Formula 1 isn't just a race anymore - now it's a series on Netflix, a marketing product for a new generation, and a field where tech giants are fighting over who will offer the better "fan experience." IBM caught the moment and signed a partnership with Scuderia Ferrari HP for a new fan app powered by artificial intelligence.

"We want every fan to feel seen and recognized," says Stefano Palard, Ferrari's new head of fan development. The team is engaging millions of data points collected during a race - pit-stop speeds, telemetry, tire changes - and turning them into stories the average viewer can understand. On the ground of a three-second pit stop there are 24 people simultaneously, and that's a current anecdote the app can explain in a flash.

What does the fan actually get? Italian support (which didn't exist until recently, ironically for an Italian club), AI-generated race summaries, interactive games, outcome predictions and a virtual chatbot for questions. The result - 62 percent increased user presence during race weekends. The main goal is different - to keep the fan engaged when there isn't a race, not just 23 weekends a year.

Meanwhile, AWS, Oracle and Anthropic have also entered F1 partnerships with other teams. That means in the next few years every team will have its own AI sonar for fans, and the real winner may not be on the track but behind the server. A small but interesting statistic - according to Kameryn Stenhouse at IBM, 75 percent of new F1 fans are women, many from Gen Z, in part because of the F1 Academy for female drivers. In other words - tech giants see the market. And the platform.