Can Formula 1 embrace AI without losing its soul?

At race speed, Liam Lawson is listening to his engineer, watching tire temperatures, managing energy use, and making decisions that can affect lap time. In Formula 1, the flow of data has become part of the driver’s workload. AI is now changing how quickly teams can process that data and turn it into usable information. “This year with our new regulations, the energy management that we have to look after is what makes us quite physically [and] mentally tired, because there’s a lot of things we have to think about,” says Lawson, whose Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 team recently announced a new technology partnership with Salesforce. “There’s a lot of things that I have to manage while I’m driving and make sure that I do consistently.” That includes tire temperatures, how much energy is used during a lap, and constant communication between the driver and pit wall. “[There’s] a lot of communication with the team as well,” Lawson continues. “My engineer talks to me every single lap, and that’s a lot of stuff that we’re communicating and processing as well. For us, it’s all in the car.” Formula 1 teams have always looked for even the slightest competitive advantages through engineering, strategy, and data. AI gives them another way to find those advantages. Teams are using AI tools to organize information, analyze performance, support engineering work, and prepare drivers. The technology is already affecting how teams work between races and during race weekends. The FIA, Formula 1’s international governing body, is now developing rules for how AI can be used in the sport. Updates are expected to phase in across 2027 and 2028, with an emphasis on keeping car development led mainly by human engineers. Much of the concern involves high-performance computing. The FIA has long regulated the computing power teams use for aerodynamics modeling, which helps determine car shape. Those rules were designed to limit a spending race in which