Alan Walker’s The Sting Within Me, created with STING Energy and released via Warner Music India, takes one of Formula 1’s most recognisable elements, its sound, and builds a track around it. Inspired by the roar of F1 engines, the tension before lights out and the energy of a race weekend, the song turns the atmosphere of the sport into something fans can experience beyond the circuit. The idea began with a viral observation that the sound of an F1 engine seemed to say “Stinggg”, before evolving into a track built around engine sounds, race-day tension, crowd energy and anticipation.

The track debuted live during the Formula 1 MSC Cruises Barcelona Gran Premio de Barcelona-Catalunya 2026 weekend, bringing together Formula 1, Alan Walker and STING Energy in front of thousands of fans. On paper, that sounds like the sort of collaboration that could have easily become corporate wallpaper. In practice, the idea has a slightly stranger, more internet-native charm to it. Someone heard something odd in the sound of an F1 engine. Walker could not unhear it. Then, with access to Formula 1 audio and a global launch moment, that stray observation became the basis for a track.

“Formula 1 has a very unique atmosphere: engines, acceleration, tension, crowd energy and anticipation,” says Walker. “The idea was to capture that feeling and turn it into music that fans can experience beyond the track.”

For Walker, the writing process seems to have started less like a formal brief and more like a fixation. He came across Armin van Buuren’s observation that an F1 engine sounded like it was saying “STINGGG”, and the idea stuck almost immediately. From there, the track became about chasing the feeling around that sound: the anticipation before lights out, the acceleration, the crowd energy and the emotional spikes that come with a race weekend.

“I completely got hooked on how close it sounded,” says Walker. “From that moment, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Formula 1 has such a unique atmosphere, the anticipation before lights out, the intensity of the race and the emotion that comes with every moment. As a huge Formula 1 and motorsport fan myself, it felt like a natural fit. I honestly found myself wondering why nobody had done this sooner.”

The aim, according to Walker, was not just to make something fast or loud. It was to build the track around movement and pressure. “We wanted the song to capture that feeling of movement, anticipation and adrenaline,” he says. “The goal was to make listeners feel the same rush you get in the moments just before a race begins.”

That idea carries into how the track was put together. In the teaser video for the project, Walker explains that he took the sound of the engine and added a choir melody, giving the song a more cinematic lift. To make it feel closer to the actual experience of a race, he also called Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team driver George Russell for input. Russell’s suggestion was wonderfully specific: “Maybe add, like, the car going into the corner. That could be pretty cool.”

It is a small detail, but a good one. F1 does not only sound dramatic at full throttle. There is texture in the way a car loads up into a corner, turns in, bites and disappears. That kind of suggestion keeps the track from being a generic speed anthem. It gives it a bit more of the circuit’s real physicality. Walker worked on the track with his team, with support from Warner Music and the wider group involved in bringing the project to life. STING Energy’s role, meanwhile, was to take the idea from an odd little creative spark into a full-scale Formula 1 moment. “Sting created the opportunity to bring music, Formula 1 and fan culture together,” says Walker. “The brand helped move the idea from a creative spark into a wider global launch moment.”

That thought is echoed by Eugene Willemsen, Chief Executive Officer of International Beverages, PepsiCo, who sees the project as an extension of a fan-born idea rather than a top-down brand campaign. “Last year, fans realised that Formula 1 sounds like STINGGG, and the response showed us just how naturally racing, sound and culture could collide,” says Willemsen. “What started as a viral moment quickly evolved into something much bigger, Sting becoming the sound of Formula 1 for fans around the world. With The Sting Within Me, we pushed that idea further, turning the raw energy of Formula 1 into something fans can stream, share and experience beyond the circuit.”

That is probably the cleanest way to understand the collaboration. The Sting Within Me sits somewhere between song, campaign and fan-culture experiment. It starts with a sound that F1 fans recognise instantly, runs it through Walker’s electronic, cinematic production style, and turns it into something designed to travel beyond the race weekend. It also fits neatly into the way Formula 1 is being consumed now. A Grand Prix no longer lives only in the two hours of Sunday racing. It is chopped, clipped, remixed and replayed across feeds all weekend. Fans come in through race edits, paddock clips, driver radio, memes, gaming, fashion and music. A track built around the sound of an F1 engine feels very much of that world.

For Walker, that seems to be the point. “The ambition is to let fans experience Formula 1 in a different way, not just as a sport they watch, but as something they can feel, share and connect with beyond the track,” he shares.

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