McLaren made a huge announcement ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix.

McLaren have announced that they have changed their name, starting next season, and will officially be called the McLaren Mastercard Formula One team. Team CEO Zak Brown announced the new title partner at an event in Amsterdam, days before Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri resume their title battle.

Brown and Mastercard Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Raja Rajamannar both claimed that it was a “no-brainer” for the two brands, which have been partnered for over a year, to increase their level of commitment to one another.

Brown insisted that McLaren have the “best partner ecosystem in sport” and thanked his two “unbelievable” drivers, who both sit at the top of the Drivers’ Championship, for making the Papayas a team that has “no shortage of people willing to do business.”

The name change will come into effect ahead of the 2026 season, where McLaren are widely expected to be defending champions on both fronts. Piastri leads Norris by nine points and the pair are nearly 100 clear of third-placed Max Verstappen. McLaren lead the Constructors’ Championship by 299 points.

Piastri, meanwhile, declared that McLaren and Mastercard “put fans first” and that his job would not exist without supporters of the Woking-based team.

Fan engagement was the main topic of discussion at the McLaren x Mastercard event in Amsterdam, where hundreds of fans lined the street in bright orange, cheering so loud when the drivers walked past that their chants could be heard from deep inside the press conference room at Westergasfabriek.

Norris, Piastri and Brown all spoke highly of ‘Team Priceless’ – a new initiative that is designed to get fans closer to the action.

The championship leader was even told that he was put down to host 20 fans at his home that same night, which Piastri insisted it was the “first I had heard of that!”

But the harmony at McLaren was underlined by Brown playing down the idea of Verstappen racing for them, though at the scene of the Dutchman’s home race, the team chief did hint: “You never know.”

Brown then added of the major announcement: “There is no one more important to us than our awesome fans, so I could not be more delighted to enter this next chapter in our partnership with Mastercard with a promise to our Papaya Family around the world: that we will continue to put our fans first, bring them even closer to the team, and offer incredible experiences.

“Mastercard is a fantastic partner who shares our passions and values, so to have them on board as naming partner will offer us the perfect launch pad to keep pushing on and off track – and I cannot wait to see Team Priceless come to life in 2026.”