Trusted access under pressure: what racing can teach IAM teams

TL;DR: Oracle Red Bull Racing’s access and credential model is presented as a performance enabler for a distributed, high-pressure operation, with 1Password saying it helps 1,800 employees across ten global sites move quickly while keeping systems auditable and secure. The identity lesson is that speed only holds when access is tightly governed, visible, and easy to use.

NHIMG editorial — based on content published by 1Password: Oracle Red Bull Racing, identity security, and performance under pressure

By the numbers:

• With 1Password Enterprise Password Manager, Oracle Red Bull Racing manages credentials and access for over 1,800 employees across ten global sites, ensuring operations are fast, auditable, and secure.
• Only 5.7% of organisations have full visibility into their service accounts.
• 92% of organisations expose NHIs to third parties, raising concerns about supply chain security.

Questions worth separating out

Q: How should security teams balance fast access with identity governance?

A: They should design access workflows that are quick for legitimate users but still produce clear ownership, audit trails, and review points.

Q: Why does credential sprawl create governance risk in distributed organisations?

A: Credential sprawl increases the number of places where access can drift away from its intended purpose.

Q: What breaks when access is designed for convenience but not lifecycle control?

A: What breaks is accountability.

Practitioner guidance

• Review access paths for operational friction Identify where users still bypass controls because the approved path is too slow or too hard to use.
• Map credential ownership across sites and teams Create a current inventory of passwords, tokens, and shared access paths, then assign a clear owner for each one.
• Embed lifecycle checks into routine work Trigger access review, rotation, and offboarding from role changes, project completion, and system transitions so privileges do not linger after the work is done.

What's in the full article

1Password's full article covers the operational detail this post intentionally leaves for the source:

• How Oracle Red Bull Racing describes access workflows across global sites and specialist teams
• The specific use cases for the browser extension in faster engineering and simulation work
• Details on SaaS Manager and how licence visibility connects back to cost-cap decisions
• The narrative examples from drivers, engineers, and leadership that show how trust is expressed day to day

👉 Read 1Password's case study on trusted access at Oracle Red Bull Racing →

Trusted access under pressure: what racing can teach IAM teams?

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