Team Brady’s E1 Double Crown Marks ESG Shift In Racing

Team Brady achieves a dual victory in the 2025 E1 World Championship, securing both the main racing title and the inaugural Blue Impact Championship.

It marks a first for the all-electric powerboat series, where environmental performance is formally recognised alongside sporting results.

Owned by seven-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady, the team also celebrates victory in the 2024 series. With sustainability as a core component of the sport, the Blue Impact Championship creates a new form of competition among the nine teams.

Owned by high-profile figures like LeBron James and Rafael Nadal, all teams now channel their competitive focus towards ecocentric initiatives in addition to race performance.

Linking on-water performance with environmental impact

The Blue Impact Championship, presented by Bombay Sapphire, assesses each team’s season-long efforts to protect and restore aquatic ecosystems.

Team Brady’s winning ‘Race for Change’ programme involves a pledge to collect 100kg of plastic from the ocean for every point scored. The team tops the league table with 195 points, resulting in the removal of almost 20 tonnes of ocean plastic with the 4ocean Foundation.

The 100kg per point figure is chosen as it represents the average amount of plastic an individual generates annually. The initiative is designed to offset the waste of a large group of people and raise awareness about plastic pollution.

Other teams develop projects focused on coral reef conservation and marine biodiversity. A jury of sustainability leaders from Bacardi, the One Ocean Foundation, Oceans2050 and the MSC Foundation evaluates the teams based on measurable impact, collaboration, creativity and fan engagement.

Strategic partnerships for sustainability goals

The team’s objective from the outset is success both on and off the water. "When we first set out to build the team... our goal was to win both on and off the water – and we've done exactly that," Tom says. "Our Race for Change platform has been a catalyst for real environmental impact."

To compete on the sustainability front, Team Brady forms key partnerships with WaterAid, OceanR and the 4ocean Foundation. OceanR supplies the crew with eco-friendly uniforms made from recycled plastic bottles, while WaterAid helps raise awareness for global access to clean drinking water.

Sam Coleman, one of Team Brady's pilots, views the environmental work as being as important as the racing itself.

"Delivering tangible environmental change alongside sporting success is something I'm extremely proud of," he says. "I hope we can make an even greater positive impact in the 2026 season."

Embedding environmental responsibility into sport

The Blue Impact Championship is E1's strategic attempt to integrate environmental responsibility into electric powerboat racing. E1 appoints Carlos Duarte as its Chief Scientist to anchor the sport in sustainability principles.

"Team Brady's initiative sets a benchmark for what truly purpose-driven racing can achieve," he says. "The Blue Impact Championship is the component of E1 where regardless of who wins, we all win as the collective actions of all teams are an impressive example of the potential of sports to create meaningful positive impact."

The award is presented at the Laverstoke Mill distillery, home of Bombay Sapphire, a location recognised for its own sustainability credentials.

Rodolfo Nervi, Vice President of Corporate Sustainability at Bacardi and a jury member, highlights the synergy between the brand and E1's mission. "At Bombay Sapphire we take real action to help protect the planet from sourcing all 10 botanicals from sustainably certified suppliers to our work to protect biodiversity at the distillery," Rodolfo explains.

Team Brady's dual championship win shows that competitive success and environmental contribution can be complementary in professional sports, providing a potential model for other racing series to follow.