The podium celebration has always been one of the most iconic moments of a sporting event. In the ancient Olympic games, champions wore an olive wreath symbolizing triumph and honor. And up until the mid 80’s, the winning F1® drivers celebrated their victory on the track by wearing large laurel wreaths.
This year, Lenovo elevated this tradition with smarter technology.
“Last year, we elevated the podium experience with the world’s first kiss activated trophy for Lenovo’s Title Races in Suzuka, Japan and Austin, Texas. This year, we challenged ourselves to elevate another classic F1 tradition through meaningful design and smarter technology”, says Philip Marchington, Executive Creative Director of Corporate Marketing, Lenovo.
Dreamed up by Lenovo and fashioned by iconic design firm Pininfarina, the trophy’s design was inspired by the laurel wreath and features a proximity sensor that activates the trophy’s light pattern called “Chase a Loop” that symbolizes the speed at which F1 cars race around the track. The sensor can be activated when the winning driver lifts the trophy overhead or when placed around the driver’s neck.
“It was also important for us to create a trophy that reflected local Chinese culture.” Explains Marchington.
The sleek, circular shape represents the Chinese people’s pursuit of perfection and happiness, much like a driver’s relentless pursuit of perfection on the racetrack. And this year is also the year of the Dragon, so the trophy features a twist in the circle that’s inspired by the movement of a dragon.
“It was an honor for us to design once again a beautiful and meaningful trophy for Lenovo. Our design process was aimed at creating a balance between heritage and technology to reward the winners in this glorious sport.” comments Paolo Trevisan, SVP of Design for Pininfarina.
This trophy will debut at the FORMULA 1 LENOVO CHINESE GRAND PRIX 2024 in Shanghai, China on April 21st. As the Title Sponsor for the FORMULA 1 LENOVO CHINESE GRAND PRIX 2024 and the FORMULA 1 LENOVO GRANDE PRÊMIO DE SÃO PAULO 2024, Lenovo has the privilege of creating the winning trophy for both races.
Lenovo / Formula 1 Partnership:
As an official technology partner to the world’s most technologically advanced sport, Lenovo is powering F1 through their longest race season to date – 24 races over 40 weeks. Lenovo is even powering the F1 trophy. As the title sponsor for the 2024 Chinese and Sao Paolo Grands Prix, Lenovo has the privilege of creating the winning trophy for both races. But Lenovo’s role doesn’t stop when the victor is awarded the trophy. Lenovo is driving the sport forward with smarter technology solutions so that F1 can continue to innovate and create even more spectacular experiences for its fans around the world. From cutting-edge hardware to data collection solutions, from high performance computing to advanced services, Lenovo is helping F1 push the boundaries of what’s possible.
The F1 FORMULA 1 logo, F1 logo, F1, FORMULA 1, FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, GRAND PRIX and related marks are trademarks of Formula One Licensing BV, a Formula 1 company.
