Data: The Unseen Driver in Formula 1 Cars

Published in

Formula One Forever

12 min readMay 9, 2024

Running a modern-day Formula 1 car is no easy task. It is one of the most complex machines in the world of motorsports, and requires not just the driver, but also data to drive it.

Formula 1 racing has been a key driver of technological advances focusing on data-driven decision-making. F1 teams have access to unprecedented real-time data points, which they use to monitor every aspect of their vehicles during races.

This wealth of data gives drivers more information about their cars and allows them to make split-second decisions to maximize their chances of success.

Real-time data is vital in F1 racing as it gives drivers insights into the performance of their vehicles, allowing them to make split-second decisions that can provide them with an edge over the competition.

Without good reliable data, an F1 driver cannot give his best in the modern era of Formula 1.

In a world where track time is limited and technology continues to evolve, data is becoming more and more relied upon in Formula 1. It has become crucial to provide reliable and accurate data to ensure success on the track. As the car evolves, the sensing requirements increase to such an extent that existing technology does not suffice.

Therefore, the electronics department of F1 teams have had to develop bespoke sensors and data acquisition systems in-house to provide valuable information that engineers and drivers can use to improve the car’s performance and directly impact the team’s success.

So how much data does an F1 car generate across a race weekend, and why is it so important?

To get to that, let's first understand from where data is generated in an F1 car and how.

Where Is F1 Data Generated From?

A variety of sources are used to generate data from Formula 1 cars and tools, primarily sensors on the cars themselves.

These include engine temperature, suspension settings, gear ratios, tire temperatures and pressures, air intake temperatures and pressure, fuel consumption rates and oil levels, speed, torque, brakes, ERS units (Energy Recovery Systems), etc

An F1 car is typically connected to more than 500 IoT (Internet of Things) devices. Each vehicle is equipped with a suite of sensors that monitor various performance metrics like tire pressure, engine temperature and fuel consumption.

The car collects up to 10,000 individual data points every second, which is more than enough for each team to analyze and make decisions during a race. This data is then sent back in real-time via high-speed wireless networks, allowing teams to access it immediately at their data centers.

F1 teams are now using advanced technologies like 5G and satellite connectivity to ensure they get the most out of their data while on the track.

During a race weekend, there can be over 250 sensors on the car (a typical car would have approx 30 sensors, whereas a luxury car could have anywhere between 100–200 sensors).

Their size varies depending on their function and type, but most of them are very small and light to not impact the weight and performance of the car. Many are not visible from the outside, although a few are, if you look closely, like the small thermal imaging sensors on the front wings.

Those sensors are physically connected either through an analogue system to the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) which runs the entire car, or through a series of CAN (Controller Area Network) buses around the car that bring information back to the central unit. Yeah that’s a lot of techno buzz words, but fret not — we will get to all that in a couple of seconds.

CAN is an automotive standard for network buses which connect multiple devices. There are 17 separate CAN buses on a car in its typical configuration, each communicating with many different devices. For example a pressure sensor might broadcast information on the bus and the ECUs could listen in and use the information.

F1 teams use onboard computers to monitor every aspect of their cars’ performance during a race, and drivers use this data to adjust their driving style according to changing conditions. Real-time data has now become an essential component to racing.

They also use Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) systems to measure driver performance, such as reaction times, braking points, cornering speed and acceleration

How Much Data Do F1 Cars Generate?

The short answer is, a lot! Across a race weekend, the total amount of data generated per car, including video and ancillary information, is over 1 terabyte and this increases substantially (by two or three times) once teams do the necessary post-processing of some of the data during or after the event.

If we talk about “exciting bits” of data that are generated live by the car while it’s running, the figure is more like 30 megabytes per lap, but it can be two or three times more once the car returns to the pits and the data is offloaded using the “umbilical” physical connection.

Of course, some of the data generated at the track needs to be sent back to the factories and this is no easy job, particularly with the vast amounts of data generated trackside. Live data such as car telemetry is important for the team in the Race Support Room back to analyse and review.

At European races, the data can be received within 10 milliseconds, so almost instantaneous. But for flyaways such as Australia (over 10,000 miles away) or Japan (around 6,000 miles away), the data takes around 300 milliseconds to send. Still incredibly quick, but a slight delay compared to races closer to home.

What Happens To The Data Once It’s Been Generated?

Given the lack of testing time in F1 for all the teams, you cannot head back out on track and repeat a test, so the pressure is on to get it right the first time and the same thing applies to the data — get the right data in the limited opportunities they have, so they can extract the most learnings from it.

They also have to balance the requirements of gathering the data for the engineers against what the drivers need during a free practice session because they are also trying to learn about the car, learn about the track and set themselves up for qualifying.

Once the data is gathered from the car, it’s synchronised so they know what’s happening at the precise time on each of the sensors. It is then encrypted and transmitted back to the garage through their telemetry system — which is a common system used across all teams.

