The 'data-driven battlefield' powering change in Formula One

In a sport like Formula One, milliseconds make all the difference.

Just to underline that, one of the qualifying sessions in the run up to the last Austrian Grand Prix saw less than 0.8 seconds separate the lap times of the fastest 20 cars.

It was a record at the time but you can expect that digit to drop significantly in the coming years.

This upsurge in competitiveness comes as a direct result of the correct analysis of the choicest chunks gleaned from a massive upsurge in data collection.

AI plays its part. In just a few years, this aspect of the sport has become as crucial to F1’s key players as the drivers themselves.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) sits centre stage here, having already played a pivotal role in transforming the racing calendar and acting as the sport’s digital backbone. The data it collects and shares has impacted everything from car design and race strategy to fan engagement.

These days, race cars are fitted with more than 300 sensors, generating around 1.1 million data points per second.

Similarly, there are sensors all around the track at strategic points providing more detail (if any were needed). This colossal amount of information is streamed to AWS, where it is processed and analysed in real-time. Thereafter, each team receives all the data about their own two vehicles, but none concerning their rivals.

This allows principals to make split-second decisions on everything from strategy and pit stops to energy deployment and tyre selection, all while the race is happening.

The whole process is called predictive modelling and, using historical data and current telemetry, AWS's AI machine learning models are able to predict various outcomes, even the best time for a potential overtaking manoeuvre.

“The partnership with AWS enables us to use machine learning and cloud technologies to improve step-by-step in every department," said Ferrari team principal Frederic Vavaseur. "This can be highly beneficial with everything from product improvements to increasing fan engagement.”

Crucially, one of the most compelling innovations is the ability of the system to generate graphics that simulate what would have happened if a team had made a different strategic decision – a different tyre compound choice, say – or even assessing the impact of a driver error.

Longer term, the information collated can be used to improve car design, with its ability to run thousands of simulations much more quickly than traditional on-track testing would allow – and also at a fraction of the cost.

AWS also offers interactive fan experiences like the Real-Time Race Track online tool, which allows fans to design their own F1 circuits, which are then analysed by company’s AI systems to produce projected lap times, top speeds, and even viable race stategies.

Spectators can also access F1 Insights, a series of real-time on-screen graphics that appear during broadcasts and provide those watching with information about driver performance, car capabilities, and team strategy.

Broadcasters are able to get in on the action, too, as the AWS’s Track Pulse tool can quickly mine an extensive stream of historical data to pull up facts and statistics to enliven commentary.

It’s all about what the company calls intelligent storytelling.

Ruth Buscombe-Divey is AWS’s motorsports ambassador as well as one of F1 TV’s most prominent presenters.

She says the changes that have happened within the sport recently are game changers for its future.

“If you applied the technologies that were being used to win races five years ago, it’s not going to work,” she says, describing what is happening now as a “data-driven battlefield” where those involved have to keep pushing both technological advances and how exactly to best use the spiralling amount of information being generated.

She sees the changes as crucial to the longevity of the sport.

Around 750 million people watch F1 over the course of a season, a figure she cites as being a “great motivation” in keeping up the momentum to make racing more competitive through the greater use of data.

Julie Souza leads sports globally for AWS, driving innovation in data not just in F1 but spectator-led content across the board.

She says she is often asked if the influx of new information is going to ruin fans’ enjoyment of what they’re watching.

However, she says it’s all about spectators watching sport the way they want to watch it and personalising the experience as much as possible.

“It’s very easy for people to go, gosh, this is going to make it too heavy for me,” she says with regard to the recent statistical influx.

“However, if we’re talking about this data in a way that alienates, we’re doing it wrong.

“The whole point is for this information to make people better understand what they’re seeing and enhance their appreciation of the exceptional abilities of the people involved.”

The next round of the F1 championship takes place on June 1 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain.