Analysis
Peter Lee, who has spent 16 years at Microsoft and most recently served as president of Microsoft Science, told Fortune he plans to join the Mercedes Formula 1 team in a newly created AI advisor role. His exact title and compensation are still being negotiated, and he's expected to sign a one-year contract with an option for a second. Mercedes did not respond to Fortune's request for comment. Lee's own reaction: "I'm completely thrilled, and I'm in disbelief that they would think of me for something like this."
At Microsoft, Lee led work on using AI to help doctors and scientists solve hard problems, including InnerEye, a system that automated outlining tumors and healthy tissue for radiation treatment planning. He also helped evaluate OpenAI's GPT-4 before its public release and assess its medical potential, and Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in health and life sciences in 2024.
Why A Formula 1 Team Wants An AI Scientist
At Mercedes, Lee's planned focus includes applying AI to physics problems tied to the car, reducing barriers between departments and data systems, building financial and predictive data models, and advising the team on how F1's regulators might eventually govern AI use on the sporting side. He won't be the first frontier-AI hire in the paddock: in June, Dr. James Smith, formerly of Google DeepMind, joined the Williams F1 team as chief information officer, which suggests this is becoming a pattern rather than a one-off.
The move also lands inside a broader wave of 2026 departures at Microsoft, where CEO Satya Nadella is refocusing the company on enterprise and cloud AI. EVP and former LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky and Chief Communications Officer Frank X. Shaw are also leaving, while Phil Spencer and Rajesh Jha retired earlier this year. Microsoft's own AI-for-science push has shifted too: the company's Copilot partnership with the Mayo Clinic and Harvard Medical School has moved toward general business use rather than the medical and research applications Lee's group specialized in.
What's unresolved: Mercedes hasn't confirmed Lee's title or pay, and the team declined to comment to Fortune, so the real scope of his authority -- genuine engineering input versus a ceremonial advisory seat -- remains to be seen until a contract is actually signed.
If it closes, Lee will be advising on AI governance for a sport that hasn't yet written its own rules on where artificial intelligence is allowed near a race car -- a rulebook problem no F1 team has solved.
