When Peter Lee announced two weeks ago that he was leaving Microsoft, he said only that his next job would fulfill “a dream I’ve had since childhood.”

The dream, it turns out, comes with a pit crew.

The longtime Microsoft Research leader, who is leaving his post as president of Microsoft Science after more than 16 years at the company, plans to join the Mercedes Formula 1 team in a newly created AI advisor role, according to a report by Fortune.

As a career turn, it isn’t as much of a surprise as it might seem. Lee raced karts and Formula Ford as a kid, and he was once a licensed auto body technician, he told GeekWire last year. He had a replica 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder converted to electric and was in the middle of converting a 1968 Ford Mustang GT Fastback last year.

He called cars “a great laboratory” for AI models that decide an agent’s next move.

“The thing I’ve always loved about cars, and why I love to work on cars, is you actually finish something,” he said in that interview. “That never happens in software.”

At Mercedes, he’ll focus on using AI to tackle physics problems for the team’s car, breaking down organizational and data silos, building financial and predictive models, and advising the team on how F1’s regulators might govern AI. He’s expected to join on a one-year contract with an option for a second. His exact title is still being worked out, according to the report.

“I’m completely thrilled, and I’m in disbelief that they would think of me for something like this,” he told Fortune.

His exit is part of a broader wave of senior departures from Microsoft this year, including LinkedIn and Office chief Ryan Roslansky and communications chief Frank Shaw.

Two top Microsoft executives announced this week that they’re leaving the Redmond, Wash., tech giant:

— Peter Lee, the former head of Microsoft Research and most recently president of Microsoft Science, is resigning after more than 16 years.

“As for what I’ll be doing next, what I can say at this point is that it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join an elite team, fulfilling a dream I’ve had since childhood. It’s a major detour from what I’ve been doing over the past 2+ decades,” Lee said on LinkedIn.

At the same time, he said he would continue working with healthcare organizations including the Mayo Clinic, Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine and Seattle Children’s.

Before joining Microsoft, Lee spent 22 years at Carnegie Mellon University, where he served as head of its Computer Science Department. He was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in health and life sciences in 2024.

As a hobby, Lee enjoys converting classic cars into electric vehicles, including a replica 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder and a 1968 Ford Mustang GT Fastback.

— Ryan Roslansky is leaving Microsoft after nearly 18 years with LinkedIn and Microsoft. Last year, he was promoted from CEO of LinkedIn to Microsoft executive vice president overseeing both LinkedIn and Microsoft Office. In April, the company named Daniel Shapero the new LinkedIn CEO.

Roslansky thanked CEO Satya Nadella, noting that when Microsoft acquired LinkedIn a decade ago, “you gave us room to build, and then trusted many of us with a lot more. I’ve learned more from you than I can fit in an email, and I’m grateful for the friendship that came with it.”

Nadella in turn praised Roslansky, saying on the company blog, “I’ve always appreciated his clarity of thinking and I’m deeply grateful for everything Ryan has built, for the leaders and teams he has developed, and for his friendship and counsel.”

Roslansky joined LinkedIn in 2009 as chief product officer and became CEO in 2020. To continue in his role as Microsoft EVP would require relocating his family from the San Francisco Bay Area to the company’s Redmond headquarters.

“But my life and my family’s life are here in the Bay Area,” he said, adding, “The work now goes to leaders who are set up to take it further. I can’t wait to see what they do with it.”

Roslansky will leave the company at the end of the year.