The teams have long employed on-premises data centers to crunch the numbers required to streamline their performance. The same can be said for the Formula One Group (F1), which is the group of companies dedicated to the promotion of the FIA Formula One World Championship. The group employs cloud services to improve numerous aspects of their sport as well as to bring a more all-encompassing digital experience to its fans.

Formula One Group Moves to the Cloud 

In June of 2018, the Formula One Group announced it was moving most of its infrastructure from on-premises data centers to Amazon Web Services (AWS). The group will take advantage of the machine learning and data analytics capabilities of AWS to develop race strategies and discover new metrics that can change the way teams and fans experience the sport.

 Amazon SageMaker is one specific AWS offering the F1 group is utilizing. This machine learning service is being trained with historical race data to enable it to make in-race predictions concerning the optimum time for a tire change or the probability of one car successfully overtaking a competitor. 

 They are also using AWS Elemental Media Services to enrich the fans’ viewing experience. Combined with insights gleaned from SageMaker, data captured from race cars is immediately translated to statistics enabling fans to understand why their favorite team or driver is performing in a particular way.

 How Mercedes-AMG Petronas Uses the Cloud to Stay on Top

In recent years, the sport of Formula One racing has been dominated by the Mercedes-AMG Petronas team. They have won the Constructors’ Championship which honrs the top team in each of the last five years and are off to a great start in their attempt to extend the run in 2019. Use of cloud services is an integral component of their IT strategy. 

Mercedes has opted to go with the cloud data management specialists at Rubrik to manage and protect the tremendous amount of data generated during races and in the factory. The innovative solution provides backup, recovery, and data management capabilities through the use of efficient hardware devices. This solution is tightly integrated with cloud replication, making the data easily accessible by the entire team. Mercedes expects to gain another competitive edge through the use of this technology.

Security is of prime concern to Mercedes as can be seen with their partnership with CrowdStrike, a leader in cloud-delivered endpoint protection. The Formula One team will employ this solution in their headquarters in the UK as well as at racing and testing sites throughout the season. Protecting Mercedes’ intellectual property from hackers and cyber espionage will be accomplished through CrowdStrike’s cloud infrastructure and tools powered by artificial intelligence.