Play your part in shaping F1's future: Latest Crowdsourcing prize focuses on Internet of Things

There are less than two weeks left to get your entry in for F1’s crowdsourcing initiative, the F1 Connectivity Innovation Prize, which this season is focused on the Internet of Things to improve both the fan experience of the sport, as well as enabling faster and more efficient ways of working for F1 teams.

JA on F1 readers have a strong track record in this competition in its four years to date: our readers won in 2014 and 2015 with Paul Clarke scooping the overall US$50,000 top prize in 2015.

Last year's winner was Datu YogaBrata from Singapore (below with Lewis Hamilton, one of the FCIP judges)

So we’re looking for engaged fans, who want to get involved and maintain our readers’ strong performance in the challenge! The deadline for Challenge #1 is 09-00 UK time on Thursday June 15.

This year’s competition includes a challenge each from Formula One Management and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport.

The expert panel of judges this year includes Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and technical director James Allison as well as F1's own Ross Brawn, and SKY TV pundit Martin Brundle.

They will select three winning entries from each of these challenges to attend the Grand Finale in Abu Dhabi in November, where one of the six finalists will be revealed as the overall winner.

The first 2017 Challenge

Here is an outline of the Brief for Challenge #1. To read the full brief click this link.

Every season, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport travels across the world with people, cars, parts, equipment and devices. Each of these ‘moving parts’ - it's all designed to ensure the team delivers peak performance every time it goes racing.

So it is vital for the team to properly measure and track both human performance at the circuit and at its headquarters in the UK and the technological performance of off-car equipment around the world.

Currently, the team analyses human performance through a dedicated health and conditioning coach, who provides the team with optimal sleep patterns during long-haul flights, as well as assessing where efficiencies can be made in day-to-day on-track activity.

Similarly, the on-track and UK-based teams manually check much of the off-car equipment from tyre blankets to printers to ensure they are performing at the required rate.

So Challenge #1, which has a deadline of June 15 - challenges you to conceptualise and design applications of IoT to help the team on the track and in the factory to enhance operational efficiencies in any or all of the following three key areas:

1. Human performance

2. Race operations

3. Logistics management

The challenge will require you to design an IoT solution that enhances the team’s productivity and competitive ability by converting team members, equipment and workspaces into connected devices to harness the power of real time tracking and analytics.

A second challenge, set by Brawn and his F1 Management team, will ask how you can harness the Internet of Things to improve the fan experience of the sport; it will be launched later in the season.