McLaren Formula 1 team and payments platform Airwallex have forged a multi-year partnership, harnessing the latter’s treasury management and cross-border pay-outs and settlement product suite.
In particular, McLaren will use Airwallex to optimise its supply chain payments for all Grands Prix.
McLaren’s existing payments infrastructure limits payment to suppliers, such as hotel and event space providers, to a singular currency account based in the United Kingdom, resulting in high foreign exchange (FX) charges, slow transfer time and additional SWIFT fees.
Airwallex’s financial technology is expected to unlock multi-currency payment options for McLaren, providing the company the ability to hold core currencies and exchange them with speed and ease at any point while reducing the amount of SWIFT fees that may be payable by leveraging Airwallex’s extensive global proprietary payment rail network.
As part of this partnership, Airwallex will also provide technology to support the launch and ongoing operation of McLaren’s digital partner merchandise platform — further enhancing their multi-currency collection capabilities and allowing them to offer a broad range of global and local payment options.
“In the competitive world of Formula 1, efficiency and performance are crucial both on and off the track,” said Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing.
Jack Zhang, CEO and co-founder of Airwallex, said the partnership will play a key role in supporting Airwallex’s global expansion.
Alongside the product integration, Airwallex will become a partner of the McLaren Formula 1 team, with the Airwallex logo prominently displayed on the halo of the McLaren MCL38, on driver Lando Norris’ and Oscar Piastri’s overalls including the pit crew, as well as across other McLaren official branded material.
