Ocean's Next Heist at the Monaco Grand Prix?
OpenAI all Indy. Barilla Pasta becomes F1's cheapest merch.
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Ocean’s Prequel in Monaco
Margot Robbie confirmed at CinemaCon on Monday that the Ocean’s 11 prequel takes place at the 1962 Monaco Grand Prix. She and Bradley Cooper play Danny Ocean’s parents, pulling a heist against the backdrop of the most glamorous race weekend in the sport’s history. Cooper is also directing. Warner Bros. has the release set for June 25, 2027.
Monaco in 1962 was pre-commercial F1: racing drivers and film stars shared the same hotel bars and the same headlines, and nobody had a title sponsor on their sleeve. The Brad Pitt F1 film already proved the audience exists by building itself around Silverstone, and now Warner Bros. is anchoring one of its most bankable franchises around Monaco, both films making the same bet that motorsport works as a cinematic destination.
The commercial ripple matters. A blockbuster heist movie set in Monaco is years of global brand marketing for the race, delivered free, and the Automobile Club de Monaco gets a campaign that no media budget could replicate. F1’s sponsorship market is approaching $3 billion, and another round of premium cultural reinforcement at this scale only pushes the ceiling higher.
F1 should have a playbook for moments like this by now. A major studio is about to spend hundreds of millions telling the world that Monaco is the most beautiful, high-stakes setting on earth, and the sport’s job is to convert that energy into partnerships and audience growth. History suggests it will mostly just enjoy the attention and move on.
OpenAI Partners with Chip Ganassi Racing
OpenAI expanded its partnership with Chip Ganassi Racing to a two-race primary sponsorship on the No. 10 Honda, driven by four-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou, for Long Beach in April and Washington, D.C., in August.
Its researchers and engineers work at race events alongside the team, running data analysis, communication tools, and real-time decision support through OpenAI’s models. Ganassi posted nine wins, 17 podiums, and a championship in 2025, and those results now carry the footnote that OpenAI’s tools were part of the operation.
Rob Wills, the director behind Netflix’s Drive to Survive, has been hired to produce a documentary about how Ganassi uses AI for competitive advantage.
The partnership has three layers: car branding at two marquee races, a live technical integration with a defending champion’s team, and a documentary from the filmmaker who proved motorsport content can reach mainstream audiences. Hiring Wills is the tell. The branding and data work justify the spend to the finance team, and the film reaches a broader audience, including people who don’t follow IndyCar, have never heard of Chip Ganassi, and will absolutely watch a well-produced documentary about speed and technology.
Eight AI deals landed on the F1 grid in six months last year. Tech companies with marketing budgets in this range have historically put them there. OpenAI's choice of IndyCar, Long Beach, and D.C. suggests the series is becoming a credible alternative. If the Wills documentary reaches the kind of audience Drive to Survive built for F1, other tech companies will follow suit.
Barilla Made a Pasta for Race Day
Angie Cotter, Barilla’s U.S. pasta category marketing director, launched Racing Wheels this week: a special-edition pasta cut shaped like an F1 wheel, ridged and circular, built for al dente texture and sauce pickup. Available on Walmart.com now, with broader retail through spring. Race weekend activation at the Miami Grand Prix includes two Lasagna Bars on-site and dishes in the Paddock Club.
Barilla holds the title of Formula 1’s official pasta partner, and Cotter’s team decided to build a product with it. Racing Wheels is a new SKU that exists because of the F1 relationship: it costs $1.17, it sits in a grocery aisle, and it puts the partnership in someone’s kitchen. That kind of move is rare in motorsport sponsorship, where the default is signage, hospitality access, and a logo on the broadcast.
The campaign wrapping it is called “Domenica Italiana,” built on the Italian tradition of Sunday meals shared while watching the race. It works because it describes what people already do on race Sundays.
Every food and beverage brand on the F1 grid should study what Cotter’s team built and ask the same question: what artifact of the partnership lives outside the circuit and inside someone’s daily life? Barilla’s answer is on Walmart.com right now and will be in Miami in three weeks.
This dispatch brought to you by Omologato UK
This newsletter is made possible through the support of our subscribers and our partners. When you support our partners, you’re supporting independent media like Business of Speed. We recently had Omologato founder, Shami Kalra, on the podcast. Use partner code BOS10 on your Omologato purchase to let them know we sent you.