The Data Analyst

Tony, Michael, this past week, while you were resting, I was hard at work crunching the numbers.

Did you come up with anything interesting?

Yes?

Actually, okay, looking at the breakdown here, it looks like last season, Yohai intervened an average of two point seven times an episode for what constituted an average of three point two minutes of airtime per episode. I see, and looking at the data for this current season, which we're just getting started with, really, but so far that number has been up a staggering four point seven interventions per episode, which represents a whopping airtime of three point eight minutes

I'm just not sure it's referred to as airtime anymore. Michael. It's a podcast. It might be a bit arcade.

You should feel lucky that I'm calling at interventions and not interruptions. Interventions is very general.

You were just cooled, dog, kay. I'm just gonna put that out there.

Oh Ship for My Heart podcast one on one Studios and Sports Illustrated Studios. This is choosing sides.

Yes, one wow, wow, Tony, I see.

For today's episode, it's titled the data analyst. And I have to be honest with you right out of the gate, I'm not a big data numbers person. For me, it's about heart, guts, that's sports, all that stuff. Also, every sport has statistics and data. You ever look at the back of a baseball card, So.

Yes, every sport has statistics and data. But for example, how many sensors does a baseball bat actually have?

When do you think of it? I can think of the gun that measures the miles per hour of the fastball, so that the sensor that's one.

Well, here's the thing. In a modern Formula one car, you're looking at roughly two hundred and fifty or three hundred sensors and they generate. These two hundred and fifty three hundred sensors generate an immense amount of data, and all of that data is being streamed back to the team and it's constantly being processed and analyzed. And also it's not just on the car, Michael, the tires have these data sensors as well. The driver's gloves have sensors. The F one tracks have sensors.

The driver's gloves, yes, have sensors on them.

Gonna come back to that also from a safety and security reason.

Okay, well, what are they sensing? All these sensors sense. No matter how many meetings you have, you didn't think you'd come up with that one.

Okay, So to give you a few examples, they're sensing things like lap time, tire pressure, breake pressure, frottile position, fuel flow, the speed of the wind and how it's going over the car, which sounds very poetic, break temperatures, engine temperate, which is basically any temperature you can think of. And to your point about the driver's gloves, Yes, they have sensors and they monitor things like your heart rates.

I's gonna say all of those other things are just measuring the car exactly when we've talked about the driver.

Yet, And that's what where the gloves come in. And it's not the only part of the sensors, but these sensors in the little fingertips of the glove are sensing their heart rate. There's also an oximeter that measures the amount of oxygen in the blood. And I'm just naming a few examples right now. All of these sensors, this is what's wild, is transmitted back in real time and it generates around three terabytes of data for each car during each race.

Wow, that means nothing to me.

Imagine stacking three hundred thousand Webster dictionaries. That would create like a fifteen kilometer high stack of data. If you printed out all the data that that's generating. I'm not sure that helps you.

It's a shitload, is what it is.

There you get. That's another way of saying how much data be Well.

I'm also now thinking once you have the data, Yeah, the printed Webster dictionaries, I know that was a metaphor, but what do you do with it?

Where do you go out in the wild now and say, do you know.

Out? Do they have to like storting caves underneath rivers to keep it cool?

Okay, so this is actually a really cool question because the data centers have become somewhat like an integral part of Formula one racing because the teams need not only a reliable way to store, but also analyze the data from their cars during the race. And more or less everything has been moved to the cloud these days. So it used to be that you would have local storages, but now everything's in the cloud and there's some backup in storage spaces as well, and I think it's time

So they've re censored all the races.

So they've migrated Formula one's extensive library of seventy years of images, audio video, and they've put all of that into the cloud so that the data that they're capturing today can be compared to that historical data. I cannot imagine the amount of work that went into to taking seventy years of footage data, all of that and putting it into cloud, but that's something that they've done. And apparently it's over one hundred and fifty thousand hours of content.

Just sorry, just doing my thing here crunching the numbers. Consuming one hundred and fifty thousand hours of content would take you about six two hundred and fifty days, or a little over seventeen years. That's, of course, without any stoppage time to eat, sleep.

Yeah, yeah, Jo has intervened inter intervened way over four points seven times.

It's also another point it's actually worth mentioning. So remember in the episode that we looked at the sponsorships and the business of Formula one. So in addition to Formula one having these incredible tech partners, the teams also have these partners to help them store all of this data. So we're talking Oracle, Aws, Salesforce, Dell. Technology is cognizant. That's why we're in this space right now of tech sponsors versus the non tech sponsors that we might have had fifty years ago.

I was wondering, when you start thinking about this data me and you if you give us data, yeah, I don't know. I mean maybe you know more than I do, but I don't know what to do with data. So now I need experts to help me know what to do with the data exactly. So that makes sense what you're saying that you're partnering now with tech. It makes me wonder if this is where all sports are headed.

What's also going to be interesting is do we want data helping us make sense about how decisions are taken into sport.

