Is too much data ruining Formula 1?

During Friday morning practice for the Chinese Grand Prix, there was an intriguing piece of radio traffic between driver and pitwall. Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes engineer Peter Bonnington came over the airwaves.

"Suggest a slower entry into Turn 12 for a better exit." Hamilton's response was rather telling: "I don't need coaching, Bono..."

Five years ago, the FIA banned radio communications from engineers advising drivers on how to maximise the tools at their disposal, enforcing the regulation that states: 'The driver must drive the car alone and unaided.'

But after coded messages were used and on account of safety, the regulations were subsequently relaxed. However, there continues a thought that too much data - real-time monitoring of driver and car - is having a detrimental effect on Formula 1. Would less information bring greater control back to the driver? And could it make F1 a fairer or less predictable competition?

Hamilton's curt reply to his engineer during that practice session at Shanghai was clear. In the pursuit of perfection, computers can't always be an improvement on how the human brain controls the feet and hands. There can be no accounting for the prevailing conditions at that particular corner, on that particular lap.

Was there a tail wind where previously there hadn't been? Was there something on the track surface or was Hamilton momentarily distracted? Or did he feel it rather unnecessary to be offered go-faster feedback given his five world championships and more pole positions earned than any other driver in the history of F1...

"Lewis is right at his peak at the moment and it's lovely to watch him on track," says three-time grand prix winner Johnny Herbert. "He can feel and adapt to what's around him and doesn't need someone telling him on the radio to do this or that, back off, save brakes, change this setting or that.

"The skill in driving is being able to manage all aspects of the car. That's what all the great champions in the past did. The driver should be the most important aspect of the team."

When Nico Rosberg was team-mate to Hamilton, he would pore through the telemetry, over-lapping traces to look for any advantage he could find. With every millimetre of a driver's input from each lap recorded - steering, throttle, braking, gear changes - data can offer clues as to how you can improve your own performance and understand where a team-mate is quicker.

"I don't really look over tonnes of data," counters Williams rookie George Russell. "I have the opinion that every time I'm on track, the circuit conditions are different. Different wind speeds, different temperatures, different tyres - so you have to adapt in the moment.

"Perhaps if I was losing 0.15 seconds in one corner I would have a look at what my team-mate was doing to compare, but you can't put a car on the track two sessions in a row and expect it to be exactly the same because so many other factors can affect the balance."

The art of engineering a driver is to ensure both elements are in harmony. A good race engineer will analyse the data but will also listen carefully to feedback from the driver in the cockpit, and then make an informed decision on which direction to take the car.

"If an engineer doesn't have a good understanding of his driver or fails to listen to his comments and just looks at the data, then he can easily go in the wrong direction," says Haas's chief race engineer Ayao Komatsu.

"For example a driver might say he has understeer in a particular corner, but if the data doesn't back that up it might be because a driver has countered it by lifting and applied more steering lock.

"The engineer needs to be aware the driver could go quicker in that corner if they dial understeer out of the car. It's where experience comes in and it's important to have that human relationship. By combining the data with listening to the driver, an engineer should come to an optimum configuration."

Whereas data can be useful for driving, it is in engineering where it really comes to the fore, particularly with regards to extracting the maximum from every aspect of the car's performance - such as ride height settings, tyre management and power unit energy deployment.

But is there too much data? In Formula 1 terms, data acquisition is rising significantly. Long gone are the days when drivers were handed a scrap of paper with the air pressures of each tyre scrawled in pen.

However, the proliferation of information in F1 is only proportional to the technological revolution currently manifesting itself in society. According to American business magazine Forbes, 90% of all the data in the world was produced in only the past two years.

Formula 1, like many other industries such as stock markets and sales organisations, is engaged in the science of data analytics. Decision-making through data mining and algorithms is commonplace - and impossible to avoid.

Figures from 2014 revealed that each lap an F1 car would generate around 20MB of real-time data, supplemented 
by 80GB of data that came from downloading the 
on-board data loggers. That has only increased in the intervening years.

