Ahead of McLaren Racing’s home Grand Prix, McLaren Racing and Mind is proud to announce One Lap for Mind, a fundraising challenge to raise vital funds for the mental health charity. To officially launch the activity, McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren Racing CEO, Zak Brown, and Mind's CEO, Paul Farmer, attended the event to complete their lap around Silverstone today.

McLaren Racing's Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo officially waved the flag to start the One Lap for Mind challenge, with McLaren Racing team members, two lucky winners and a Mind volunteer completing their 5.9km lap around Silverstone.

One Lap for Mind is a virtual fundraising event where participants can walk, run, or cycle the distance of one lap of the Silverstone circuit (5.9km) across the week of the British Grand Prix (27 June - 3 July). You can sign up to the challenge at the One Lap for Mind JustGiving page or text LAP to 70145 to donate £5.00 to Mind.

Everyone has different fitness levels, tolerances and preferences, and One Lap for Mind is about completing the 5.9km distance at a pace that suits you, anytime during the British Grand Prix week. That might mean taking on the full 5.9km in one go or breaking it down and completing 1km a day over the course of the week. Many people find that physical activity helps them maintain positive mental health, either on its own, or in combination with other treatments. Physical activity can improve our mental health by helping us sleep better, releasing feel-good hormones and helping to manage stress and anxiety.

Since July 2020, McLaren Racing has raised nearly £400,000 for Mind through the efforts and generosity of fans, partners, and team members. The McLaren team’s goal for this challenge is to raise £59,000, with all proceeds going to Mind.

The money raised will support Mind's Infoline, giving someone a voice to talk to when things are too much, keep their online community Side by Side open for anyone feeling isolated, and help them to keep pushing people in power to protect our rights and support our needs.

Zak Brown, CEO, McLaren Racing, said:

“I am proud to have completed my One Lap for Mind fundraising challenge at Silverstone. The event is the perfect way to honour our three-year partnership anniversary with Mind in addition to our continued commitment and support to highlight the mental health challenges many people face and where we can overcome those challenge, be it our fans or where we work and race.

“Together with Mind, we continue to underline the importance of mental health and how Mind offer the positive changed needed to those experiencing mental health issues. We are proud to continue our journey together and to promote even more awareness with our incredible fans who continue to help support a worthy cause.”

"I'd also like to thank our colleagues at Formula 1 and Silverstone for helping us host the charity track event ahead of the British Grand Prix."

Paul Farmer, CEO, Mind, said:

“We’re thrilled to mark our three-year anniversary with McLaren Racing through One Lap for Mind, and we’re incredibly grateful to the entire McLaren family for their continued support in raising funds and awareness for Mind.

“The impact of the pandemic, combined with more current issues like the cost-of-living crisis, continue to put the nation’s mental health under great strain. And many of us are simply not getting the mental health support we need, or deserve.

“The money raised through One Lap for Mind will help us to be there for even more people experiencing a mental health problem. It will support our services like Mind Infoline and online peer support community Side by Side. It will also help us to keep pushing people in power to protect our rights and support our needs. For example, right now we're helping to develop a key piece of legislation for making our mental health services fit for the twenty-first century.

“We’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who has already completed their 5.9km or are preparing to, and to those at Formula 1 and Silverstone for making the One Lap for Mind track event happen. It’s been an honour to complete my One Lap for Mind alongside our friends at McLaren."

James Lindsay, 31, from Watford, has a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder. He is a Mind media volunteer and joined the team at Silverstone. He said:

“I feel truly honoured and humbled to be part of this opportunity and I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone at McLaren Racing for their support for Mind.

“It took me a while to recover from my first psychotic episode in 2016 and then my relapse two years ago, as they were such traumatic events. But one thing that always made me feel more myself again was being active. So, it feels fitting to be walking my One Lap for Mind. This was my first ever experience of Silverstone and I loved every moment of it. I still have plenty of warm memories of watching F1 races with my dad as a kid, so I was thinking of him as I went round the famous track.

“As someone living with a mental health problem, I am full of admiration for what McLaren have done throughout this three-year partnership. They have raised huge sums of money for Mind’s services, and have encouraged and normalised conversations about mental health among F1 fans and beyond. It especially gives me great joy to see Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo being so involved in the partnership. The beauty of sport is it gives us the chance to talk about something we have a common interest in, and it helps us to connect with new people. I am a firm believer that the more people you share with, the more allies you are likely to make to support you.”

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