The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team has continued its partnership with TIBCO. Over the past season, the F1 team has used TIBCO Spotfire in race simulations that influence up-to-the-minute car setup and configuration decisions. The team also used the TIBCO Cost Visualizer Tool for detailed cost-value analysis across engineering and finance data sources to comply with FIA cost cap regulations.
The companies forged an ongoing partnership in innovation on and off the track, with TIBCO Spotfire continuing to enable the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team’s understanding of the factors affecting car performance, and enabling car configuration updates throughout the race weekend. With new and modified circuits, the digital-twin-based simulations played a crucial role in the team’s success.
The team used Spotfire to analyze the simulations and assess the effects of tunable car configuration parameters, including suspension, rear and front wings, and aerodynamics, on car performance. Working with digital twins of the cars, the team ran millions of simulations, using combinations of the tunable parameters to assess the cars’ performance at the tracks. The simulation results were then used to set up the cars and to configure them throughout the race weekend. This evolving car setup and configuration was of central importance to car performance, especially in the last set of races in the Americas and the Middle East, in a highly competitive battle for the championship.
“Racing has become so much more than just the car. We need to provide our drivers with all the information they need to get the best out of the car on that day, that circuit, and in those conditions, which all comes from data,” said Michael Taylor, IT director, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team.
