- McLaren F1 launched MCL/COLLECT at Hedera, with free digital artwork drops planned for every 2026 Formula 1 race weekend.
- The network also launched its Community Builders $NFT program, adding builder badges and Discord linked $NFT roles for ecosystem members.
McLaren Formula 1 has launched MCL/COLLECT, a digital collecting platform powered by Hedera, featuring free, limited-edition artwork that will appear during every Formula 1 race weekend of the 2026 season. The first edition went live with the Australian Grand Prix, giving fans early access to the new collector’s program.
The platform extends McLaren’s digital fan engagement strategy through officially licensed collectibles tied to major events throughout the season. McLaren and Hedera have moved to a working product that gives fans a repeated point of contact during every race weekend. That structure creates a continuous release model rather than a one-time campaign.
🏎️ Today marks the launch of @McLarenF1 MCL / COLLECT, a new digital collecting platform powered by Hedera.
Free limited edition artwork will be released every F1 race weekend during the 2026 season, bringing fans closer to the team.
Start your collection with the Australian GP… pic.twitter.com/9Sz9Y9XOCQ
— Hedera (@hedera) March 6, 2026
McLaren Racing announced its multi-year partnership with the Hedera Foundation in January this year. As CNF coveredBoth sides said the agreement would connect racing to the Web3 infrastructure through digital activations and collectibles. McLaren revealed that fans would receive free-to-claim collectibles during Formula 1 Grand Prix weekends, while the Arrow McLaren IndyCar collectibles would return in the 2026 season.
Yesterday, the network announced a Chainlink integration to give developers access to real-world data, cross-chain interoperability, and on-chain backup authentication. We covered that the integration brings Chainlink Data Feeds, CCIP and Proof of Reserve to support tokenized assets, DeFi and enterprise applications on Hedera.
Hedera expands access to Builder and Community
The McLaren release comes as Hedera expands its community programs beyond sports partnerships. The network announced are community builders $NFT program is now fully live and offers three collections related to different forms of ecosystem participation. These include Starter Dev for new developers, Explorer Dev for experienced Web3 builders, and Enthusiast for community members who contribute through non-technical work.
The builder program gives developers and community members a clearer path to the ecosystem by separating badges by role. That structure supports education, participation and recognition without being dependent on a single user type.
Hedera has also introduced a Discord account linked through its partnership with WhataLab. Users can link a Hedera account ID to Discord to receive it $NFT-based roles associated with the Hedera Community Builders program. Once paired, participants will have access to token-gated channels, exclusive building spaces, and targeted discussion forums within the community environment.
For whitelisted users, the minting and claiming process runs through Lazy Superheroes and requires no gas or prior token association. The NFTs are soul-bound, meaning they cannot be transferred once minted.
Last month, the network announced that Kraken was preparing to add Hedera EVM and its HTS token service to support instant deposits and withdrawals for HTS native tokens. We reported that the move will increase exchange access for its network and proprietary assets.
At the time of reporting, HBAR was trading on $0.09667traps 3.11% in the last 24 hours. The 24-hour trading volume was $81.3 million, while the market capitalization was $4.18 billion.