Media post: Infiniti’s Partnership with Formula 1

Most luxury brands get into the Formula F1 racing circuit with the strategy to win on Sunday and sell on Monday. The problem is that most vehicles that complete show off their power and speed without thinking about the practicality. While these ventures are largely profitless, they do provide car makers with some more worth when it comes to market outreach. If this leads to a technical partnership, such as Infiniti’s relationship with the Renault race team, Warren Henry Infiniti says the long-term benefits could be astronomical.

The unique part of Infiniti’s involvement with Formula 1 racing is it could bring long term profits for Infinity’s highly acclaimed Engineering Academy. Every year, this innovative program looks for the brightest students from all over the world to compete for the chance to win a one-year paid internship with Infinity and the Renault race team. Once they are selected, students can spend the first six months working for Infinity and the last six months working for the race team or vise-versa. The Infinity Engineering Academy was created in 2014 and has provided jobs for half of the program’s students. Other participants have gone onto careers with other car companies as well as other Formula 1 racing teams.

While many companies were always bound to benefit from Infiniti’s worldwide talent search, this unique approach has been mutually beneficial to both Infiniti and Renault. Before 2016, Infiniti was involved with the Red Bull F1 racing team. While it provided them with some terrific market exposure, the company knew there was a more significant opportunity to expand. When it comes to its passenger vehicles, you can see the benefits of the partnership with the Q50 Project Black S. The powerful sports car boasts an impressive 568 horsepower as and dual-hybrid F1 technology. This provides consumers with more energy during braking as well as a recovery in power coming from the twin turbochargers during acceleration.

The Formula 1 racing circuit has provided a ton of technology that we see in today’s luxury vehicles, such as the anti-lock brake system and traction control. This partnership between Infiniti and Renault has taken the Q50 Black S from fantasy to reality and has excited consumers who want to see high concept vehicles in their garage. Furthermore, Infiniti has more plans to integrate more F1 engineering processes into more production vehicle operations.

The future of Infiniti seems secure thanks to the innovative Engineering Academy, the Project Black S, and the high-profile partnership with Renault racing group. Even better is that the technology that is being developed for these Formula 1 race cars is going to be put in the vehicles that drivers use every day. Now that more and more car companies are partnering with F1 racing groups, it is a real possibility that more innovative technology could be used in consumer vehicles within the next five years. Also, what the Renault race team learns on Sunday could be used for a software update that could be beamed into your Infiniti vehicle within hours. Only time will tell what the future holds for Infiniti’s technological advancements, but thanks to its partnership with Formula 1, consumers are excited to find out.