify.
Sustainability at its core
When this partnership was first announced in July, it was clear that the two parties aligned on their ambitions around sustainability, with both aiming to be net zero by 2040.
In fact, it was Mercedes’ sustainable initiatives, such as biofueled trucks during the European leg of the season and investments in Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), that attracted Signify in the first place.
“I love real things, not a sticker on a car,” explains Toto Wolff, team principal and chief executive of the Mercedes Formula One team. “You can see there are brands out there that just want brand visibility.
“This relationship is real. We are a high-tech organisation, all in on innovation [like] Signify. The sustainability vision that we have, even if it’s not on the menu in the US at the moment or for the years to come, for us we want to set the standards. This is why we were connected immediately.”
This is a sentiment shared by Signify, especially as the company “don’t do sponsoring”, according to chief executive Eric Rondolat.
“Sustainability for us is not only the environment, it’s environment and society,” he continues. “We [had] to find a partner that shared this belief … we are an innovating company, but do we want to innovate at the detriment of the planet, or do we want to innovate to the benefit of the planet?
“We’ve only heard it from one team as deeply, and if Toto wants to make his company the number one in motorsport when it comes to sustainability, and maybe the number one sports company at large, that is something that talks to us.”
Mercedes recently achieved 98% biofuel coverage for its race and marketing trucks and generators for the European leg of the 2024 season (Image credit: Mercedes)
‘Lighting is a performance enhancer’
Beyond its sustainability roots, it was clear that the benefits of using Signify’s lighting for the Mercedes drivers and wider team were an easy win for both sides.
“Light is a performance enhancer – many people say it’s all about engineering and data [in Formula One] but as a matter of fact it brings us performance,” Wolff reveals.
“We are redesigning our campus with two new buildings, everything is going to be Signify because circadian rhythm is essential to function. We want to have people energised during the day, but we also want to send them home in the evening. That’s why there is no more authentic technical partnership than with Signify.”
Signify delivers in that regard through a wide range of products, but there are many areas in the fast-paced world of Formula One to cover.
“If the mechanics are working under the car, they need lights under the car,” notes Rondolat. “When the drivers need to rest or need to concentrate before the race, what type of light do they need? You have the people working in Brackley during the race, what type of light do they need?”
This can go as far as helping the team adjust to challenging time zone shifts during a season. As Wolff explains, the wider team needs the best conditions possible to perform.
“Mechanics that stay out for a week, they have four or five days at home, then you have engineers that are here for four days,” he says. “They go back to the office and they need to work, so how do you overcome the days here?
“Do you really want to get used to the other time zone early enough to be fully operational and functioning at the weekend? Or do I need to find a compromise to not be completely upside down for the following week in the office? That’s quite the trick, and I think with the lighting you can help it.”
Five-star service
As a lighting manufacturer, Signify’s alignment with Mercedes’ hospitality offering was an ideal pairing. Having launched the partnership this year at Silverstone, the brand activated once more in Las Vegas by outfitting the team’s Las Vegas Club.
Set over three floors, Signify designed every level to take customers on a journey, with each floor providing more of a party atmosphere the higher they went.
Indeed, Signify has lit up 88 Apple stores, so it has plenty of experience in catering for set requirements. In Las Vegas, the lighting was programmed to sync across all rooms and provide the perfect backdrop for sponsors to host guests.
This benefited both sides as it enabled Mercedes to entertain a plethora of guests during one of the busiest weekends on the Formula One calendar and provided a platform for Signify to show off its range of products.
The company also personalised the lighting to suit certain moments during the race weekend, such as having red, white and blue colours during the US national anthem and lighting linked to the colours of a winning driver throughout the hospitality building.
Of course, sustainability remains a key aspect of Signify’s mission. As a result, it reprints its products from older materials which enable a 70-year lifecycle, rather than the usual ten years for standard lighting.
A microcosm of F1’s wider growth
A lighting partner in Formula One? Even with the sport’s increasingly commercialised approach, it still takes some getting used to. But it’s indicative of the sheer growth that the series has experienced under Liberty Media.
While it has introduced Formula One to a wider array of organisations, the growth has also educated the teams on just how many brands can align with their goals. There is much potential outside the abundance of technology firms.
The growth in the US has been especially key to the explosion in commercial opportunities.
“If somebody would have said five years ago we’re racing on the Strip, that wouldn’t have been imaginable,” says Wolff. “For American businesses, we’re in Miami in the spring and we’re here [in Las Vegas] in the autumn. That’s a business destination [and] an entertainment destination.”
Las Vegas in particular was unlike anything Formula One had ever seen before. Even so, much like how Signify has grown as Mercedes’ lighting partner, the race has started to embed itself in the series.
“Last year, it was brutal from the get go, everybody wanted to be here and the traffic couldn’t take it,” Wolff concludes. “The sessions were too late because the city didn’t want to shut down the road at ten o’clock. There were teething problems.
“Nevertheless, I believe year three is going to be the strongest, where it’s going to take off [and] everything will run smooth.”
Related posts
- Has F1’s Las Vegas gamble paid off? We went to the Grand Prix to find out
- F1 team finances roundup: Is the budget cap working four years in?
Don’t miss the latest news and insights from across the business world of motorsport. Subscribe to the BlackBook Motorsport Weekly newsletter here.