Aside from a driver's inputs, there is virtually nothing that can't be measured on an F1 car, from the working functions of the power unit to the hydraulics systems. Typically, there are around 150 transducers on the chassis which convert temperatures or pressures into electrical signals that can be transmitted in real time or stored digitally.

These sensors provide over 1000 channels of information, ranging from simple things such as tyre or fluid temperatures, suspension movements and fuel flow, to more complex devices such as the servo valve which can control clutch, gearbox and differential in response to computer-controlled algorithms.

This wealth of data coming straight off the car is both analysed at trackside and by a team of engineers based at the team's factory. Data-crunching engineers use the information for two main reasons, the first is to ensure the car is safe and reliable, while the other is to extract extra performance and efficiency.

The wealth of data in F1 is a situation that Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes should be marvelled at, as he told F1 Racing: "As much as F1 is a gladiator sport and the fastest man in the fastest machine, it is also flying a spaceship, and very much the DNA of F1 is the high-tech aspect. People like that and the sport needs to stay high-tech."

On a typical Friday following the two 90-minute practice sessions, teams will spend hours poring over data to help determine the strategy for the rest of the weekend. In circumstances where Friday running has been limited or rained off, it has often led to more exciting races on Sunday as teams have had to react to circumstances - such as a higher than expected rate of tyre degradation - rather than working to a prescribed strategy based 
on collected data.

"You need a bit of that unpredictability to come into play," argues Herbert. "If all the teams analyse Friday's data and they adjust their strategy so they are all right - then it will make the race as dull as mud. Yes, the technology may be great, but the show is the most important thing."

In contrast, Haas engineer Komatsu argues that losing track time benefits the better-resourced teams as the gap to the smaller outfits increases.

"After five hours of practice and qualifying, the difference between the top and bottom teams will be two seconds. But if you only have half an hour before qualifying then the difference between the top and bottom will be massive," he says. "Those with more process and more sophisticated understanding and more simulation tools will advance more."

The better-resourced teams such as Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull will argue data has a paramount importance in motorsport, but they have more engineers to analyse the telemetry and are more informed to make decisions. After each session, top teams also utilise their simulator driver who will take real-world data and use it virtually by running laps back at base, trying various set ups to then feed back to the team trackside. Should Formula 1 look at reducing simulation to help level the playing field?

"I think you'd have to ban all the simulations that teams do ahead of the weekend as well," argues Kevin Magnussen. "Otherwise it leaves a big advantage to the top teams. If the smaller outfits don't get the chance to run on Friday and Saturday and get the chance to analyse the data, they don't get the chance to improve over the weekend and catch up."

The complexity of the hybrid power units has meant modern F1 cars would struggle to run without detailed monitoring of their electrical systems - and, crucially, manufacturers would argue that pioneering F1 technology must continue to lead the automotive industry.

"You cannot return to the 1970s or '80s because the technology of the world has moved forwards and F1 must continue to be at the top," agrees Robert Kubica. "When I first raced in F1 in 2006 there was less data than there is now, but honestly I don't think having less data today will change things a lot. The power unit is more complex and if simulation and data disappeared it would get more complicated for the driver. But I still don't think it would change much. The point is you can't have a road car that has more sensors than an F1 car..."

The desire to introduce more technology into F1 was born out of a drive for performance and to increase understanding. The natural extension of that has been greater complexity. While there might be a desire to return to simpler times, it would be impossible - as Kubica says - to rewind the clocks.

While extraneous personnel away from the race track could be stripped back to save costs, data acquisition during a grand prix weekend will ultimately continue. Though Hamilton doesn't need coaching, a good engineer still needs as much data as they can gather - and a driver's input.

Data is an intrinsic aspect of modern F1 and while there might be negative connotations from its usage, there is no escaping its critical role in the championship. Ultimately the show might suffer as a result, but to keep F1 at the pinnacle of motorsport and relevant to the automotive industry, data analytics is here to stay.