VIDEOS + Interview: An official F1 technology partner since 2022, Lenovo’s multi-year F1 partnership is a genuine winner

With Lenovo’s technologies powering the enterprise, businesses of all sizes and every type of consumer in between, from pocket to the cloud, it’s no surprise to see Lenovo chosen to be one of the top technology partners for the extraordinary global F1 extravaganza, now in its third year.

Lenovo’s breath and depth of IT products is so broad that the company has not only been the No.1 seller of PCs globally since 2013, but genuinely makes products and services that go from people’s pockets – with Lenovo and Motorola smartphones – all the way through to servers and AI systems that power cloud computing solutions.

That experience saw the F1 organisation announce Lenovo as an official technology partner in March 2022, ahead of the then upcoming 2022 season, with 2024 now the third year of the partnership.

It’s a multi-year deal that has seen Lenovo’s cutting-edge technologies used across Formula 1’s operations, and with both the F1 and Lenovo being global leaders in their respective fields, it has obviously been – and continues being – a great way to push the boundaries of what’s possible when combining sports with advanced technology.

As Lenovo’s blog post explained, Formula 1 “is using Lenovo technology to build a faster, smarter, and more sustainable sport“, with Lenovo playing a key role in the Formula 1 technology infrastructure.

In that blog post, we see Pete Samara, Director of Strategic Technical Ventures at Formula 1 stating: “Innovation is embedded in everything we do. From the car to the track, to the broadcast and digital products, innovation has to be at the heart of everything we do every single day.”

Chris Roberts, IT Director at Formula 1 is also quoted: “We’ve got to make a million and one moving pieces synchronise and all come together in perfect harmony for race weekend. It’s about ensuring that innovation comes together and we make it a hundred percent operational for fans. That’s a lot of people, and that’s a lot of software to get working together. Lenovo’s very much a one-stop shop for us, which is fantastic. We not only get amazing technology but also access to some of the best techies and expertise to help us build solutions,” with plenty more detail from that blog post here and some great videos to watch below.

Lenovo invited a few members of the media to the Friday session of the Melbourne F1 event, and I was there. We saw a video in the ETC – the Event Technical Centre – showing just how much technology, cameras, 10gbps links, terabytes of data and more travel back to F1 headquarters in Biggin Hill in Kent, UK, with some interesting information available here from a 2020 article.

That video is not available to the public, but elements from that video are replicated in the videos below, so please take a look – and read on!

Here’s a great video showing how Lenovo and the F1 are working together:

Here’s another video definitely worth watching on how Formula 1 is using Lenovo Technology to Build a Faster, Smarter, and More Sustainable Sport:

This is a video on how Lenovo powers the F1 broadcast team:

More F1 and Lenovo videos can be seen at this YouTube playlist.

I had the opportunity to speak with Silke Barlow, Lenovo Country General Manager for Australia at the F1 Paddock on Friday, and below her photo is a short, lightly edited transcript of what we spoke about:

Silke Barlow, Lenovo Country General Manager for Australia

Alex Question 1: I started by asking Silke, can you please remind us of Lenovo strengths and the consumer and Enterprise markets in Australia?

Silke Answer 1: Sure. I think the novel strength is we do purpose design our product around what our customers need. And so it is customer centricity, that drives the innovation. And that puts us at the Forefront.

Alex Q2: This is the third year of your partnership at the F1. You often hear stories about how advances were made for the F1, enterprise and military, which then filters down into the general business and consumer spaces.

Has Lenovo done anything different with this Technologies, or are these the same products and services at the F1 that you use for all your other business customers?

Silke A2: The Lenovo technologies being used are not modified, but F1 uses cutting-edge technologies and they’re pushing the boundaries. You’ve seen a little bit of what they do here. I think it’s fair to say that we learn a lot from F1 requirements and environments our products and services are being put. So everything that we learn goes back into our research and development and it’s been a fantastic partnership so far.

And you’ve heard, the F1 are very happy with our product and with the performance. and it does enhance the experience of Formula One every race weekend.

Alex Q3: Lenovo is also promoting its sustainability credentials with its Asset Recovery Services. Can you please tell us about this service because I notice that the F1 are talking about it?

