WOKING, England – At McLaren’s massive technology center, artificial intelligence isn’t being shouted from the rooftops.

However, the 60-year-old motorsports giant is an enthusiastic user of the technology behind the scenes.

At the McLaren Technology Center (MTC) in Woking, England, the company explained how it is using AI to improve its chances on the Formula 1 circuit.

“We are an organization that has a long history of using traditional machine learning technology products,” said Dan Keyworth, McLaren’s director of business technology, in a press conference at MTC in October.

Through machine learning, Keyworth says McLaren is able to make its decisions based on probabilities, which in turn helps it train its AI models.

The racing company showed numerous examples of technological innovation at the MTC. They range from real-time data monitoring in the secret mission control room to the use of “digital twins” (3D digital versions of physical objects) of real cars, allowing teams to model the conditions under which actual vehicles must operate.

According to Keyworth, there are three main areas where McLaren is using AI extensively: improving vehicle performance, day-to-day operations and commercialization.

He added that generative AI tools offer new opportunities for F1 teams, including the ability to run detailed simulations of specific possibilities that might arise during races.

This can range from determining the ideal amount of time a car should spend on pit stops to deciding which tires to put on the vehicle when replacing an old set.

“From a generative perspective, AI allows us to actually run through more of these actual scenarios and ask, ‘What’s going to happen?'” Keyworth said.

Some of these scenarios began to produce “pretty accurate” results – to an “almost frightening” extent, he added.

Technology has long been the key to success in motorsport – and not just for McLaren.

Various F1 teams have been using modern technological advances for years – from cloud computing to AI and machine learning.

Aston Martin Aramco, for example, is promoting the use of so-called “data lakes” – massive data storage centers – and machine learning technology to learn from massive amounts of data, predict patterns and improve decision-making.

Aston Martin Aramco chief information officer Clare Lansley says machine learning algorithms can bring together data on tires, weather and track conditions and use predictive analytics to optimize decisions.

In a blog post in April, she said the speed at which these developments are progressing is “truly impressive.”

“By introducing this technology, we will be able to free up several engineers to focus more on vehicle performance,” she noted.

Another F1 team using AI to improve its on-track performance and strategy is Visa Cash App RB, owned by Red Bull.

RB CEO Peter Bayer said earlier this year that the Italian F1 team was using AI to compete at “hundred-thousandths of a second.”

Guillaume Dezoteux, head of vehicle performance at RB, said at an event with the company’s software partner Epicor at its factory in Faenza, Italy, that AI can help inform teams when planning because “it means you don’t have to run . “100 simulations.”

Keyworth noted that none of the innovation taking place at McLaren would be possible without the help of IT tools and equipment from partners such as… Cisco And Google.

“Connectivity is probably the lifeblood of the sport,” he said ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix race on October 27. “Without them, nothing starts. No car can be safe on the track.”

A key component behind McLaren’s ability to keep data flowing to its teams in real time is its so-called mobile data centers.

These are miniature server rooms that are flown to various races around the world to keep the digital components of the operation online consistently.

“These mobile data centers will be flown to each race location alongside the famous F1 cars and brought online remotely to enable real-time storage and data processing,” Chintan Patel, Cisco’s chief technology officer for the UK and Ireland, told CNBC from the MTC.

Another area where AI brings benefits is commercialization, according to McLaren’s Keyworth.

For fans and partners, he said, McLaren is increasingly trying to “enrich the journey and the experience and make our fans feel more connected.”

With AI, McLaren can better engage fans in emerging Formula 1 markets such as the US, where the sport is becoming increasingly popular – for example by personalizing information for fans at certain times of day.

When it comes to using AI in business, Keyworth says the company sees the main area of ​​improvement as “making everyone’s lives richer, easier, faster and more efficient.”

“It’s not a labor replacement – it’s a ‘laborious’ replacement,” he said. “You want to empower your team to do the things you hired them to do—not to handle the overhead that comes with their role.”