Artificial Intelligence (AI) is on the rise in all nodes of life and the same can be said on Formula 1. Some teams are already utilising the technology for some functions but there is scope for AI to take over a large portion of the workload when it comes to designing and manufacturing the cars.
Former Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer was in the sport when robotic machinery was first introduced to speed up development but doesn’t see AI completely taking over the sport.
“I’ve lived through because I’m old. I’ve lived through robotics coming into the industry in the auto industry especially,” Szafnauer told the media.
“When I was there and robots took over a lot of jobs of what humans used to do and everybody was worried and there shouldn’t have been a worry it just redistributed the work.
“And that created more jobs for engineers or technicians that would look after the robots and I think AI will be similar. We will get to a place where it will naturally take over some functions.
“However, as humans will then adapt and do other things. So don’t worry. I think in the future, even with AI, you’ll still be in the room asking questions.”
AI deserves investment
McLaren’s team principal Andrea Stella is equally optimistic about the possibilities of AI and expects his team to be investing in the technology as time goes on.
“What I can see is that teams will deploy this kind of tool in various areas, and then we will see the areas where he will be more fruitful,” Stella added.
“It’s very early days in reality, but it’s something that you cannot ignore as a Formula 1 team because he may come with larger opportunities. So it’s a tool can come with opportunities deserves investments.”
Franz Tost won’t be in the sport when AI is at its peak in F1 as he will step back from his role at AlphaTauri at the end of 2023 but he sees it taking the sport to the next level.
“AI will play an important role in the future, and it’s already involved in different tools on the technical side and will be enlarged in the future,” Tost said.
“Therefore, I only see positives on this because it will enable us to sort out different topics much faster and will bring us to another level.”
Where is the next F1 2023 race?
F1 will return from its summer break with the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix from Zandvoort on August 25-27, where championship leader Max Verstappen will be racing on home soil.