Silke A3: Yes. It’s hugely important. Formula One is very conscious of sustainability and they are cycling through a lot of technology. Lenovo helps them to recover their assets and either repurpose the assets through the circular economy, or to make sure they’re safely disposed and recycled.

And that is something that obviously not only is Formula One very conscious about, but every customer, so it has been a growing part of our business and it has been part of our DNA for a long, long time.

Alex Q4: Silke, I’m going to include a video Lenovo’s Kiss activated trophy (immediately after your answer). Have you seen it and have you kissed it?

Silke Q4: No, I haven’t. And unfortunately it’s not coming to Australia. But there is something new in the making I believe for this year. So there will be a new version of the trophy. I haven’t seen it yet either. I don’t know what’s coming but this is just another example of where we our use technology to create a more immersive experience.

The last couple of questions and answers continue:

Alex Q5: There’s a bit of an Australian connection with Daniel Ricardo and his famous champagne “shoey”. Is there any champagne technology activated shoey to come that you’ll make for Daniel Ricciardo?

Silke A5: I’m not sure about that, but I’ll pass on the idea! 🙂

Alex Q6: Is there anything else we need to know about the Lenovo and F1 partnership?

Silke A6: I think it’s a great alignment when you look at the passion, the innovation, the technology, the level of technology that is involved in bringing F1 to life… every race weekend is amazing. And so the partnership is just a really, really good fit for us.

It’s all about innovation and improving user experience. And partnering with F1 and bringing it all back to a fan base that is in excess of 100 million people that are watching it every race weekend is an amazing opportunity for us.

Here is more information how the Lenovo and Formula partnership in greater detail:

Back in March 2022 Formula 1 and Lenovo announced we would become an Official Partner ahead of the upcoming 2022 season. The multi-year arrangement sees Lenovo’s cutting-edge technology used across Formula 1’s operations, as it continues to bring the highest-level of racing and entertainment to its worldwide fanbase.

We’re both global leaders in our respective fields, and we’re both passionate about pushing the boundaries of what’s possible when combining sports with advanced technology.

So, what does that really mean?

Note: This information is written from Lenovo’s viewpoint:

F1 is constantly searching for ways to boost productivity, mobility and security throughout its organization. Our hardware devices – as well as High-Performance Computing (HPC) and server solutions support that.
Our technology has been rolled out throughout the F1 estate – both consumer and business laptop and desktop devices, as well as monitors, tablets, and smartphones – supporting everyone from executives to track-side operational engineers. 600+ employees benefit!
Our reliable and durable hardware is used trackside – able to perform under challenging conditions. The kit gets shaken, it gets cooked, it gets frozen, it gets placed in dusty and dry environments and still, it delivers every race – all 24 races across the 2024 season.
Our high-end Lenovo workstations support heavy-duty activities like CAD design, graphics creation and editing by the F1 team. In addition, our workstations, HPC and server solutions help F1 to create engaging, customiaed content, ultimately making fans feel like they’re sitting behind the wheel – it’s all about the fans after all!
Our devices collect on-premise data, improve data storage at the races and create better, more engaging content for fans, vastly improving their experience – no matter where in the world they are. That’s around 500 terabytes of data being transferred over the race weekend.
Our HPC solutions power the video transmission and broadcast of the event. In an arena where split second decisions matter, the coverage has to keep up!
Our Asset Recovery Service (ARS) is helping F1 implement a sustainable strategy for the disposal of kit the organization no longer uses. It not only offsets some of the technology cost, but guarantees security, with secure and reliable data destruction AND it furthers sustainability goals by recycling tech in a more socially and environmentally responsible way.
We’ve introduced other enhancements to the fan experience to further improve it across many areas: from content production to live broadcasting, while F1 is exploring the use of cutting-edge technologies like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR).

Lenovo ThinkReality VRX F1 project

The Lenovo ThinkReality VRX F1 project is a further step in this direction, allowing F1 fans in the Paddock Club to test themselves on the track. The immersive content lets users play an exclusive VR F1 mini-game.

Based on the iconic slot car racing games many of us played as kids, users drive an F1 car around a replica of the Suzuka International Racing Course or of the Circuit of the Americas, controlling its speed with the ThinkReality VRX controllers’ buttons.

