Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team has announced a partnership with cloud-based data streaming platform Confluent.
The multi-year agreement brings the California-based company into Formula 1 for the first time, and its presence will be felt when Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar take to the track for the Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix this weekend.
Not only will Confluent’s logo appear on the halo and sidepods of the VCARB cars but also introduce the data streaming technology to the team’s garage.
The reams of data pouring out of the cars of Lawson and Hadjar – thousands every second of a race – will now be harnessed by team members in real-time, allowing strategy calls to be made as quickly and accurately as possible.
VCARB will now benefit, with those data points being made available to the pit wall, the garage and the factory using Confluent’s cloud-based solution, as VCARB Chief Technical Officer, Tim Goss, explains.
“Every lap teaches us something new, and the faster we can learn, the better we get,” he said.
“With Confluent, data becomes a competitive edge that not only helps us make smarter decisions during a race but also guides post-race analysis and even car design. Together, these insights help us close the gap to the front of the grid.”
Confluent is keen to push its platform as ‘data in motion’, perhaps making F1 the perfect place for the company to build.
“In Formula 1, winning isn’t just about the car, it’s about the data flowing through every part of the team,” said CEO and co-founder, Jay Kreps.
“This partnership with VCARB shows what’s possible when real-time data streaming becomes as central to racing as the engine itself.
“Every lap generates insights that fuel human decision-making today and train the AI and machine learning models that will shape tomorrow’s cars and race strategies. We’re thrilled to be innovating at that speed, together.”
