AWS Chips Away at the "Black Box" of F1 Data with Strategy Insight

For most of Formula One's history, a decision made on the pit wall has looked the same to fans no matter where they watch from – grandstand or at home. A driver is told to pit or stay out. A driver pushes or manages tires. The reasoning, math, data, and the risk of a wrong decision stayed inside the headset on the pit wall and in the garage – hence Formula 1's 'black box'.

Fans have been left guessing for decades about the sport, and that guesswork is what Strategy Insight was built to address. The tool is powered by AWS cloud and machine learning services and uses F1 live timing, telemetry, and historical race data to build context around race strategy. It also leverages Track Pulse to identify which in-race strategic moments are most essential to share with fans.

Fans will now see a plain-language broadcast graphic, appearing on screen to translate in real time what a strategist on the pit wall is working through in that moment. Now, you'll know exactly why your favorite driver chose to pit or stay out and more.

Ruth Buscombe Hungarian GP AWS | Courtesy of Ruth Buscombe

Grand Prix on SI sat down with Ruth Buscombe, F1 race strategist turned F1 TV Analyst and AWS technical advisor, about how this tool actually works, why Hungary was the best choice for launch, and what it means to hand fans such a critical piece of F1 knowledge.

How Strategy Insight Works for F1 Fans

Strategy Insight as a tool sits on top of the existing AWS and F1 system called Track Pulse, which, as Buscombe explains, tells everyone on the F1 TV team which live moments of a session are actually worth explaining.

So, while Track Pulse throws a flag up telling the team 'this is a story', Strategy Insight actually builds the sentence and context around it. The work that these tools do, thanks to AWS, behind the scenes essentially mirrors what a veteran strategist would do on track, analyzing data, past race scenarios, and making the ultimate on-track decision.

"As a race strategist, especially one before the onset of AI, we're drawing on years of experience to make decisions. AWS essentially had to replicate that."
Ruth Buscombe

The output doesn't forecast what a team will actually do on track. What it does accomplish, though, is surface what is likely going to occur given the endless data analyzed – current track action, tire degradation, traffic, weather, gap to the lead, etc...

F1 Insight Still Hungarian GP | Courtesy of AWS

Buscome's definition of what it means to be a strategist in the first place mirrors this. According to her, strategy is "about making the best call you have with the information you have at the time." Nothing is certain ever, but what Strategy Insight illustrates the translation of the decision-making process to the final line fans hear on the broadcast. The 'why'.

AWS' Launch at Hungaroring

That 'why' also translates to the track with which Strategy Insight was launched. Hungaroring and the Hungarian GP by all accounts is not the easiest or most straightforward track on the calendar. Teams rely heavily on data as the strategy at Hungaroring shifts year to year.

Buscombe has spent years watching the Hungarian Grand Prix change and evolve more than nearly anywhere else on the calendar. There is a relative lack of straights; wind and heat are massive factors in grip, and the strategy often isn't clear until the opening laps. The result is a race where the one-stop versus three-stop strategies are decided in the moment when drivers are already turning laps.

"Nobody knows if it's a one-stop or a two-stop. Schumacher and Senna didn't know. Lewis and Max don't know. So, it presents a really great challenge not only to the strategist, but for the first time ever, an opportunity for the fans at home to go along with that journey."
Ruth Buscombe

The clearest example from this past race weekend, in Buscombe's view, was Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes running P6 while chasing the lead with tire data sitting just on the edge of his strategist making a two-stop or one-stop decision.

F1 Hungarian GP Podium AWS | Courtesy of Ruth Buscombe

He could either split the difference and cover the field off – locking in fourth or fifth place – or take a gamble: commit to a one-stop and attempt to win. They chose the latter – to race for it - and committed even after being re-passed by Lando Norris (the eventual winner) to secure third place.

To an F1 fan without context, this could look like a mistake, especially with Norris' repass. Strategy Insight is built for exactly this moment: The graphic that explains a decision most viewers would otherwise have to play a guessing game to understand.

"You might go, 'What are they doing? Why would they be extending? Have they gone to sleep?' No, it's the exact opposite. What they are doing is racing to win. Which, for them [Mercedes] with that car is the correct call. It's fascinating because then you know what we [strategists] can see now with Strategy Insight."
Ruth Buscombe.

Why Educating F1 Fans Matters

AWS has launched this software at an interesting time in Formula 1. After all, it was F1's President, Stefano Domenicali, who last week said that ostensibly F1 fans don't care about the data or "how you drive your car". Au Contraire, the case for presenting more data to fans sits squarely with watching Strategy Insight live.

Formula 1's audience has shifted heavily in the most recent decade of the sport. Unlike, for example, a lifelong NFL fan who doesn't need graphics to explain why a play would be called, most F1 fans are not bringing strategy knowledge to the table. Every race is different, as well, which makes this level of understanding even more out of reach for a viewer.

Ruth Buscombe and Tanuja Randery of AWS | Courtesy of Ruth Buscombe

According to Buscombe, Strategy Insight was purpose-built to meet F1 viewers where they are, 1st or 1000th race, in the same broadcast.

"We've got a completely different demographic to the demographic that we had pre-Drive to Survive era, pre-Liberty buying the sport. We want it to be that when someone turns on the TV, if it's their first race or their 1,000th race, they don't need to have this whole base of knowledge."
Ruth Buscombe

It also formalizes something that a strategist like Buscombe has been doing by hand for years, in long-form strategy breakdowns and shorter briefings on her own social media platforms. That level of education and what AWS can explain to fans live in complement to each other.

"AWS side of things is doing the cutting edge technological, what teams are actually doing live. But, strategy at its core, can also be done with a pencil and paper at home... with a lot of work and knowledge."
Ruth Buscombe

Although Ruth has the depth of strategy knowledge that Strategy Insight is built to solve, she does sit in a situation similar to most F1 Fans at home when on broadcast. Sitting in the broadcast booth, or on her own pit wall like in Hungary, her role hasn't changed, but who she does it with has.

"I don't have a strategy department full of engineers. I don't have live telemetry coming off of my F1 car, but through F1 and the broadcast with AWS's help, they're like my strategy department that enables me to be a strategist. I am using the same skills, processes, and tools to answer the same questions. My objective isn't to win the race... it's to win the broadcast and make sure that the fans at home aren't missing a story."
Ruth Buscombe

So, from Hungary forward, the fans will not only hear the story through the on-track commentators and F1 TV team, like Buscombe, but further understand the 'why' behind what they are hearing. A visual aid to the conjecture. Not just that Lando is pitting to undercut Russell, but the data the strategists are seeing that lets them know that this will result in a possible undercut.

As it turns out, thanks to AWS and Strategy Insight, the 'black box' begins to have a measure of transparency. It just takes graphics and someone willing to explain it to let the rest of us in.

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