While playing, the user can view the track from different perspectives, as if they were observing a toy car track placed on a table. The experience is just like the traditional electric track cars.

Drivers can drift around corners, but if they accelerate too much in a curve, the car can leave the track, and even fall off the table!

Lenovo’s ThinkEdge Avatar, powered by DeepBrain software

The Lenovo ThinkEdge Avatar F1 experience is an innovative solution to revolutionize the Formula 1 fan experience. This proof-of-concept demo illustrated the “art of the possible” by leveraging Lenovo’s cutting-edge infrastructure and our ThinkEdge product line integrated with DeepBrain software.

This full-size kiosk avatar answers questions related to Formula 1, including facts, statistics, the Lenovo partnership, and queries about the F1 Paddock Club™ experience. You can interact by asking questions or selecting options on the touch-enabled kiosk. The avatar responds naturally in conversation, providing instant answers and even graphical results when needed.

Lenovo reimagines Formula 1 tradition with world’s first kiss-activated trophy The podium celebration is one of the most iconic moments of the Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend.

After battling out against the world’s best drivers, the winner hoists up the trophy and gives it a celebratory kiss in front of thousands of fans.

In the 2023 season, Lenovo transformed tradition by creating the world’s first trophy designed to react when kissed.

Production and Content

F1 is broadcast in 180 territories worldwide – almost as many markets as Lenovo trades in.
25 track cameras are used, rising to 27 at some circuits. This includes 2 Super-Slo-Motion cameras, 3 pit wall cameras and 5 RF Pit Cameras. ‘Special’ unmanned cameras are mounted on bridges, in kerbs, on armco and bollards plus 2 Ultra-Slo-Motion cameras and 5 remotely controlled pan and tilt heads. Most events also see use of a Giro Stabilised Heli-cam.
Every race, over 90 cameras are deployed on cars, with up to five cameras per car: forwards and rear from the roll hoop, a face view camera, a helmet camera, as well as an additional camera either on the side of the chassis or nose. All cars also carry a non-live 360-degree camera for extra content, collecting 480GB of footage from the race and at least 72GB of footage from qualifying, as well as special interest drivers for P1, P2 and P3.
68 bespoke microphones are fitted on cars across F1, F2, F3 and Porsche, and on the FIA’s cars, supplying high quality stereo audio to the production from every car.
F1 produces over 430 hours of live TV over the season and over 205 hours of post produced content including global news packages, promos, documentaries and features for TV Broadcast.

Track-side Event Technical Centre (ETC)

The ETC is the biggest, most complex transportable facility of its type in the world. When assembled it covers an area of 25m by 15m, and houses 750 pieces of equipment, which run over 40 bespoke software systems.
Over a race weekend, it will process between 350,000 and 400,000 timing transponder passing events, produce 750 to 800 pages of electronic official documents and generate approximately 300-400 GB of data per event.

Media & Technology Centre (Biggin Hill, Kent, UK)

The Remote Technical Centre (RTC) is based in the Media and Technology Centre.
It runs over 150 bespoke software systems comprising more than 4 million lines of code, 268 computers cores equating to approximately 4700GHz of processing power, 4.5TB of RAM and c. 150TB of storage.
It deploys over 200 network switches carrying 350 VLANs with an 80 Gbps backbone.
The ETC and RTC transfer around 500 terabytes of data per event weekend, with bandwidth peaking at around 7 Gbps at the start of an event.

Here’s some information on how Lenovo’s products, solutions and services are supporting Formula 1

Lenovo products, solutions, and services that support Formula 1

Lenovo is providing F1 with its industry-leading technology, solutions, and services supporting its operations all the way from the HQ to the track and helping the organization to define new operating models that will help to prepare the sport for the future.
F1 is always looking for ways to boost productivity, mobility and security throughout its organisation. Lenovo’s hardware devices – as well as High-Performance Computing (HPC) and server solutions can support that.
Lenovo’s technology – including consumer and business laptop and desktop devices, as well as monitors, tablets, and smartphones – supports everyone from executives to track-side operational engineers.
Lenovo is providing F1 with highly reliable and durable trackside hardware able to perform under challenging conditions: it gets shaken, cooked, frozen, placed in dusty and dry environment and it needs to deliver every race.
F1 also uses high-end Lenovo workstations to support heavy-duty activities like CAD design, graphics creation and editing.
In line with Formula 1’s commitment to constantly improve the fan experience, Lenovo workstations, HPC and server solutions are helping the company to create engaging, customised content, ultimately making fans feel like they’re sitting behind the wheel:

F1 leverages Lenovo solutions to do on-premises data collection, improve data storage at events, and create better, more engaging content for its fans, ultimately improving their experience no matter where in the world they are.

