Adele tours McLaren HQ, tries simulator and bonds with Norris and Piastri

Adele visited McLaren’s Technology Centre in Woking for a behind-the-scenes tour that took her from Zak Brown’s office to the team’s F1 simulator, with the trip driven by her 13-year-old son’s growing passion for karting.

The multi-Grammy Award-winning singer described the futuristic building as feeling like “arriving into space” and spoke candidly with McLaren Racing CEO Brown about how her son’s interest had pulled her into the sport. “He just asked about it a couple of years ago, and I was like, ‘All right,’” she said. “I don’t know many teenagers now who have an actual passion. So, I’m really trying to encourage it.”

The 38-year-old admitted the shared obsession had become an unexpected source of connection. “I don’t think I ever expected to bond with my soon-to-be 14-year-old son about something so passionately where we argue about drivers,” she told Brown. “But it’s fun to have that interaction with a teenage boy in 2026. I wasn’t expecting it.”

During the visit, Adele sat down with 2025 world champion Lando Norris, received a walkthrough of how team radio operates from team principal Andrea Stella, and had a go in the simulator with Oscar Piastri.

She also reflected on the broader appeal of the sport to Brown. “When you don’t know that an entire universe exists, millions of people are into something, and you don’t know about it, F1 kind of feels like a weird secret club,” she said. “I have my friends who are my age coming over at like 6am to watch races and I make a massive chilli, and we’re all sitting there, and I just find it fascinating.”

McLaren posted footage of the visit to their official YouTube channel, where it had surpassed 30,000 views shortly after going live.