Like any Formula 1 team, McLaren is fanatical about data. It is a vital cornerstone of success, which is why serious attention is paid to the quantity and quality of what is collected and how it is used.
Since 2017, McLaren has also been involved in Formula 1 esports, with its professional team of drivers and engineers receiving the same level of dedication and support from the company as their real-life counterparts, and this extends to the focus on racing data.
Talking to TechRadar ProLindsey Eckhaus, Director of Licensing, E-commerce and E-Sports at McLaren, told us how his partnership with data company Splunk is pivotal to the legendary racing team’s real and virtual Formula 1 success.
True Shadow F1
McLaren Shadow (Opens in a new tab) It is the esports and gaming division of the automaker. The Virtual Racing Team runs much like the physical team, with professional gamers stepping into the cockpits of their simulators to compete in the Digital Grand Prix.
And just like the real thing, the importance of partnering with other companies is crucial to McLaren. Alongside Logitech, Shadow has also partnered with PC maker Alienware to provide rigs, Tesos for blockchain technology, NFT versions to its esport audience, and OKX for cryptocurrency exchange.
“It’s really about: how do we work with partners that give us a real way to bring their technology to life or whatever goal is to … leverage their technology and expertise,” said Eckhaus.
From a data perspective, the key partner for both Shadow McLaren and the real-life Formula 1 team is Splunk, a software platform that provides all the analytical capabilities a team needs.
Of particular interest is Splunk Dashboards – a feature that allows data to be customized in terms of its graphical representation, such as telemetry readouts for steering, acceleration and braking inputs, to make it easier for drivers and engineers alike to understand at a glance.
“Splunk dashboards are a good example of a similar technology in terms of exploring a variety of different areas – we can also look at this from an F1 esports point of view to really inform our racing strategy,” says Eckhaus, adding that the lead engineer for F1 esports actually works on the racing team. The realist, “So again there is a common learning of strategy development across F1 in the F1 esports arena.”
“I think Splunk is probably the best example of where we’re seeing their application transition into esports, and fortunately in the last year we’ve seen that yield some great results.” , she adds, referring to McLaren Shadow winning the 2022 championship (Opens in a new tab).
Expanding on the partnership with Splunk, Eckhaus explained that the relationship goes both ways:
“When you think about the audience in esports, it’s incredibly engaging; it’s also a huge tendency to be in the IT industry in the future or potentially work in Splunk or within esports, so there are many different applications that I think Splunk has. You benefit from them through the partnership, and we certainly benefit from using their technology.”