British Formula One racing team McLaren has teamed up with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation to help accelerate the restoration of coral on one of Australia’s biggest tourism drawcards.

In an unlikely pairing, the motorsports team – whose drivers, including Australian young gun Oscar Piastri, competed at the Melbourne Grand Prix last weekend – sent two engineers to North Queensland late last year to help the non-for-profit organisation work out how to scale-up coral spawning production on the reef.