Formula One is about to get even more exciting, as Oracle and Red Bull Racing have officially joined together, introducing a brand new team name — Oracle Red Bull Racing, along with the Team’s newest car for the upcoming 2022 season:
The RB18.
Building upon the success of last year’s F1 Drivers’ Championship, the Team’s 2022 season will feature expanded use of Oracle Cloud across its most fundamental areas of operation: analytics-based race strategy, optimized engine development, AI and machine learning-powered driver training, and a tailored fan experience.
Oracle Cloud enabled us to make race-day decisions that helped Max Verstappen win the 2021 Drivers’ Championship. Discovering and reacting to opportunities quickly, is crucial to our success on and off the track, and Oracle is integral in that effort. Every element of our performance is driven by data analysis. Having Oracle as our title partner shows the confidence we have in their expertise and their ability to deliver a true competitive advantage.”
Christian Horner, Oracle Red Bull Racing CEO and Team Principal
Enhancing Simulations with Its Strategic Weapon: OCI
Last season, Red Bull Racing certainly took advantage of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), increasing the number of simulations they ran by 1,000x to improve the accuracy of their predictions and sharpen their decision-making.
Additionally, they accelerated simulation speed by 10x, which gave race strategists more time to make the right call, which OCI helped to signficantly reduce the cost of billions of simulations. In other words, this enables the Red Bull Racing team to cost-effectively improve performance on the track, which is criticial for success under F1’s stringent spending regulations.
Together, both Oracle and Red Bull Racing launched a first-of-its-kind loyalty platform, poewred by OCI.
Dubbed “The Red Bull Racing Paddock,” the platform has seen a more than nine times increase in member sign-ups, serving as the new, direct line of communication between fans and the F1 team. With over 35,000 digital rewards already redeemed by fans, 2022 will continue to prove to be an optimal year for both brands as they work together to incorporate new features and capabilities, including the ability to create user-generated content.
This season, OCI will without a doubt, enable the Oracle Red Bull Racing Team to expand the volume and variety of data they analyze and increase the speed at which simulations run in order to better predict tactics that will lead to the podium.
“The presence of Oracle, one of the world’s largest cloud technology companies, as title partner not only signals huge confidence in Red Bull Racing’s ability to lead the technology race on track, it will also enable us to drive forward our ambitions for fan engagement, a core tenet of our marketing strategy. We want to take fans with us on our competitive journey in F1, putting them right at the heart of the racing action and Oracle’s world class innovation and technology will help us achieve that goal.”
Oliver Hughes, Oracle Red Bull Racing CMO
Oracle is working with Red Bull Powertrains to develop the next generation of F1 engines that are expected to debut in 2026. Currently, Red Bull Racing is only one of four manufacturers supplying engines for F1. Through OCI technology, Red Bull Powertrains will be able to optimize modeling of its new engine combustion chamber to reduce costs.
Applying AI and Machine Learning for Junior Drivers
With AI and machine learning, Red Bull’s junior drivers will be able to better digest data and how it can inform and fine tune their driving style, which will reduce their lap times.
These OCI-powered analytics not only reduces lap times, but it also optimizes car set up, improves race strategy, and provides its drivers with training that can help them keep consistent lap times on any virtual track — with any type of simulated weather.
Bringing Style From the Track to Austin F1 Fans with Blender’s Sponsorship
During the press conference, Oracle Red Bull Racing also revealed that it was taking on a new sponsor: Blenders Eyewear, a leading California eyewear brand that manufactures sunglasses, snow goggles, and prescription eyewear. It teased an upcoming Spring 2023 collection that will be fueled by the World Championship F1 racing team’s signature colors and livery design.
The new sponsorship runs through 2025.
You can follow the season updates by heading over to Netflix and binge watch the docudrama, “Formula 1: Drive to Survive,” which just released its fourth season in March, covering the 2021 World Championship.
