The archive · Content & Film · Marketing decision · 2023–2025
Michelob ULTRA races F1's Logan Sargeant against AI legends of Williams — Clio Grands
Michelob ULTRA and Williams built AI avatars of six F1 legends from 720 races of data, then raced Logan Sargeant against them — two Grand Clios.
Michelob ULTRA (AB InBev) · Williams Racing
What it had to solve
Williams Racing is a team built on legends, but in 2024 its young lineup was fighting at the back of the grid. Sponsor Michelob ULTRA wanted to turn the team's history into entertainment that a new generation of F1 fans would actually watch.
How it works
In November 2023, at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Michelob ULTRA and Williams Racing announced 'Lap of Legends': the first-ever real versus virtual race. The premise was simple and impossible — a current Williams driver racing the team's greatest champions across eras at Silverstone.
FCB New York and a team of engineers reconstructed six legends — Mario Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve and Jenson Button — as AI-powered virtual avatars, built from 720 races, 1,260 hours of footage and 144,000 miles of data that simulated each driver's speed, style, technique and strategy. Logan Sargeant drove a real 15-lap race around Silverstone wearing an augmented-reality helmet that fed him real-time information about the avatars around him.
The one-hour special, co-hosted by Jenson Button and Naomi Schiff, premiered May 14, 2024 on AMC, BBC America and The Roku Channel, and was distributed in 28 countries. At the 2025 Clio Awards it won Grand Clios in Creative Use of Data and Digital/Mobile, with three Golds, seven Silvers and five Bronzes across the show.
Why it lands
- It turns an impossible matchup — legends who cannot race again versus a living driver — into an event only the brand could stage.
- The data work (720 races, 1,260 hours of footage, 144,000 miles) makes the simulation credible rather than a gimmick.
- It gives Williams, a team rebuilding at the back of the grid, a heroic story built from its own history.
- It is owned entertainment: a one-hour special distributed globally instead of an ad interrupt.
What it did
The one-hour special was distributed in 28 countries, and at the 2025 Clio Awards the campaign won Grand Clios for Creative Use of Data and Digital/Mobile, plus three Golds, seven Silvers and five Bronzes — proof that a sponsor can build owned entertainment instead of buying airtime.
What you can take
When the real thing is impossible, build the next-best thing from the data that defined it: a credible simulation of legends turns an impossible matchup into a spectacle only the brand could produce.
Since then
Lap of Legends aired in 28 countries and became one of the most-awarded branded sports programs of 2024–2025, winning two Grand Clios at the 2025 Clio Awards (Creative Use of Data and Digital/Mobile) plus three Golds, seven Silvers and five Bronzes. For Williams it turned a difficult season into a story about the team's past champions, and for Michelob ULTRA it demonstrated a sponsor producing entertainment people choose to watch, on AMC, BBC America and Roku, rather than interrupting it.
Sources
- Lap of Legends 2024
- Williams Racing and Michelob ULTRA Lap of Legends premieres today
- The Clio Awards Reveals 2025 Grands and Of The Years
- Michelob ULTRA: Lap of Legends
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