How one brand is using its Formula 1 partnership to change children's lives

Last weekend’s British Grand Prix was a record-breaking moment for Formula 1, as over 500,000 people crammed into Silverstone across the event. The passionate fans were treated to a thrilling grand prix on Sunday.

Amidst the sporting drama of the British Grand Prix, there was one group of people for whom Silverstone was an especially important weekend.

On Thursday at Silverstone, the Starlight Children’s Foundation was presented with a bespoke, handcrafted trophy from renowned Czech glassworks firm Moser and Jan Plechac, and a €100,000 donation for winning the British F1 Allwyn Global Community Award.

Allwyn, the multi-national lottery and gaming company, has a multi-year partnership with F1 and with McLaren, which began last season. Not content with being just another name on the side of a car or plastered across advertising boards trackside, Allwyn has used its partnership to spotlight community-led charity initiatives across the globe in places where F1 races.

It’s a shared commitment between Allwyn and F1 to drive positive change.

The Starlight Children’s Foundation helps critically ill children in hospital “play laugh and do the things they love while receiving treatment”. Starlight recognises that for the 1.4 million children in need of critical health care, the process can be emotionally taxing.

Through its groundbreaking pilot project, a ‘Health Play Practice Educator’ role, Starlight is implementing play-led care across the NHS through activities and experiences. The €100,000 donation will help in the training of up to 1000 professionals in this pioneering form of specialist care.

According to a press release from F1 and Allwyn, “Starlight was commended by the judging panel for its spirit of innovation”. Given that innovation is a major driving factor for both F1 and Allwyn, it’s easy to see why Starlight resonates.

“I would say we’ve changed quite a bit,” Laura Walsh, Director of Play in Healthcare at Starlight, who called the Allwyn Community Award “a massive honour”, told Crash about how the foundation has advanced its initiatives. “Previously, we were a wish-granting organisation. We’ve had a long relationship with F1. The idea of bringing this kind of temporary joy to children who are seriously ill has developed into this kind of thing about wanting to innovate and create change that is a bit more long-lasting.

“So, I think what we’ve done really significantly is we’ve listened; we’ve listened to professionals, we’ve listened to families, and looked for the evidence for what is going to make that difference in the long term. And I think that’s one thing that’s made a huge difference for us.”

How F1 and Lando Norris have impacted children’s lives for the better with Starlight

The national healthcare system within the United Kingdom is going through a period of unprecedented strain, as underfunding pushes the service to breaking point. This affects everyone, but vulnerable groups the most.

The work Starlight does, therefore, is even more vital for critically ill children. The Foundation has a long association with F1, which has evolved from wish-making to fundraising. McLaren - another partner of Allwyn - and reigning world champion Lando Norris especially have worked closely with Starlight to raise crucial funds.

“So, previously it was very much people within F1 being sympathetic and empathetic to the plight of children and saying, ‘We’ll give them a wish to come to the Monaco Grand Prix, come to Silverstone, come and spend your day with whoever it might have been’, Jonny Wright, Director of Income Generation and Engagement, at Starlight said.

“And that was fantastic. It has continued ot evolve whilst we’ve been an organisation to be more in the fundraising space. So, we recently had a charity auction where McLaren supported us with some Lando - just after he was world champion - memorabilia.

“We made some money on the back of it. Lando himself is very empathetic to child mental health and mental wellbeing, and has supported us in the past. So, it’s great that Formula 1, Formula 1 stars, Formula 1 teams do pick up causes and it’s great that Starlight has benefited from that over the years.”

Norris has been something of a trailblazer in F1 for his candid discussions about mental health in recent years, using his own experiences to break the stigma associated with it. Articulating mental health struggles is hard for everyone, but more so for children. The mental toll for critically ill children in the healthcare system is even greater.

