When Silicon Meets Speed: How Tech Companies Power Modern Racing From F1^® to IMSA^®

Why racing is the perfect tech proving ground

A modern race weekend looks a lot like a distributed enterprise under pressure:

• Edge + cloud workflows: trackside systems must operate with near-zero tolerance for downtime, then sync to factory resources for deeper analysis.
• Data volume + speed: hundreds of sensors per car plus video, timing, weather, and strategy models create continuous streams that must be filtered into decisions.
• Security stakes: engineering data is extremely valuable, and the traveling footprint (garages, hospitality, remote links, third-party suppliers) expands the attack surface.
• Operational complexity: cost caps (F1^®), homologation rules, and series compliance push teams to optimize not just performance, but also process and spend.

That’s why racing partnerships increasingly resemble enterprise co-development engagements: joint roadmaps, shared technical staff, pilots, and iterative rollouts that eventually become competitive infrastructure.

Formula 1^®: collaboration at maximum velocity

AWS^® and the “broadcast layer” of racing intelligence

F1’s relationship with AWS is a clear example of how a tech partnership can become part of the sport’s product. “F1 Insights powered by AWS” is positioned as a set of broadcast graphics that turn race data into fan-facing narratives—showing, for example, how time is lost through driver errors.

But the collaboration goes beyond TV graphics. F1 and AWS have publicly described joint work spanning machine learning, data architecture, and even exploration around future track design and regionalized media delivery. That matters because it shows a shift: cloud isn’t just “hosting,” it’s becoming the sport’s experimentation platform for how racing is measured, explained, and experienced.

How it shows up with teams:

• Standardized data pipelines and modeling approaches influence how teams and broadcasters talk about strategy and performance.
• Increased expectations for real-time insights raise the bar on trackside compute, data validation, and reliability.

Oracle^® and Red Bull^®: cloud, AI, and the team as a data company

Oracle’s partnership with Oracle Red Bull Racing is often described in terms of cloud and AI adoption “on and off the track,” with Oracle highlighting expanded use of Oracle Cloud and AI technologies as the team enters the 2025 season.

Translated into race-world reality, this type of partnership typically targets:

• Simulation throughput (how quickly the team can iterate scenarios),
• Faster decision loops (strategy modeling and race execution),
• Operational scale (managing the digital footprint across the season).

Whether the workload is CFD runs, strategy Monte Carlo simulations, or cross-department analytics, the shared aim is simple: reduce the time between question → compute → decision.

CrowdStrike^® and Mercedes: cybersecurity as a performance enabler

Cybersecurity used to be treated like an IT checkbox in sport. In top-tier racing, it’s now a resilience requirement—because an outage, breach, or disrupted comms channel can compromise performance on the same day it compromises data.

CrowdStrike has positioned its work with the Mercedes-AMG^® PETRONAS F1 Team as end-to-end security designed for the realities of a global, high-tempo racing operation. The partnership’s seriousness is underscored by late-2025 reporting that CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz acquired a stake in Mercedes F1 and would serve as a technology adviser, tying the relationship even more closely to long-term strategy.

How cybersecurity collaboration shows up day-to-day:

• Securing endpoints and cloud workloads used by engineers and strategists across factory + track environments.
• Reducing operational risk during high-profile events where networks are congested and attention is intense.
• Protecting IP (setups, simulation models, upgrades) that can define a season.

SAP and Mercedes: enterprise systems for racing operations under constraints

F1 performance isn’t only about lap time—it’s also about being operationally excellent inside strict rules. Mercedes and SAP have described work focused on operational efficiency and data insights, built on SAP cloud foundations and extending into AI-driven planning and decision support.

This is the “unsexy” side of racing collaboration that still wins championships:

• procurement and inventory discipline,
• financial forecasting,
• resource optimization under cost caps,
• faster internal decision-making with consistent data.

IMSA^®: where endurance racing forces the tech stack to be rugged

If F1 is a sprint of complexity, IMSA is complexity that lasts for hours. Multi-class traffic, long stints, changing weather, cautions, and strategy variation demand durable systems that keep working at hour 3, hour 9, and the final pit window.

AWS + IMSA: delivering real-time telemetry to fans in GTP

IMSA has described how it delivers real-time GTP telemetry to fans, explicitly framing the initiative around AWS and the challenge of translating complex prototype data into a compelling fan experience.

This matters because it’s not just “timing and scoring.” It’s an attempt to productize deeper performance signals—especially in GTP, where the cars are packed with advanced systems and the racing can be decided by marginal gains.

Bosch Motorsport telemetry systems in GTD and GTD Pro

For GTD and GTD Pro, IMSA has pointed to Bosch Motorsport telemetry solutions (including LTE-based components) as part of the series’ telemetry system direction.

