F1 to use artifical intelligence TV graphics in 2019

As part of an alliance between F1 and Amazon Web Services (AWS), the sport's chiefs have been utilising the latest technology to harness the wide range of car data that it can tap in to.

In a bid to help improve the experience for fans at home, F1 chiefs have revealed that it is readying a new package of graphics that will utilise Amazon's machine learning tool Sagemaker.

Speaking during last week's AWS re:Invent learning conference in Las Vegas, F1 managing director of motorsport Ross Brawn said that plans were advancing for a better graphics package.

"For next season we are expanding 'F1 Insights' for our viewers, by further integrating the telemetry data such as the car position, the tyre condition, even the weather, so we can use 'Sagemaker' to predict car performance, pit stops and race strategy," said Brawn.

"[There will be] some exciting new AI integrations into next year's F1 TV broadcast."

In his speech, Brawn offered three examples of how the new graphics will be used in actual race broadcasts.

Ross Brawn, Formula One Managing Director of Motorsports speak about F1-TV in 2019

Photo by: Amazon Web Services

The first is to offer better insight in to the state of each drivers' tyres, so fans have a better understanding of whether a driver is suffering from overheating or has everything under control.

"We know that somebody is in trouble: his rear tyres are overheating," said Brawn. "We can look at the history of the tyres and how they have worked and where he is in the race, and machine learning can help us apply a proper analysis of the situation.

"We can bring that information to the fans and make them understand if the guy is in trouble or if he can manage the situation. These are insights the teams always had but we are going to bring them out to the fans and show them what is happening."

Ross Brawn, Formula One Managing Director of Motorsports speak about F1-TV in 2019

Photo by: Amazon Web Services

F1 also plans to offer fans a graphic to show a prediction for the likelihood of an overtaking move taking place.

Brawn added: "Wheel-to-wheel racing is the essence, a critical aspect of the sport and now with machine learning and using live data and historical data, we can make predictions about what is going to happen.

"The graphic on the right shows what we expect is going to happen in this event. What is great about this, is that the teams don't have all this data. We as F1 know the data from both cars and we can make this comparison and this has never been done before."

The final example Brawn showed was of a pitstop analysis, to show fans the strategic implication of what has taken place.

"Stopping at the right time and fitting the right tyre can win or lose a race," he said. "We are going to take all the data and give the fans an insight into why they stopped and when they stopped – did the team and driver make the right call?"

Brawn also revealed that F1 planned to use the machine learning tools to help evaluate new race formats or ideas – like different starting grids – to work out if there were ways to improve the show.

Video: Ross Brawn's talk starts at the 1h40m mark