Formula One bets on AI to win the next era of racing

The money quote: "The team that's going to be the most successful is the one that has the best AI strategy," says Kick Sauber Team Principal Jonathan Wheatley told Axios at the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin.

State of play: The sport is introducing new technical regulations from 2026 onward, which will impact vehicle design, power and aerodynamics.

• The FIA hopes these changes make cars safer and more sustainable while also making races more exciting and competitive.

Currently, AI supports human engineers who are constantly collecting data from the track and then are tasked with figuring out how to implement it to improve performance from race to race.

• Every car contains 300 sensors which generate over a million data points per second.
• The information can guide technicians on anything from tire and engine performance to track measurements to assist with making precise turns.

Due to regulations, teams only have a short window to make changes and improve their position on the grid.

• Automation helps find solutions in a fraction of the time human teams can do so.

The intrigue: Teams like Kick Sauber (Audi F1 in 2026), based in Switzerland, are changing up their strategies and keeping many of the specifics under wraps.

• "Our whole business is intellectual property," Kick Sauber Team Principal Jonathan Wheatley tells Axios at the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin.
• "This is the most competitive business in the world. We don't want to give away even a tiny bit of operational information that somebody else could benefit from."