Real-time AWS stats to be added to F1 coverage for 2020 season

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is introducing six real-time racing statistics for F1 that will be rolled out through the 2020 season.

The new data will be generated using a range of AWS services, including machine learning, and will be delivered to viewers as part of the F1 broadcast world feed, and on F1.tv.

The hope is that the additional information will allow motor racing fans to compare their favourite drivers and cars, better predict race outcomes and gain an understanding of the split-second decisions and race strategies made by drivers or team strategists that can dramatically affect a race outcome.

Rob Smedley, chief engineer of Formula 1 said: “The F1 Insights we’re delivering together are bringing fans closer to the track than ever before, and unlocking previously untold stories and insights from behind the pit wall.

“We’re excited to be expanding this successful relationship to bring even more insights to life, allowing fans to go deeper into the many ways that drivers and racing teams work together to affect success.”

How it works

Live data, taken from 300 streaming sensors that are fitted to each F1 race car, will be compared with 70 years of historical race data stored in Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3).

This combined stream will be sent to the cloud through Amazon Kinesis, a service for real-time data collection, processing, and analysis. F1 engineers and scientists will use machine learning (ML) models with Amazon SageMaker, AWS’s service for building, training, and deploying ML models.

F1 will analyse race performance metrics in real-time by deploying those ML models on AWS Lambda, which runs code without the need to provision or manage servers.

The stats

The roll-out will begin with “Car Performance Scores” at the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix (3-5 July). “Car Performance Scores” isolate an individual car’s performance and allows race fans to compare its performance to that of different vehicles head-to-head.

The information will be display as an on-screen graphic that provides fans with a complete breakdown of a car’s total performance using four core metrics: Low-Speed Cornering, High-Speed Cornering, Straight Line, and Car Handling.

The new graphic will illustrate how those metrics compare from one car to another, enabling race fans to gauge a given car’s relative performance in those different areas and see where each team and driver is leading the pack or losing crucial time to their rivals.

What else is in the offing?

F1 and AWS previously announced six F1 Insights, including Exit Speed, Predicted Pit Stop Strategy, Pit Window, Battle Forecast, Pit Strategy Battle, and Tyre Performance and will roll out the following six additional “F1 Insights powered by AWS” stats as on-screen graphics from July through December of this season.

• Car Performance Scores: Isolates an individual car’s performance and allows race fans to compare its performance to that of different vehicles head-to-head
• Ultimate Driver Speed Comparison: Allows race fans to see how their favorite drivers compare to other drivers in history, dating back to 1983, to help determine the fastest driver of all time – debuts 7-9 August at the Emirates Formula 1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone.
• High-Speed/Low-Speed Corner Performance: Allows fans to see how well drivers tackle the fastest bends on the track travelling at more than 175 kph/109 mph and slow cornering (below 125 kph/78 mph) compared to other vehicles, which is critical to lap time – debuts 28-30 August at the Belgian Grand Prix.
• Driver Skills Rating: Breaks down and scores driver skills, based on the most important factors for overall performance, to help identify the best “total driver” on the track. By calculating varying subsets of qualifying round performance, starts, race pace, tire management, and overtaking/defending styles, this insight will provide an overall driver ranking.
• Car/Team Development and Overall Season Performance: As the season unfolds, this will plot a team’s cumulative performance from race to race to uncover the development rates of each team.
• Qualifying and Race Pace Predictions: Gather data from practice and qualifying laps to predict which team is poised for success ahead of each race session. These predictions will create heightened intrigue and excitement for the Saturday qualifying session and Sunday race.

Mike Clayville, vice president of worldwide commercial sales at AWS added: “Formula 1 racing mixes physics and human performance, yielding powerful, but complex data that AWS is helping them to harness. Our existing relationship with F1 has already produced statistics that have brought fans into the race paddocks, and our study of race car aerodynamics is influencing vehicle designs for the 2022 season.

“This year, we’re thrilled to extend the power of F1 data in the cloud and unlock new insights that help fans understand more of F1’s rich complexity.”

AWS was appointed as the official cloud and machine learning provider for F1 in 2018.