The telemetry system is common across all the F1 teams, so there’s quite a big infrastructure around the racetrack to ensure they get 100% coverage. That system is common to all the teams, a unique example of cooperation between the F1 teams.

Earlier, individual teams used to set up their own masts, radios, and telemetry systems, and then decided in the end that that wasn’t the competition they were in. They want to be racing each other on track. There’s no point in having a race between the people setting up the antennas.

The engineering groups for each driver also review and delve into the data, to see what nuggets can be found, to make the driver and car even faster for next time. Sometimes the vast amounts of data can be overwhelming, but that’s also an incredible engineering challenge: prioritising the information you need to analyse and reviewing the right data, to learn as quickly as possible.

How F1 Teams & Drivers Work With All The Data

The F1 teams have a number of areas in the factory where the data is made ready for the race weekend or post-processed after the sessions. This includes places like the simulator, the wind tunnel, and individuals or smaller departments may post-process information specific to their area.

When F1 teams collect all the data and analyze it, they start looking at things from the design of the electrical systems on the car. They have people back in the factory who design the overall system and controls that operate complex systems on the car, like the hydraulics.

The trackside engineering group is a much smaller team that operates at the pointy end of car operation. They try to make the car run as reliably and safely as possible. So that includes folks like the mechanics and technicians who physically build the cars and are wiring up the sensors and electronic parts of the cars.

It also includes their systems engineers, who calibrate the complex systems on the car and keep an eye on its health while running. Additionally, control system engineers look at the driver interface, the gearbox’s operation, the race tuning and performance, starts, all sorts of other bits, and specialists in areas like the radio systems are included.

For example, the FIA-mandated TPMS system (Tire Pressure Management System) measures tyre pressures installed inside the wheels. In addition, they have small thermal imaging sensors mounted on the wings and floors to measure the surface temperature and degradation of the front and rear tires, respectively.

The data rate depends on the sensor type and category, which can range anywhere from one Hertz to one kilohertz and can be increased significantly if necessary. For example, vibration data can be sampled up to 200 kilo-samples per second through intensive signal processing to filter the data down to sensible logging rates.

A vast majority of Formula 1 teams use a software called Atlas made by McLaren Applied. During practice or a qualifying session, the drivers are keen to see their performance and compare it to their teammate’s. So, going through that data with the performance engineer is a vital part of practice sessions. Especially during the qualifying session when there’s a short time in between runs to try and understand where the critical areas of time losses are and where they can gain performance on the next run.

The drivers are keen to understand all this data even when away and out of the car. Typically, on a Friday evening, they will review their data to understand their performance and get an overall feel for what the car is doing to back up their observations and feelings from within the cockpit.

The engineering groups around the drivers go through quite a bit of data with them to help them understand what’s happening in terms of the car performance compared to expectations with the setups that they are running, how the tires are behaving and degrading, etc

The Control Systems Engineers primarily go through things like practice start performance with the driver, looking at the gear shift points to see how accurate they are compared to the optimum, assessing any switch changes and button functionality and also the steering wheel dash display.

They use the data to go through what the driver sees, and if they want to see things in a slightly different way, they can look at that, test it on the data, and can go through it with them, making sure they’re happy with a change, and they can validate all of that before it then goes into the car.

So with sensors all over the car, they receive data from all aspects of the vehicle behaviour, driver inputs, and driver performance. For example, they can see exactly what the driver is doing in terms of breaking inputs, throttle steering angle, what buttons and switches he’s changing on the steering wheel, and also overall car performance, including aerodynamic performance from aero sensors measuring pressure, the performance of the power unit and the drive line, including temperatures, pressures and all sorts of information.

They can then use it to understand what the driver is doing, what the car is doing, and how it behaves in the different ambient conditions and corners around the track. All this is useful information to understand what is happening out on track.

The trackside electronics team then hands over the data from the on-car systems to the Formula 1 paddock team. They receive that data in the garage, and then it is passed back through their systems to the factory.

The F1 teams also use the offloaded car data and more extensive video and media files. These take a lot longer due to the file size. They have an agreement with the engineering teams to priortise and get it back to the factories as quickly as possible.

This is expected before the car goes out for the next run. For example, during the 2022 Mexico GP weekend, the Mercedes produced around 11 terabytes of actual data, transferring backward and forwards between the two factories and the event.

Final Thoughts

The data-driven revolution in Formula 1 has transformed the sport, making it not just a test of speed but also a showcase of cutting-edge technology and strategic acumen.

As data continues to flow in torrents, the teams that harnesses it the most effectively will likely find themselves at the front of the pack.

Overall, the future of F1 data is bright, with machine learning and AI algorithms set to revolutionize strategy optimization, driver performance, and safety.

The driver has to become one with the data that is generated on the car in order to extract every last drop of performance from every component of the car.

All this requires data, and F1 is all set to produce copious amounts of that from every nook and corner of the car.

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