Last week, in the lead-up to the all-glitz, all-glamour Las Vegas Grand Prix, which was won imperiously by Max Verstappen and saw McLaren suffer a shock double post-race disqualification, we shared the news that George Kurtz, the CEO and founder of cybersecurity and technology company CrowdStrike, has become co-owner of the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula 1 Team and appointed Technology Advisor.
Kurtz, a globally respected business leader, executive, and entrepreneur, boasts a broad CV: he has a rich and ongoing career at the epicentre of groundbreaking cybersecurity and technology development, a significant presence in the business of motorsport, and keen skill behind the wheel.
The 55-year-old started his career as an accountant, before shifting into tech security in the late 1990s as cybersecurity expertise emerged as a corporate must-have. He successfully launched his own company, Foundstone, in 1999 to provide cybersecurity products and services, and subsequently became a technical pioneer in his field. Kurtz sold Foundstone to technology giant McAfee in 2004, at which he then held numerous senior roles, including Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, before co-founding the jewel in his technological crown, CrowdStrike, in 2012. CrowdStrike is now the most successful AI cybersecurity company of the modern era.
Intertwined with his expert career in technology is a fierce passion for motorsport, both behind the scenes as a businessman and at the wheel as a ‘gentleman driver’. He made his first foray into professional racing in 2016 by competing in the Pirelli World Challenge, now known as SRO GT World Challenge America, and has since amassed an astonishing array of prestigious victories and championships – many for the CrowdStrike brand’s own CrowdStrike Racing by Algarve Pro Racing team.
In the 10 racing seasons that separate Kurtz’s debut from today, he has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Twelve Hours of Sebring, Petit Le Mans, Six Hours of the Glen, the Indianapolis 8 Hour, and 24 Hours of Spa; and taken the SRO GT World Challenge America Team & Drivers’ Championship and Asian Le Mans LMP2 Championship. It’s safe to say that Kurtz is rather handy behind the wheel.
Back in the boardroom, Kurtz’s CrowdStrike has been a Global Partner of the Mercedes-AMG F1 team since 2019. Their strategic partnership sees CrowdStrike provide AI-powered cybersecurity solutions that protect the team’s technology infrastructure. Now, with a stern belief that, in his own words, “F1 is going to grow, and the team valuations are going to grow,” and “the organisations that leverage technology and AI will have the best performance going forward,” Kurtz has personally become a co-owner of the Mercedes-AMG F1 team by buying 15% of long-time Team Principal Toto Wolff’s one-third ownership stake. The investment valued the team at a whopping £4.6bn – a record in F1.
Alongside what he labelled a “seat at the table” on Mercedes-AMG F1 Team’s strategic steering committee, which consists of Chairman of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG Ola Källenius, INEOS Group Founder and Chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe, and Wolff, Kurtz has also been appointed Technology Advisor. From that position, he will support the team’s innovation and technology strategy, with a focus on the intersection of competitive motorsport, data analytics, and performance, and work to increase the team’s commercial presence in the U.S and global technology sectors.
In the lead-up to F1’s marquee commercial event, the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Diagonal broke the exciting news. Utilising our extensive blackbook of mainstream media contacts, we distributed a press release – which contained exclusive quotes from Kurtz and Wolff – to key media around the world. Our team also organised and hosted a press conference, during which media had the opportunity to speak one-on-one with Kurtz about the announcement and his new partnership with the Mercedes-AMG F1 Team. Extensive media outreach and liaison supported our efforts in propelling the news of Kurtz’s Mercedes acquisition far and wide.
The result was a huge swathe of coverage across motorsport, sport, business, and finance outlets spanning the United Kingdom, the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Content from mainstream and business titles, including the BBC, Reuters, MSN, Yahoo Finance, ESPN, The Mirror, The Sun, and The Express; core motorsport and sport publications, including Sky Sports, The Athletic, Motorsport, Planet F1, and BlackBook Motorsport; and major international titles, including The New Straits Times, Channel News Asia, The Al Journal, The Brussels Times, and France24, saw the news reach all corner of the media, and Kurtz take a slice of the Las Vegas spotlight…