The Digital Transformation of Formula 1

The 2021 Formula 1 season is one of the most exciting in decades, with top teams and drivers fighting for results millisecond by a millisecond at each race.

Getting there was a journey. And like many industries and businesses, this transformation was driven by technology adoption in all aspects of the operations.

The Age Of Mechanic Marvels

I became a fan of F-1 in the early 80s. As a kid in Rio de Janeiro, I could hear the engines roaring from the Jacarepaguá track.

My first F-1 hero was Nelson Piquet. 3-time world champion and a genius of his time, he grew up in a garage and was personally involved in tuning his car. He was the first to use warming blankets on F-1 tires, figuring out a simple and intelligent way to improve the car's performance.

The Formula 1 car in Piquet's time was a mechanic masterpiece. Engineers were artists, the pilots were superheroes to me. They needed to be consistent during the average 2-hour race, keeping pace while shifting gears, braking and accelerating at the right spots, and fighting for positions. I remember drivers completely exhausted, plastered in sweat, as they went to the podium to get their trophies.

Technology Enters The Scene

The 90s started with Senna winning one of the most dramatic races in F-1 history, the Brazilian GP of 1991. His car lost 4 of the 6 mechanic gears during the last 20 laps, and his team told him to retire the car, but Senna kept going, managed to stay in the lead and get his first home win in front of 70,000 fans at the Interlagos racetrack.

The image of Senna barely able to lift the trophy at the podium is emblematic.

But as more technology entered the F-1 scene, a revolution started.

F-1 cars were becoming smarter with onboard technology. For instance, the "smart suspension" of Williams in the early 90s, a common feature in most commercial cars today, was a breakthrough innovation back in the day and helped the team win 2 world titles in 92 and 93.

Just like modern businesses, these innovative breakthroughs gave a competitive edge to those that could invest in research and development.

As a consequence, the top teams widened the gap over smaller teams. Eventually, some smaller teams couldn't keep up with the business race and ended up shutting down their paddocks for good.

Digital Is The Strategy

That was only the beginning of the digital transformation of F-1. And like many businesses, it's not about "What's my Digital Strategy". The best answer is "Digital is the Strategy".

And it was a journey to get there.

Digital Twins

It starts with the design and development of the F-1 car. Just like software gave speed to modern business giants, it gives F-1 engineers the ability to iterate faster and experiment at a much bigger scale, even before the prototype is built.

By using?High-Performance Computing, F-1 can run aerodynamic simulations to develop its next-generation car 70% faster than ever before, creating a car that reduces downforce loss from 50% to 15%.

By the time the prototype hits the wind tunnel for the first time, it already has thousands of hours of testing through digital simulations.

Even F-1 pilots are becoming better with advanced simulators that can bring real-life experiences to controlled environments, providing more data as it serves more practice time and improves human-machine synergy.

It's a virtuous cycle of continuous innovation, and continuous delivery of value, through quick iterations of experimentation accelerated by information technology. Do you think it sounds familiar to you?

Data Is The New Oil

The raw material for this evolution is data. The F-1 car collects, analyzes, and leverages data and content to make decisions. With 300 sensors on each race car generating more than 1.1 million data points per second transmitted from the cars to the pit, Formula 1 is a truly data-driven sport.

Formula 1 is exploring the use of?Machine Learning?in its simulation process, giving the organization new insights into more than 550 million data points collected through more than 5,000 single and multi-car simulations.?

The fan experience is changing during a race weekend. F-1 has been able to turn millions of data points transmitted from cars and trackside into an engaging fan experience through its F-1 Insights service.

Data is better than oil. Data doesn't deplete, and the more you reuse it, the more value you can get from it. F-1 uses 70 years of historical race?Big Data, analyzed by complex models and shared with fans as rich data insights that reveal the nuances of split-second decision making, and highlight performances through these advanced stats.

As a result, F-1 is revolutionizing the experience of fans, making the events even more competitive, engaging, and attractive for millions of fans around the world.

Lessons From The Cockpit

Technology has been enabling the evolution of industries all around the world.

The ability to gather, process data, and gain insights is a competitive advantage.

But ideas without execution are daydreaming. Putting ideas to practice fast (preferably before competitors!) is the secret sauce.

The Platform for Agile Innovation

The Cloud is now a proven platform for Agile innovation. To bring Digital Transformation to life, Formula 1 partnered with?Amazon Web Services.

In the words of Ross Brawn, Managing Director of Motor Sports, Formula 1:

"By tapping into the breadth and depth of AWS and its innovative cloud technologies we’ve been able to bring fans closer to the split-second decisions on the track, redesign our future F1 cars, help us better understand the wealth of F1 data, and run analytics and machine learning to harness the power of that data, and so much more."

With the help of AWS, F-1 could deliver advanced analytics services, leveraging technologies like HPC and ML, with speed and flexibility in a secure and scalable platform.

To learn more about AWS and F-1 partnership, visit:?https://aws.amazon.com/f1

Final Words for Formula 1 Fans

It's a great time to be an F-1 fan. First, because of the 2021 season. But you can also relive the career and life of great champions.

And legends.

It almost feels like 1986 again...

Have a question about digital transformation and how AWS can help you? Don't hesitate to reach out. Hit me here on LinkedIn or on?Twitter.

Disclaimer:?These comments represent my opinion and not of my employer.