Brand new ‘Hybrid Energy System’ graphic set to debut at Italian Grand Prix

The new ‘Hybrid Energy System’ race graphic, which will be launching this weekend in Monza for the 2023 Italian Grand Prix, is the next exciting release from the F1 Insights series powered by AWS.

‘Hybrid Energy System’ is the second graphic to be launched in 2023 (following ‘Close to the Wall’ in May), and will provide fans and broadcasters with a clear view of exactly how electrical energy is being used by drivers within the hybrid energy model.

This new F1 Insight will produce a clear, insightful TV Graphic detecting drivers’ usage of electrical energy based on their previous lap and will be used in live broadcast.

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The new F1 Insight for fans and broadcasters – ‘Hybrid Energy System’

As an F1 driver goes through a lap, the energy recovery system within their power unit produces electrical energy from two sources: kinetic energy recovered from brake usage, and thermal energy from the car’s exhausts.

The driver then has the choice of using the harvested energy to boost their car’s performance based on their current race strategy. If a driver wants to use their harvested energy, they can push the driving mode to an active setting. However, if they want to conserve and harvest more energy, they can set it to the maximum recharging setting.

This intricate balance has added an extra element of strategy to how drivers race in the modern era. For the driver, the way they use that harvested energy can mean the difference between holding off a gaining competitor or not, chasing down a rival or staying behind, or pushing away from the chasing pack versus getting sucked into a battle.

Until now, broadcasters and fans have only been able to hazard a guess at a driver’s energy usage tactics. With the ‘Hybrid Energy System’ graphic, broadcasters and fans will be able to anticipate how a driver is strengthening their position to go on the attack, or could be more vulnerable to those behind based on what energy they have at their disposal at the start of the current lap.

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This could well be a deciding factor in whether a battle on track is about to be won or lost.

The graphic will be able to identify three different driver behaviours:

1. Neutral – the driver balances the amount of energy harvested and used along the lap in question.
2. Recharging – the driver focuses on recharging the battery level, which is a clear indicator of a build up for some high-energy use for that driver in the next lap, such as going for the fastest lap or preparing to attack a driver in front.
3. Deploying – the driver uses more energy than they have harvested to over-perform on their pace, defend their position, or attack drivers ahead.

The above outputs are achieved by solving energy balance equations using the immense cloud computational power provided by AWS.

The identification of the driver behaviours is obtained thanks to a correlation analysis of the driver’s demands and the characteristics of specific sections of the circuit.