The F1 broadcast team processes live feeds and makes split-second decisions. Lenovo technology provides the team with critical computing power to aid in the creation of high-quality content at pace.
High-performance computer hardware solutions are used both for video applications such as Graphics and Editing and supporting on-premises broadcast solutions.
High-performance server solutions are leveraged for video transmission applications and for general broadcast command and control applications.
F1 is also considering new opportunities in the areas of augmented and virtual reality, to help fans feel connected in powerful new ways.
Thanks to Lenovo’s consulting services F1 gets access to the experts at Lenovo, leveraging their support to incorporate this technology into its operational environment.
Lenovo’s Asset Recovery Services (ARS) help F1 develop and implement a sustainable disposition strategy for technology hardware that the organisation cycles through.

By relying on Lenovo ARS, F1 was able to offset some of the cost of a technology refresh as well as guarantee security through secure and reliable data destruction. In addition, the initiative furthers the organisation’s sustainability goals by recycling tech in a more socially and environmentally responsible way.

For the future, F1 is considering the consumption-based technology model, to keep the pace with a fast-evolving sport, lingering uncertainty and the need to stay flexible in terms of both scaling and budget impacts.

Lenovo technologies at use include:

Laptops (ThinkPad and IdeaPad):

ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga, ThinkPad X1 Nano, ThinkPad X1 Yoga, ThinkPad X1 Carbon, ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 (AMD), ThinkPad T14s (Intel), ThinkPad T14 Gen 4, ThinkPad X12 Detachable, ThinkPad X13 Yoga, ThinkPad L14, ThinkPad L590, IdeaPad Flex 5

Workstations (ThinkPad):

ThinkPad P14s, ThinkPad P1, ThinkPad P16

Desktops (ThinkStation & ThinkCentre):

ThinkStation P360 Ultra, ThinkStation P360 Tiny, ThinkStation P3 Tiny I7, ThinkStation P3 Tiny I9, ThinkStation P620, ThinkCentre M70q, ThinkCentre M75q, ThinkCentre M80q, ThinkCentre M90q, ThinkCentre TIO 27

Monitors (ThinkVision):

ThinkVision T24t-20, ThinkVision M14t, ThinkVision S22e-20, ThinkVision P27u-20, ThinkVision P27q-20, ThinkVision P32p-20, ThinkVision P40w-20, ThinkVision Creator Extreme 27, ThinkVision T65

Tablets:

Lenovo Tab P11, Lenovo Tab P11 Pro, Lenovo Tab P11 5G, Lenovo Tab P12 Pro

Smartphones:

Motorola Edge 20 Pro, Motorola Edge 30 Ultra, ThinkPhone by Motorola, Motorola RAZR 40 ultra

Servers (ThinkSystem):

ThinkSystem SR645, ThinkSystem SR650 V2, ThinkSystem SR650 V3, ThinkSystem SR630, ThinkSystem SR655, ThinkSystem DE4000H Hybrid Storage Array, ThinkSystem SE350 Edge Server

Services:

Warranty 5Y Premier Support, Warranty 5YR OS 24x7x4, Warranty 3Y Premier Support NBD, Premier Essential Committed Services, Premier Essential Services, Workload Services, Foundation Services, LenovoCare, ThinkPlus, Asset Recovery Services, CO2 Offset, Lenovo XClarity Pro

Accessories:

Lenovo 400 wireless mouse, Lenovo ThinkPad wireless mouse, USB C hubs and chargers for Lenovo laptops, Lenovo keyboards and webcams, ThinkPad Thunderbolt dock workstations, Lenovo laptop privacy screens, Lenovo Go Wired Speakerphone