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Like every Formula 1 team, McLaren is fanatical about data. It is an essential cornerstone for 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 competed in Formula 1 esports, with its own professional team of drivers and engineers receiving the same level of commitment and support from the company as their real-world counterparts, with an equal focus on race data.
Speak against Tech Radar ProLindsey Eckhouse, Director of Licensing, Ecommerce & esports at McLaren, told us how the partnership with data company Splunk plays a vital role in both the real and virtual Formula 1 success of the legendary racing team.
Shadows of real F1
McLaren shadow (opens in new tab) is the esports and gaming division of the automaker. The virtual racing team is run like the physical team, with professional gamers stepping into the cockpits of simulation platforms to compete in digital Grands Prix.
And just like in real life, the importance of building partnerships with other companies is crucial for McLaren. In addition to Logitech, Shadow also partners with PC maker Alienware to provide the rigs, Tesos for blockchain technology and NFT releases for its esport audience, and OKX for cryptocurrency exchanges.
“It’s really about how can we work with partners who give us an authentic way to bring their technology to life or achieve whatever their goal is…to leverage their technology and expertise,” said Eckhouse.
From a data perspective, the most important partner for both Shadow McLaren and the real 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 graphical representation, such as telemetry readouts for steering, acceleration and brake inputs, so that both drivers and engineers can easily understand it at a glance.
“The Splunk dashboards are a great example of similar technology in terms of exploring different areas – we can also go into that from an F1 esports point of view to really inform our race strategy,” said Eckhouse, adding that the chief engineer for The F1 esports team actually works in the real racing team, “so again there are shared lessons of strategy development in F1 in the F1 esports arena.”
“I think Splunk is probably the best example of where we’re seeing their applications carry over to esports, and thankfully last year we saw that deliver great results.” she added, referring to the McLaren Shadow teams 2022 Constructors’ Championship win (opens in new tab).
Expanding on the partnership with Splunk, Eckhouse explained that the relationship goes both ways:
“When you think about the audience in esports, it’s incredibly engaged; it’s also a big propensity to work in the IT industry in the future or possibly work at Splunk or within esports so there’s so many different applications that I think Splunk benefits from the partnership and we certainly benefit from using of their technology.