Over cold drinks in the Florida heat, this TechCrunch reporter watched from the paddock as founders and investors—richer than most—mingled for deals. Conversations barely paused, except for occasional glances at drivers chasing chequered flags.

F1 weekend is a three-day affair, with kickoffs, soirées, dinners, and nightclub takeovers where business and pleasure merge. Events like this, with concentrated wealth, have historically been places to strike deals. But the F1 paddock's popularity has grown, especially among startups and venture capital.

F1 teams now embrace tech companies, plastering their liveries with AI, cloud computing, and enterprise logos. Over the past five years, Oracle, Microsoft, CoreWeave, Anthropic, Palantir and Amazon have all partnered with F1 teams. VC firms like Dorilton Capital and others own stakes in these teams.

Josh Machiz of Lightspeed Ventures credits Netflix’s 'Drive to Survive' for increasing interest, but the tech industry's recent presence is more significant. Machiz says founders and execs from many portfolio companies were roaming the paddock, looking for enterprise deals with other startups and tech giants.

F1 teams are actively seeking ways to leverage the latest tech, meeting the founders behind it. Aston Martin, like all F1 teams, offers a dense concentration of enterprise buyers, making weekends in Miami more productive than remote retreats.