AtkinsRéalis’s name will be featured twice on the race car’s hot pink and blue exterior for this weekend’s race.Steven Tee/Getty Images
When the Canadian Grand Prix gets under way Friday afternoon, a Formula One car set to tear up the circuit at 300-plus kilometres an hour will bear the name of a hometown corporate giant.
Engineering company AtkinsRéalis Group Inc. ATRL-T has signed a partnership with the BWT Alpine Formula One team, a unique deal in a motorsport that is enjoying a surge in popularity.
The two sides will share “technology, expertise and facilities” with one goal being “the development of an engineering academy,” according to a joint statement.
“We have partnerships in industry and technology but this is a bit different for us because it’s a sport, however it’s a sport with engineering at its core,” said Ian Edwards, CEO at AtkinsRéalis in an interview. He spoke with The Globe and Mail Thursday evening after a private event to launch the partnership with Alpine at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve racing track on Montreal’s Notre Dame Island.
There are several parts to the deal that go well beyond a traditional sponsorship arrangement, said Mr. Edwards, who declined to share its terms.
That includes the “pure innovation and engineering” the two organizations bring to the table, he said. AtkinsRéalis employs roughly 40,000 people around the world who are mostly engineers, while the Alpine F1 team has around 1,000 mostly technical and engineering staff.
“Engineering is in the DNA of both companies,” he said.
Mr. Edwards said his company can draw on the team’s expertise in data analysis “but we can offer them a lot from the perspective of infrastructure that’s secondary to the car.”
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In the lead-up to the partnership, which began when the F1 team approached the company last fall, Mr. Edwards visited the team’s factory in the English village of Enstone.
The company will be advising the team on sustainability measures such as energy consumption and reducing its carbon footprint, he said.
A key focus of the partnership, however, will be the development of an engineering academy that will be based in Enstone.
The academy “will look to develop and potentially exchange young engineers, and help with the onboarding of young talent,” he said.
That third part is key for AtkinsRéalis, which last year brought 2,800 graduates, interns and other “early career” people into the company.
“Obviously, Formula One attracts the best talent, and for us to be involved and co-creating an academy will help us attract the best talent as well,” he said. ”We want to be seen as one of the most innovative engineering companies in the world."
Mr. Edwards said he wasn’t aware of a similar type of deal between a pure infrastructure and engineering company such as his and an F1 team.
While it’s novel for a company better known for its nuclear engineering capabilities to be playing in the cutting-edge world of high-performance racing, the deal elevates its profile on the world stage. For this weekend’s race, the company’s name will be featured twice on the race car’s hot pink and blue exterior.
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A recent report by Nielsen Sports, according to Reuters, found that the Formula One’s global fanbase grew to 826.5 million people last year.
“The ability to use this to promote the company is good, but it’s not the primary reason” for signing the partnership, said Mr. Edwards.
The Alpine team is majority owned by French car maker Renault.
However, the partnership isn’t the team’s only connection with Canada. In 2023, Alpine secured a €200-million ($290-million) cash injection from a group of investors that included Vancouver’s Ryan Reynolds.
The investor group, which received a 24-per-cent stake in the team in return, included fellow actor Rob McElhenney, with whom Mr. Reynolds jointly owns Welsh soccer club Wrexham.
Other investors in the Alpine team include actor Michael B. Jordan, NFL quarterback Patrick Mahomes and golf champion Rory McIlroy.
In a statement, Alpine’s executive technical director David Sanchez said the “wide variety of ground-breaking technology” offered by AtkinsRéalis meshes well with the “fast-paced world of motorsport.”
The Canadian Grand Prix begins Friday afternoon with practice sessions, followed by a qualifying race on Saturday and the final race on Sunday.