Like any Formula 1 team, McLaren loves data. It is an essential pillar of success, which is why particular attention is paid to the quantity and quality of what is harvested and how it is used.
Since 1, McLaren has also been involved in Formula XNUMX esports, with its professional team of drivers and engineers receiving the same level of dedication and support from the company as their real world counterparts, with exactly the same focus on race data.
Speaking to TechRadar Pro, Lindsey Eckhouse, McLaren's Licensing, Virtual Commerce and Esports Director, told us how her partnership with data company Splunk plays an essential role in Formula 1's real and virtual success for the legendary racing team.
Outshine the real F1
McLaren Shadow (opens in a new tab) is the esports and gaming division of the automaker. The virtual racing team works much like the physical team, with professional gamers heading to the sim team booths to compete in a huge digital prize pool.
And as in reality, the relevance of partnering with other companies is vital to McLaren. Like Logitech, Shadow has also partnered with PC maker Alienware to supply the platforms, Tesos for blockchain technology and NFT versions for its esports audience, and OKX for cryptocurrency exchanges.
"It's really about how can we work with partners who offer us a real way to bring their technology to life or achieve their goal, whatever it is... to leverage their technology and their expertise," Eckhouse said.
From a data perspective, the primary partner for Shadow McLaren and the real world Formula 1 team is Splunk, a software platform that provides all the analytics capabilities a team needs.
Of particular relevance are Splunk Dashboards, a feature that allows data to be customized in terms of graphical representation, such as telemetry readings for steering inputs, acceleration and brakes, to make it easier for drivers and engineers to understand at a glance.
"Splunk Dashboards is a good example of sibling technology in terms of exploring a number of different areas, we can also delve into this from an F1 esports perspective to really inform our racing strategy," says Eckhouse, adding that chief engineer The F1 esports team actually works on the actual racing team, "so again there are shared learnings from F1 strategy development in the game. F1 esports arena."
"I think Splunk is surely the best example of where we see their apps leak into esports and thank goodness over the last year we've seen them deliver great results," he adds, referring to the Splunk Tournament win. Constructors two thousand twenty-two of the McLaren Shadow team. (opens in a new tab).
Expanding on the partnership with Splunk, Eckhouse explained that the relationship is a two-way street:
“When you think about esports audiences, they're incredibly engaged; There's also a strong trend to be in the IT industry in the future or potentially work on Splunk or esports, so I think Splunk benefits from a lot of different applications through the partnership, and we do benefit from using their technology.