Last week Ferrari announced Amazon Web Services (AWS) as its public cloud provider. In addition, it announced a strategic partnership with the world’s largest cloud provider, which is a subsidiary of the e-commerce juggernaut. Specifically, the focus of the partnership is on the Scuderia Ferrari team entering a new era of Formula 1 that includes a massive budget cap and new aerodynamic rules in 2022 and even an upcoming new engine formula.
In an exclusive interaction with carandbike.com, Ferrari F1 Managing Director and Team Principal Mattia Binotto reveals how the company is using its partnership with Amazon Web Services to define the future of the jumping horse. While there are some parallels to how Formula 1 uses AWS to move forward, Binotto’s revelations are more technical in nature, but they also come from the eye of an engineer who was once the team’s technical director and in his earlier days a race engineer for Michael Schumacher.
Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto was appointed to the role in 2019 before becoming technical director
Image credit: AFP
AWS Graviton instances attracted Ferrari
“AWS and Ferrari stand for excellence in their respective fields of activity and we always look for excellence when we want to build partnerships. This is all the more true when it comes to racing activities, where the contribution of our partners can be decisive. Success on the track and that’s what we count on from our collaboration with AWS, “said the 51-year-old Swiss-Italian engineer.
Binotto is based on what makes AWS the dominant market leader in cloud computing. It’s not that Ferrari didn’t have its own internal server infrastructure. AWS offered Ferrari something different from Microsoft Azure or the Google Cloud.
“Going into detail, experimenting with ARM-based Graviton instances without CAPEX investments on Ferrari’s side, played an important role in our choice,” revealed the Ferrari boss.
This builds on a trend that has fueled the growth of AWS. Its own custom Graviton ARM instances are server-class processors developed by Amazon itself based on the licensing of the ARM instruction set. They are cheaper and more efficient than traditional x86-based instances, which essentially use Intel or AMD processors in the server rack.
AWS was the first major cloud provider to provide ARM-based instances
It’s basically the same type of technology that is used in the iPhone or the latest Android phone. Last year Apple even made the technology available to its MacBooks, Mac mini, and iMacs with the M1 chipset. Even the fastest supercomputer in the world, the Fugaku, in Japan, uses an ARM-based chipset. Switching to the ARM architecture has shown clear benefits on the consumer side, but on the B2B side, Amazon is perhaps the best demonstrator of its capabilities.
Ferrari’s choice shows the change in computing and underscores the importance of ARM and AWS for the world’s most modern sport. But Ferrari is not entirely dependent on AWS in this case.
“Scuderia Ferrari has its own server infrastructure and will continue to use it due to the strict technical and sporting regulations of the FIA. At the same time, the company will increasingly use the cloud services from AWS, especially when “it comes to developing new and innovative projects,” says the Ferrari team boss.
AWS is also becoming important from a cost perspective
He also adds that the team is leveraging other elements of the AWS stack. And all of this is also an inflow from the new budget ceiling that has been imposed on the teams and has a negative effect on the big three in Formula 1 – Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull. But Ferrari is arguably the big dad of the big three. It had to move staff to its customer teams – like Haas and Alfa Romeo. And AWS will also help reduce costs.
“Yes, the transition to a full AWS stack requires the use of Kubernetes and a data lake. As far as database services are concerned, it depends on the individual use cases and the cost effectiveness of our existing solution, ”says the Ferrari veteran who is part of Maranello. has been stable since 1995.
The team was also attracted by the economic efficiency of the Graviton processors.
How AWS is helping Ferrari improve performance on the track
The Ferrari is currently P4 in the constructors’ championship as it has not won it since 2008
When it comes to improving Ferrari’s competitiveness in 2022 with the help of AWS, the answer is a yes and a no. Binotto reveals that there is a full roadmap of profits that will result from improving the relationship under the multi-year contract, but to say that 2022 AWS will be a key factor in Ferrari’s challenge for the world title would be untrue, even if Ferrari does it in the end.
“Formula 1 is very competitive today and maximizing performance requires a thorough understanding of the behavior of the car and harmonizing the information we get from the environments we work in, such as simulation work, wind tunnel and simulator, and ultimately the track . Our partnership with partnership AWS is a multi-year partnership and we have a clearly defined roadmap in terms of our methodology. It is a long road that we will go together to reap the benefits year after year, “says Binotto in his methodological Style.
Binotto also has some interesting revelations on how AWS could help reduce the use of CFD and the wind tunnel in the years to come, despite the fact that Scuderia is deploying a new wind tunnel.
“Today it is difficult to say whether AI technology, CFD and HW simulations will be efficient enough in ten years to replace the wind tunnel. But it is clear that this is how things are going and that we are working in this direction,” says the Swiss-Italian when asked about the possible closure of wind tunnels by 2030 for environmental reasons.
AWS could be used to define the next engine formula
The next engine formula could be developed using AWS
Ferrari’s collaboration will initially focus on the chassis, similar to how F1 used AWS to model the 2022 car with ground-effect aerodynamics that removes the bargeboards and brings back Venturi tunnels.
“The collaboration with AWS will initially focus on the chassis, but we are not ruling out the expansion of AI methods to include engine development,” said Binotto. The engine has been an issue for Ferrari since the technical guidelines at the end of the 2019 gay season. His 2021 engine is better, but right now he’s working on a bold new engine for 2022 that he hopes will become the class of the field. The development of this engine is important as there will be an engine development freeze from 2022 until the end of the 2024 season.
But as AI advances and Ferrari’s partnership continues to evolve, it is entirely possible that AWS could be used for engine formula 2025 or powertrain development. Many believe it could be a 50-50 hybrid between a V6 internal combustion engine running on biofuels like ethanol and an electrical element like the current one – although electrical capabilities are expected to increase dramatically. F1 bosses meet next to the CEOs of the various manufacturers and the bosses of Audi and Porsche this weekend to discuss it.
As has always been the case with Ferrari in its 70-year history, the technology developed for the F1 is often the basis of its iconic street cars and is carried on, reveals Binotto. He hopes AWS will help accelerate this synergy even further.
“In Ferrari’s DNA there is a very strong connection between the track and the road. In the more than 70 years that our company has existed, a great many technological solutions have first been tested on the racing cars, especially the ‘Formula 1 Cars and then transferred to street cars with the Prancing Horse emblem. The same goes for working with our partners, and I’m sure the partnership with AWS will accelerate technological innovation, including when it comes to road cars, “he said.
In 2025, Ferrari also plans to launch its first electric vehicle, which is likely to coincide with an improved electrical element in the engine formula in 2025 – by then, AWS and Ferrari would be working pretty closely together, so Binotto’s comments align with what the roadmap says suggests.
The Ferrari engagement platform is built with AWS
Ferrari has a fan-driven theme park in Abu Dhabi
But one of the things Ferrari really looks forward to is leveraging its history as the sport’s most iconic and beloved team. Ferrari spoke with AWS about creating an engagement platform for its fans. It already has the Abu Dhabi, Ferrari fan world in physical format, but it really hasn’t done anything in the digital realm. AWS will make that possible.
“The idea of developing an app for Scuderia fans came about in the early phases of our discussions with AWS. Our common goal is to give the tens of millions of Scuderia fans a tool with which they can experience the life of the Scuderia in real time. Our fans are invaluable and we decided to create an app specifically to strengthen our connections with them, “said Binotto.
“Over the past decade, social media has increased the opportunities for opening dialogue, but an app is a unique opportunity to create an online community where fans from all over the world share their passion for the jumping horse and up to one some degree to feel part of his legend, “he added.
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