On how the €100,000 donation from the F1 Allwyn Global Community Award will be used, Laura Walsh added: “When we’ve really looked at what’s worked and systemic change, what’s really made a difference, the biggest change we have seen and predict is going to be important is to give skills and knowledge to all of the adults that are in contact with children in their healthcare journey, because we can’t hope to be everywhere all at once.

“But what we can do is change hearts and minds of all the paediatric professionals. So, with this fund, and what we put in the application [for the Allwyn Community Award] is some of the training that we have done that has made a real difference in the hospital system, we want to be able to take that more into the community.

“So, there is a move to see children a bit nearer to home, which means they are just a little bit further away from those specialist paediatric practitioners. And we’ve created an amazing set of training modules that with this money, we’re going to work with a community system to put a practice educator of health play, so that everybody within that system can be trained.

“And it’s very small changes, often. If you really understand what play means to children, how they worry, simple things that you can do to make the environment more playful, you get less worry, less stress, and ultimately less traumatised children, which will lead to happier, healthier adults. So, it’s a real systems change moment for us.”

How the F1 Allwyn Global Community Award has benefited others globally and how fans are at the heart of what Allwyn does

Founded last year, the F1 Allwyn Global Community Award was given to four initiatives across the Las Vegas, US, Mexico City and Dutch Grands Prix.

Those were:

Las Vegas: Green our Planet, which teaches students to grow food while mastering STEM, nutrition, and sustainability through hydroponics – the world’s most water-efficient method for growing crops and plants without soil, using just minerals dissolved in water.

Austin: Girlstart, which empowers young girls, from all backgrounds, to explore STEM through an extensive out-of-school programme that features hands-on STEM camps, conferences, and activities.

Mexico: The John Langdon Down Foundation, a pioneering institution dedicated to promoting the human rights, dignity, and potential of people with Down Syndrome of all ages.

The Netherlands: Stichting HandicapNL which provides support across the entire event experience - helping the two million people with disabilities in the Netherlands and creating a more inclusive society.

This year, the €100,000 donation has been awarded three times this season, with four more to follow at Zandvoort, Las Vegas, Austin and Mexico City.

The award winners this year so far have been:

Canada: La Tablée des Chefs was named the first winner of the 2026 F1® Allwyn Global Community Award, at the FORMULA 1® LENOVO GRAND PRIX DU CANADA. The charity has been awarded a €100,000 donation from Allwyn, the lottery-led entertainment company, to further its mission to provide for vulnerable families facing food insecurity in Montreal and across Canada.

Austria: Sinbad Mentoring was crowned the winner of the 2026 F1® Allwyn Global Community Award at the FORMULA 1® LENOVO AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX. The charity was awarded a €100,000 donation from Allwyn, the lottery-led entertainment company, to empower young people through one-to-one mentoring and supercharge Sindbad’s mission to level the playing field for young people, boost social mobility, and inspire them to pursue their dream career pathways, especially in STEM.  

Britain: Starlight Children's Foundation is a British non-profit organisation which helps seriously ill children in hospital play, laugh and do the things they love while receiving treatment. The €100,000 donation will further their pioneering pilot project - the introduction of the new ‘Health Play Practice Educator’ role to embed consistent play-informed care across the NHS. The funding will also facilitate the training of up to 1,000 professionals in specialised care, directly funding their ambition to make hospital stays kinder and treatments gentler for seriously ill children and their families.

As a multi-national lottery and gaming company, fans are at the heart of Allwyn’s initiatives. Crash had the opportunity to see that for itself during the British Grand Prix in the fan zone at Silverstone, where fans could replicate the excitement of a race start by playing a lottery game to win exclusive prizes.

Allwyn also hosts its own F1 predictions league, where fans can turn their passion and knowledge for the championship into prizes.

But Allwyn is set to take that ethos of fan service and community-driven charity initiatives further by combining them later in the year. Fans will be able to vote on their favourite F1 Allwyn Community Award winners, which will bring them closer to these initiatives having a positive impact on the world.