In practical terms, this kind of partnership helps IMSA and teams:

• standardize telemetry infrastructure across a diverse grid,
• improve reliability of data transfer in complex track environments,
• enable better integration between series systems, teams, and—where applicable—fan outputs.

CrowdStrike and IMSA: cybersecurity at the sanctioning-body level

IMSA announced CrowdStrike as an Official Partner and has continued extending that relationship, emphasizing expanded roles in later partnership renewals.

That’s important because sanctioning bodies are increasingly technology operators:

• they run timing/telemetry platforms,
• they manage digital properties and fan experiences,
• they coordinate sensitive operational communications across events.

Cybersecurity at this layer supports not just one team, but the stability and integrity of the entire race weekend ecosystem.

Video + data for race control: Catapult (SBG) and AMD^®

Race control is where sporting fairness and safety are enforced—and it’s now deeply data-driven. AMD’s IMSA case study describes IMSA’s work with Catapult (formerly SBG Sports Software) to combine HD video with timing and scoring data plus telemetry into a timestamped system, enabling rapid replay and decision-making.

That is a textbook example of collaboration that’s invisible to casual fans but essential to modern racing:

• faster incident review,
• richer contextual evidence for penalties,
• improved operational confidence during contentious moments.

IMSA Labs^®: a newer model for bringing innovation in

IMSA has also been expanding the way it engages with partners and innovation through initiatives described as “IMSA Labs,” intended to create structured pathways for partners to contribute.

Even without getting lost in program branding, the direction is clear: the sanctioning body wants a repeatable pipeline for testing new tools—whether that’s data products, fan experiences, or operational tech—without risking the stability of race weekends.

How tech companies actually collaborate with teams and series

The most effective racing partnerships tend to follow a few repeatable patterns:

1) Embedded expertise, not just product placement

Whether it’s cloud architecture, security operations, or telemetry transport, top programs often place specialists into the team/series workflow—especially around major events like Daytona or marquee F1 grands prix—so issues are solved with context, not guesswork. (This is the hidden sauce behind “multi-year” deals.)

2) Co-development and iterative rollouts

In both F1 and IMSA, new data features rarely launch perfectly formed. They arrive as pilots, then get refined across events, circuits, and conditions. That’s how you go from “we can capture it” to “we can trust it” to “we can show it live.”

3) Race-circuit infrastructure as the shared dependency

Circuits are where theory meets reality: RF interference, concrete garages, weather, crowded networks, and miles of cabling. Delivering reliable telemetry, timing, and fan connectivity requires coordination between:

• series operators (IMSA/F1),
• circuit IT and operations,
• team network environments,
• broadcast partners and streaming platforms.

That’s why the track is increasingly treated like a managed edge site—an extension of the team’s factory network and the series’ cloud backbone.

4) Turning performance data into fan experience

AWS-F1 Insights and IMSA’s telemetry-to-fans efforts point to the same truth: series leaders want to make data legible. The next generation of fans expects why something happened, not just what happened.

What this means for the next phase of racing

The collaboration trend is accelerating, and it’s pulling racing into the same technology frontier as finance, aerospace, and critical infrastructure:

• AI-assisted decisioning becomes normal: strategy, reliability forecasting, pit timing, even operational planning.
• Security becomes inseparable from performance: resilient systems win races; compromised systems lose them.
• Series organizations act like platforms: they don’t just sanction racing—they run data products, digital distribution, and innovation pipelines.

F1 will keep setting the pace, but IMSA’s multi-class endurance ecosystem may be the best stress test of all—because it forces technology to survive the longest, under the widest variety of conditions, across some of the most demanding circuits in the world.

F1^®, Formula 1^® are trademarks owned by Formula One Licensing B.V. (BESLOTEN VENNOOTSCHAP (B.V.); NETHERLANDS); AWS^® trademark is owned by Amazon Technologies, Inc. (CORPORATION; NEVADA, USA); Oracle^® trademark is owned by Oracle International Corporation (CORPORATION; CALIFORNIA, USA); Red Bull^® trademark is owned by Red Bull GmbH (LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY; AUSTRIA); Crowdstrike^® trademark is owned by Crowdstrike, Inc. (CORPORATION; DELAWARE, USA); AMG^® trademark is owned by MERCEDES-BENZ GROUP AG (CORPORATION; GERMANY); IMSA^®, IMSA Labs^® are trademarks owned by International Motor Sports Association, LLC (LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY; FLORIDA, USA); AMD^® trademark is owned by Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (CORPORATION; DELAWARE, USA). All trademarked names or other marks mentioned are for reference purposes only.