Technology has long been the key to success in motorsport. F1 teams use technologies such as cloud computing for AI and machine learning to improve performance. But with the advancement of artificial intelligence accelerating every day, the racing car giants are doubling down.
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WOKING, England — Inside McLaren’s vast technology center, artificial intelligence is not something that is shouted from the rooftops.
However, 60-year-old motorsport giant is an avid user of behind-the-scenes technology.
At the McLaren Technology Center (MTC), located in Woking, England, the company explained how it is using AI to improve its chances on the Formula 1 circuit.
“We’re an organization that has long used traditional machine learning technology products,” Dan Keyworth, McLaren’s director of business technology, said at a press conference at MTC in October.
Using machine learning, McLaren is able to base its decision-making on probabilities, which in turn helps it train its AI models, according to Keyworth.
The racing company showed numerous examples of technological innovation at the MTC. These range from real-time data monitoring inside a secret mission control room, to the use of “digital twins” (3D digital versions of physical objects) of real cars that allow teams to model the conditions in which real vehicles will have to operate.
Keyworth said there are three main areas where McLaren is applying AI heavily: improving car performance, day-to-day operations and commercialisation.
Lando Norris’ McLaren Formula 1 replica, with sponsors such as McLaren, Pirelli, CNBC, Jack Daniels and Google Chrome, will be on display at Mobile World Congress 2024 in Barcelona, Spain, on April 2, 2024.
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He added that generative AI tools offer new capabilities to F1 teams, including the ability to run in-depth simulations of certain scenarios that could occur during races.
This could range from determining the ideal time a car should spend in the pits, to deciding which tires to put on the vehicle when replacing an old set.
“What AI allows us to do from a generative perspective is actually play out more of those real scenarios and ask, ‘What’s going to happen?'” Keyworth said.
Some of those scenarios are starting to produce “fairly accurate” results — to an “almost scary” level, heh added.
F1 is not new to technological advancement
Technology has long been the key to success when it comes to motorsport — and not just for McLaren.
Various F1 teams were for years, taking advantage of modern advances in technology — from cloud computing to artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Aston Martin Aramco, for example, touts the use of so-called “data lakes” — massive data storage centers — and machine learning technology to learn from vast amounts of data to predict patterns and improve decision-making.
Clare Lansley, Aston Martin Aramco’s chief information officer, says machine learning algorithms can combine data about tires, weather and track conditions and use predictive analytics to optimize decisions.
In an April blog postshe said the speed at which these events are happening is “truly impressive”.
“By adopting this technology, we will be able to free up more engineers so they can focus more on the car’s performance,” she noted.
Another F1 team using AI to improve on-track performance and strategy is Red Bull-owned Visa Cash App RB.
Peter Bayer, CEO of RB, said earlier this year that the Italian F1 team uses AI to compete to “hundredths of a second”.
Speaking at an event with the company’s software partner Epicor at its factory in Faenza, Italy, Guillaume Dezoteux, RB’s head of vehicle performance, said AI can help inform teams when it comes to planning because “it means you don’t have to run 100 simulation.”
Connectivity is “the lifeblood of sport”
Keyworth noted that none of the innovation happening within McLaren would have happened without the help of IT tools and equipment partners such as Cisco and Google.
“Connectivity is probably the lifeblood of the sport,” he said ahead of the October 27 Mexico City Grand Prix. “Without it, nothing starts. No car can be safely on the track.”
A key component behind McLaren’s ability to provide real-time data flow to its teams is its so-called mobile data centers.
These are miniature server rooms that are sent to various races around the world to keep the digital components of the operation consistently online.
“These mobile data centers are carried alongside the famous F1 cars to each race location and are remotely networked to enable real-time data storage and processing,” MTC’s Chintan Patel, Cisco’s Chief Technology Officer UK & Ireland , he told CNBC.
Another area where AI brings benefits is commercialization, according to McLaren’s Keyworth.
For fans and partners, he said, McLaren is increasingly trying to “enrich the journey and the experience, and make our fans feel more connected.”
With AI, McLaren can better target fans in emerging markets for F1 like the US, where the sport has grown in popularity – for example by personalizing information for fans at certain times of day.
Meanwhile, when it comes to using AI on the business side of things, Keyworth said, the main area of improvement the company sees is in “making everyone’s lives richer, easier, faster, more efficient.”
“It’s not a labor replacement – it’s a ‘hard’ replacement,” he said. “You want to unlock your team to do the things you hired them to do—not work through the overhead that lives in their role.”
