Ferrari is using IBM’s AI to create F1 superfans

Two years ago, IBM realized that there was not one thing left off its list of sports partnerships: Formula One.

Formula One has become one of the most popular sports in the world, especially in the US, where Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” documented the working lives of F1 drivers and turned them into celebrities. Tech-centric games have also become a a hot ticket for the tech industry such as AWS, Oracle, and Anthropic, which are partnering with companies to provide visibility and provide data analysis and AI tools that can provide a competitive advantage.

So when IBM went looking for its next sports partnership, it’s no surprise that the company chose F1 and one of its most famous teams, Scuderia Ferrari HP.

“They are the most successful team in history,” Kameryn Stanhouse, Vice President of Sports and Entertainment Partnerships at IBM, told TechCrunch.

At the heart of this collaboration, however, is what has led other groups to work with technology authorities: to find technological solutions that will help them get the most out of, in particular, artificial intelligence. In fact, one of the best parts of the game, Stanhouse said, is the amount of data that is available and can be used to help people become more comfortable with AI.

“They see how it helps them,” he said of how AI is used in sports storytelling.

The IBM-Ferrari partnership focuses on the concept of storytelling, enhancing fan engagement by reinventing the technology that powers the Ferrari fan program. To help with this, Ferrari has hired Stefano Pallard in a role that has just been named “director of fan development,” who said that the problem the team wants to solve is not only reaching the fans, but “making each of them feel like we know them.”

“It starts with taking the data we get from rail and turning it into something that’s easy to follow and engage with,” he told TechCrunch.

Groups process millions of data for every second in every race, taking all the movements of the driver and the car. Turning this into something fans can engage with is just one way advanced business AI can help businesses better connect with consumers.

Among the 11 teams, Ferrari is one of the few (along with the likes of McLaren and Williams) to have an independent way of simulating the program instead of relying on social media or F1 platforms instead, showing how the sport is slowly starting to benefit from global growth.

Some of the changes to Ferrari’s software were simple, such as offering it in Italian. Although Ferrari is an Italian company and most of its fans are Italian, their fan app was not available in Italian until the IBM collaboration.

Stanhouse said the old Ferrari app is a place where people go to get information about the race and leave. The new app features games that fans can play with others in the app, new AI-written race tips, more back stories about the team and drivers, a prediction center, and an AI companion for fans to ask questions.

“There are two drivers, but did you know that it takes 24 people working simultaneously for two seconds to change a tire?” Stanhouse said, adding that storytelling helps fans feel closer to the band.

Unlike other sports programs IBM has created, Stanhouse said the main focus of the Ferrari program is storytelling because it wants fans to be involved year-round, not just for a few weeks a year, as is the case with events like the Masters. Data related to the program has been on the rise since IBM came on board, Stanhouse said, for example, showing a 62% increase over the weekend.

Pallard said the team uses AI to analyze the app’s data, such as what people like to read and how they respond to the messages they send.

“This helps us understand what is most closely associated with Tifosi (Ferrari’s iconic name) and directly informs how we create our storytelling and how we deliver content,” he said.

The team hopes to delve deeper into your passion and create an engaging experience.

The developers also took into account the Ferrari fanbase, which is very different than it was five years ago. F1 has been released last year’s figures show that 75% of the new fans were women, most of them Gen Z. Another draw for women is the F1 Academy, a women’s competition series that aims to develop the next generation of female drivers. But these new fans, like the old ones, are after one thing – more.

“They’re asking for more, more information, more information, and we have to provide it,” Pallard said. “With IBM, the vision for the next five years is to make every fan feel like it happened to them, whether they’ve been with us for 30 years or 30 days. That’s how you build the loyalty that exists.”