Team AlUla championed by LeBron James has been named overall winner of the 2026 E1 Blue Impact Championship presented by Bombay Sapphire, taking the title on the eve of the all-electric raceboat Championship's double-header season finale.
The Blue Impact Championship recognises the E1 team judged to have delivered the most robust and impactful sustainability programme across the season. Team AlUla took the honour for its "Powered by Data. Driven by Impact." programme, which judges deemed to best align with the award's strategic pillars. Aoki Racing Team owner, music producer and DJ Steve Aoki presented the trophy alongside Tara King, Bombay Sapphire Senior Brand Director.
As part of its programme, Team AlUla continued working with water quality monitoring provider WATR, deploying real-time monitoring technology at every race. The team launched a live public dashboard in December and planted one mangrove propagule for every WATR reading taken through the season, a total of 3,200 propagules so far in 2026. In Luanda, the team partnered with the Kissama Foundation to publish a bilingual edition of "Cori, the Turtle in Danger" to tell the story of Team AlUla, printing 1,000 copies expected to reach more than 20,000 children in schools and Kissama hubs around Angola.
Now in its second year, the Blue Impact Championship forms part of E1's wider Blue Impact Programme, which encourages teams to use their platforms for ocean conservation, community engagement and measurable environmental and social projects. This year's event brought together E1 partners, stakeholders and local sustainability experts for an afternoon of panel discussions ahead of the award ceremony, and introduced three new award categories alongside the overall title.
Last year's overall winners Team Brady claimed the Environmental Impact Award for doubling their ocean plastic removal pledge, launched in 2025 with strategic partner 4Ocean Foundation. In 2026, 200 kilograms of plastic were removed for every Championship point Team Brady obtained, meaning over 30 tonnes after five of seven rounds this season. Team Rafa took home the Social Impact Award for delivering ocean literacy workshops for 24,000 people, making a measurable difference to communities, from youth engagement and science, technology and mathematics education to charitable partnerships. The Tech Award went to Westbrook Racing by Visit Angola, praised for leading an innovative technology-driven partnership with the European Space Agency and EOMAP to gather environmental insights at each race location through satellite imagery.
The award winners were selected by a panel of six experts from the fields of marine science, ocean conservation and sustainability, led by Distinguished Professor of Marine Science and E1 Chief Scientist Carlos Duarte.
Barny Whitwham, Co-Team Principal of Team AlUla championed by LeBron James, said: "Winning the 2026 E1 Blue Impact Championship is fantastic recognition of our work. In 2025, we focused on using data to inform our decisions, both on the racecourse and across our sustainability programme. We built on that approach in 2026 through partnerships around the world, and we're looking forward to taking it even further in 2027."
Fellow Co-Team Principal John Marlow added: "E1 teams come from different motorsport backgrounds and disciplines, bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience to how we compete on the water. We have an opportunity to use that same expertise to drive sustainability forward. It's important that every team makes protecting our oceans a priority."
Carlos M. Duarte, E1 Chief Scientist, said: "Following our inaugural Blue Impact Championship held last year, we have seen a major leap in the ambition, diversity and creativity of the projects delivered by the E1 teams. Together, they have truly delivered impact across social, environmental and technology aspects of the push to positively impact our oceans. Thanks to the efforts of our teams and E1, we can say that the Blue Impact Championship has come of age and we look forward to what our teams will achieve next year."
