Under the skin: F1’s tech revolution examined

Formula 1 has undergone a social and technical revolution over the 2017 season.

The pinnacle of motor sport now offers 4K video streams through Sky Sports in the form of interactive 360-degree videos that can be viewed on smart devices. Live data is streamed directly from the cars.

Some will put this down to Liberty Media, the new owners of the series. Last year, BBC News reported that the firm was more open to embracing “new media” than when the sport was run by Bernie Ecclestone, who reigned over Formula 1 for 40 years.

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While Liberty Media is often in the public eye as the instigator of these changes, the Indian-based tech giant Tata Communications is also responsible for many of the technical tweaks that allow fans to interact with the series.

Speaking to The Week, the company’s global marketing chief, Mehul Kapadia, revealed the work going on behind the scenes to draw in more fans by embracing new technology.

It’s not just about Liberty Media

Kapadia says that many of the technologies introduced over the last year have existed for quite some time, but it has taken “five painstaking years” to bring much of the company’s efforts to fruition.

“All of these transitions are down to how much technology is changing and how much it is becoming easier to adopt”, he says.

Kapadia gives the example of 360-degree live video, which made its debut at the chaotic Singapore Grand Prix. While the technology has existed for several years, he says the challenge comes when the video is streamed live across the world and controlled by user inputs from their smartphones.

The live videos have to sync up to television screens “in real time”, says Kapadia. Otherwise fans would experience a disconnect between their two devices.

“It’s a complex thing to put together”, he says, but the technology is now available for experiences such as 360-video to complement the main race footage broadcast by Sky Sports and Channel 4.

“Collaborative work” between Tata Communications and F1 brings these products to series's audiences, he says, as the former provides the technology requested by the latter.

Fans have their say, with a twist

One of the key changes that F1 has seen during the 2017 season – aside from wider and faster cars – is the focus on improving the sport for fans.

There have been countless surveys to assess what fans want to see in the series, along with the addition of special zones that act as an entertainment hub for grand prix attendees when there’s no on-track action.

But fans are also having an impact on the technical side of the Formula 1 series. They can now put their technical and creative skills to the test by entering Tata Communications’s Connectivity Innovation Prize. This invites them to dream up new ideas for improving the series’s coverage.

“In today’s day and age, crowdsourcing of ideas to solve real-life challenges actually brings new thoughts and new innovations beyond what we can actually do,” says Kapadia.

He says fans are given a new challenge every year to come up with solutions to real-life issues within F1.

This year’s contest tasked fans with designing an at-the-track experience through the Internet of Things that must be accessible through a mobile device.

Triple world champion Lewis Hamilton is involved in judging the competition, as is commentator and former F1-driver Martin Brundle.

“They have seen the evolution of the sport and they truly understand the value of fan engagement”, Kapadia says.

The winner of this year’s prize will be announced at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on 26 November, where they will receive a $50,000 (£38,000) cheque. A bonus prize is also up for grabs. This will see the winner go behind the scenes of F1’s technology operations next season.

What’s next for F1?

Innovations such as 360-degree videos give fans more control over the way they watch F1, but Kapadia says he would like to see fans have an even more immersive experience.

“Through the years, because of the engineers and the way we consume it now on television, a part of it is not there”, he says.

“But there are still crashes, there’s still overtaking action, like [Sebastian] Vettel bumping into Lewis [Hamilton] in Baku. So if we are able to unlock that immersive experience, whether you are at the race track or not, I think that is what I want to see in the sport.”

Tata will be hoping its relationship with Liberty Media can bring about these “immersive experiences” in the near future, as Liberty seems keen on improving F1’s global appeal.

“The new management [Liberty Media] has come in with a lot of energy and the spirit of innovation”, says Kapadia. “It’s not just about the racing action, it’s about the story that goes on behind the scenes.”