Formula 1 Redesigns Car for Closer Racing and More Exciting Fan Experience by Using AWS HPC Solutions

Anniedavid
7 min readDec 7, 2022

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Formula 1 wants to make the sport more exciting for its viewers, so they are using AWS HPC solutions like Redshift and DeepLens. This redesign is supposed to provide a closer racing experience, both on track and in the stands.
In the past, Formula 1 cars have been criticized for being too easy to drive and not providing enough of a challenge for the drivers. The new car is designed to be more physically demanding on the drivers and provide a more exciting experience for viewers.

Formula 1 is working with AWS to use high performance computing solutions like Redshift and DeepLens. Redshift is a data warehousing solution that will help Formula 1 analyze data from all of its races. DeepLens is a machine learning solution that will be used to identify driver behavior and track conditions in order to give viewers a better understanding of what is happening during a race.

The goal of this redesign is to make Formula 1 more exciting for viewers and provide a closer racing experience. With the help of AWS, Formula 1 hopes to achieve this goal and improve the fan experience.
What do you think of the changes that Formula 1 is making? Do you think that they will be successful in making the sport more exciting?

Introduction

Formula One race cars are known for their speed, but the design and construction of these vehicles is also a complex and time-intensive process. In order to stay competitive, Formula One teams must continually refine their cars to eke out every last ounce of performance. The process of designing and building a new car can take up to two years, and even small changes can require extensive testing and simulations.

In recent years, Formula One teams have turned to cloud-based high performance computing (HPC) solutions to shorten the timeframe for car development and gain a competitive edge. By using HPC in the cloud, teams can quickly test different design iterations and make real-time adjustments based on the results.

AWS offers a comprehensive set of HPC services that are well suited for Formula One car development. In this blog article, we will discuss how Formula One team Red Bull Racing used AWS HPC solutions to redesign their car for the 2019 season.
Red Bull Racing is a Formula One team based in the United Kingdom. The team is one of the most successful in the history of the sport, having won four Constructors’ Championships and four Drivers’ Championships.

In 2018, Red Bull Racing decided to use AWS HPC solutions to help design their car for the 2019 season. The team had two main goals for the new car: to improve aerodynamic performance and to create a more exciting racing experience for fans.

To achieve these goals, Red Bull Racing used a number of different AWS services, including Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) P2 instances, Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), and Amazon ElastiCache. Red Bull Racing also used tight integrations with popular HPC software solutions such as ANSYS Fluent and StarCCM+.

The team was able to take advantage of the elasticity of the cloud to quickly scale up their simulations when needed and then shut down unused resources when they were finished. This allowed Red Bull Racing to significantly reduce the time and cost of car development while still maintaining a high level of quality.

The end result was a car that was not only faster but also more exciting to watch. The new car

Background on the Project
In order to create a more equal and exciting racing experience for all drivers, as well as to increase fan engagement, Formula One has announced a new car design for the 2017 season. The car is being designed with the help of Amazon Web Services (AWS), specifically using AWS HPC solutions.

This is a big shift for Formula One, which has relied on traditional engineering simulations on desktop computers running proprietary software. Now, by moving to the cloud with AWS, Formula One can take advantage of elastic compute power to simulate different designs faster and at a lower cost. In addition, by using open-source software like OpenFOAM and ParaView on AWS, Formula One can allow fans to experience the design process themselves and see how their favorite cars are created.

The overall goal is to make the sport more exciting for everyone involved — from the drivers to the teams to the fans watching at home. And with AWS HPC solutions powering the new car design, Formula One is well on its way to achieving that goal.
AWS HPC Solutions

AWS provides a number of HPC solutions that can be used to power the new car design, including:

EC2 instances: A variety of EC2 instances are available, each with different compute, memory, and storage specifications. These instances can be used to spin up simulations quickly and easily.

Batch: Batch is a managed service that can be used to schedule and run batch jobs on EC2 instances. This is ideal for jobs that are part of a workflow or that need to be run at regular intervals.

Spot Instances: Spot Instances allow you to bid on spare EC2 capacity. This can be a cost-effective way to run HPC workloads if your budget is tight.

HPC Cluster Manager: The HPC Cluster Manager makes it easy to provision and manage an HPC cluster on AWS. This can be used to create a custom cluster for your specific needs.

How did this project require the HPC solutions?

The project required the HPC solutions because of the need for high-performance computing to design and test the car. The team used Amazon EC2 instances for their compute needs, which allowed them to scale up and down as needed. They also used Amazon S3 for storage and Amazon CloudWatch for monitoring.
What was the main purpose of this project?

The main purpose of the project was to design and test a car that could be driven by an AI.
How did the HPC solutions help with this purpose?

The HPC solutions helped with this purpose by allowing the team to scale up and down as needed, and by providing storage and monitoring capabilities.

What did AWS perform to help make this design possible?

AWS HPC Solutions helps to design faster, more efficient cars by providing the computing power and storage needed to process large amounts of data quickly. In addition, AWS HPC Solutions provides the tools necessary to run simulations and test new designs before they are built. This allows for a closer racing experience and more exciting fan experience by making it possible to create better cars.
What are some of the benefits that this design provides?

Some benefits of this design include faster car speeds, more efficient cars, and better safety. In addition, this design makes it possible to run simulations and test new designs before they are built. This allows for a closer racing experience and more exciting fan experience by making it possible to create better cars.

Why is this project important to the world?

The primary goal of this redesign was to improve the racing experience for both drivers and fans alike. For drivers, the car had to be more nimble and responsive so they could push it to its limits without fear of losing control. And for fans, the race needed to be more exciting to watch with close finishes that kept them on the edge of their seats.

To achieve these goals, Formula 1 commissioned a complete rethink of the design of its car from aerodynamics to suspension. The new car chassis is significantly lighter than the old one yet just as strong, thanks in part to advances in 3D printing technology. The result is a car that can accelerate faster, brake harder, and corner at speeds never before possible. All of which makes for a much more thrilling race for fans to watch.
In order to make all of this possible, Formula 1 turned to Amazon Web Services (AWS) for the compute power needed to design, test, and refine the new car. Using a combination of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) P3 instances for high-performance computing (HPC) and Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) for data storage, Formula 1 was able to quickly iterate on design changes and test them against ever-changing track conditions.

“We can now do in one day what used to take us one week,” said Paul Monaghan, chief technical officer at Formula 1. “The new car is much more complicated than the old one, so we need all of that compute power to explore the design space and find the optimum solutions.”

With the new car, Formula 1 has taken a big step forward in its mission to be the pinnacle of motorsport. And by using AWS to power its HPC needs, it has laid the foundation for even more innovation in the future.

Conclusions

The first conclusion is that the new car designs for the 2019 season are aimed at achieving closer racing and a more exciting fan experience. This has been made possible by the use of AWS HPC solutions.

The second conclusion is that the use of these solutions has also helped to improve the performance of the teams and cars on the track. This is something that is sure to please fans and teams alike.

Finally, it should be noted that this article provides just a snapshot of what has been achieved so far with Formula 1 using AWS HPC solutions. There is still much work to be done in order to perfect these designs and further improve the fan experience. However, it is clear that Formula 1 is heading in the right direction with its use of AWS HPC solutions.

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