Tata Communications announces 2015 F1 Connectivity Innovation contest

Tata Communications has kick started its second challenge of the 2015 F1 Connectivity Innovation Prize. The idea behind the contest is to inspire the brightest minds around the world to harness their ingenuity, technical know-how and passion for F1 racing to engage fans in the sport through two technology challenges. Winning entry stands a chance to clinch USD $50,000 (Rs 30 lakh approx) prize money.
 
The second and final challenge aims to show how fans can be engaged at the core of F1 racing. Set by Formula One Management, the challenge is to design a prediction tool that asks Formula One followers to forecast how each Grand Prix will unfold, and to submit their predictions for each driver and team for evaluation. The tool should also enable Formula One Management to rank the predictions and reward the fans that forecast the most accurate outcomes.
 
Speaking about the John Morrison, Chief Technical Officer of Formula One Management said, “Each Grand Prix weekend, fans are glued to their TVs to see how drivers and teams respond to changing circumstances such as adverse weather conditions or an unexpected safety car deployment. With this challenge, we are asking entrants  to create a platform where F1® followers can use practice data and their knowledge of the sport to predict how the story of each race will play out and who will emerge as the winner.”
 
With social media becoming a crucial part of our lives, it has also impacted the way we watch sports. Now people want to be more engaged, sharing their own commentary via social media and using various devices like smart phones, tabs and computer to get the latest updates through video feeds, pictures etc. to build their own picture of the action. The second challenge of the F1® Connectivity Innovation Prize is about finding new techniques for fans to experience and engage with the sport.

Martin Brundle, former Formula 1 race driver and F1 commentator for Sky Sports F1 added, “In addition to bringing existing die-hard F1 fans closer to the sport, a predictive analysis tool would also open up new possibilities on how the sport could evolve and attract new followers in the future. This challenge has incredible potential and I’m looking forward to being a part of the judging panel.”

The first challenge of the F1 Connectivity Innovation prize, set by the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team, was to design a new approach for displaying critical race car telemetry and sensor data to enable engineers at the race track and at the factory in the UK to make more accurate decisions through real-time data visualisation. The winning entries came from the UK, Spain and Australia.
 
Each entry will be evaluated by a judging panel of drivers and F1 technologists including John Morrison, Chief Technical Officer of Formula One Management; Lewis Hamilton, MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team race driver; Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical) of the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team; David Coulthard, former Formula 1 race driver and F1 commentator; and Martin Brundle, former Formula 1 race driver and F1 commentator. They are joined by Mehul Kapadia, Managing Director of F1 Business at Tata Communications.
 
The deadline for entries for the second challenge is September 8th, 2015, and the Grand Prize cheque for $50,000 and a bespoke trophy will be presented to the winner (or winning team) at the end of the season in November. Additional prizes will include VIP trips to the final of the 2015 FIA Formula One World Championship, the 2015 FORMULA 1 ETIHAD AIRWAYS ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX.
Tata Communications is the Official Connectivity Provider of Formula 1, enabling the sport to seamlessly reach out to its tens of millions of fans across the globe.