I'll tell you no, yes, O froze.

Yeah, just for a second. Do you have a bunch of tabs open? Maybe?

I do?

Sometimes it helps if you can.

Just give me half an hour and I'll close all these tabs.

I'm hearing a lot of clicks there, Tarrek, all.

Very apropos, I assure you so.

To help us today, we've recruited two first rate F one data notes. First up, Tarek Naslwi.

Been looking forward to this all day.

Tarek is the creator of a digital platform called Trace, a way for fans to document their fandom through data.

Open here we go. Oh wow, that's really beautiful and cool. Every race leaves a trace. This is hard to describe, but it's available at trace dot. Fan traces are pieces of art made from race data and it's like mathematical and it almost looks like if every lap of a Formula one race left a shadow and they were all on top of each other. It forms this very cool, fast looking, almost evil shape, very on brand for everyone. This is cool, and a man.

Who's an absolute legend and an integral part of Formula one.

All the tentacles are grown way in there.

And a real, walking, talking encyclopedia of facts and stats.

Hello, folks, I'm Sean Kelly, and if you've watched a Formula one broadcast anywhere in the world in the last say two decades, you won't know me, but you will know my work because I am essentially the chief statistician to the F one Broadcaster's. All the facts and figures you hear in a Formula one broadcast, whether they be in the graphics, whether they be spoken by the likes of David Croft or Martin Brundle or Alex Jakes or whomever,

Just to give you a sense of the genius of Sean, I'm going to have to play you this really short clip here, and to give you a bit of context. We were still in the small talk portion of our interview here, just getting to know each other and sharing how we got into the spot.

Can you remember the first race.

Yes, sper font Gauchamp, only because it was Michael Schumacher's first Yeah, first chair.

Is nearly won it mantl how the voltage regulator go out on his card, was in the lead, and then the lady was leading, the engine failed and then somehow after all that and jordanily ended up winning, and then his engine failed and then we ended up with a McLaren one too. Like after all this chaos, we ended up with the most boring result possible. I went from that race so bored that day. I was like, how did we end up with that result?

I need our listeners to understand that Sean had no idea that ninety one was my first race, ninety one in spa funkle Sean, and that you were able to just have all of these facts.

Berta had the fast slap in that race, I think, which is the only time he ever set one in a Formula one race.

That's insane.

Your brain is fascinating.

I live with it.

It's like it's not my constant roommate.

All this data, all.

Right, So this is a little hard for me to wrap my hair around. Can you give me an example of how data is used by a team to gain an advantage? Like, okay, great, George Russell's heart rate is high, is the blood is oxygenated? His lips are chapped? How we got to win the fucking race? What does that help us with?

Okay, so number one, that's more or less a fun fact. The data is encrypted and it's sent to the teams via radio frequencies, and the frequency is due to like little antenna that's mounted on pointing right now, but that's mounted on the top of a car. And what's also crazy is this happens in like fractions of a second. It's also interesting to see that the data transferred is faster when the races are in Europe than when the races are abroad, even if it's like maybe mini mediseconds.

Because it's kind of go under the ocean and down through the cable and up to the sky and then down to the antenna.

Whoa.

And sometimes when you're racing in the middle of a city, like it's harder to get the frequency out it it's insane. But to answer your question, all the data is transferred so in real time to the pitball to the factory and also the FA so there's a lot of people receiving this data, and then it can be used for things like comparing your lap time. You overlap your lap time with other driver's lap time to see where people are, you know, breaking breaking earlier, breaking later.

If you ever hear one of the race engineers talk about you need to go easy on the curbs, it'll be because they're sensing vibrations which potentially get to a dangerous level causing resonance and potential damage with car components, the engine itself probably has I don't know, dozens and dozens of sensors on that and actually saw that with Lando

Basically, with all this data, the engineers and the driver get a much better picture of where the driver is losing time, where his opportunities to win some time, and where he can make up that time in the race.

But I can't get my competitors data.

Can I the on track data that actually I believe Formula one owns I think is visible to pretty much everybody. So like on track data, like you can see what other cars are doing and infer, for example, about your pace for the race relative to others' pace, But for example, you don't see what fuel loads they had in their car or how fast they're consuming that. And that's data

But and this is the joy of a lot of data analysts and the f one data analyst fans, is a lot of the data is actually also open to the public.

That's I'm going to ask, like can fans get the data?

Yes?

Can I get the data?

Yes?

Not all of it, some of it, the vast majority of it is available to everybody on FORX, if you go to the Forest's website, which is a subscription part of the Autosport website, yeah, it's all there. It's a complicated website to operate, and there's a lot of easter eggs. You've got to keep clicking around to find the information you want to find. But a great deal of the raw numbers can be derived from the publicly accessible part of forex if you subscribe to it.

You know, football turn into a bunch of like drunk bros at the bar with their laptops open because of Fantasy football doing the stats and the receivers and I, you know, I grumble about that, but this is like whole new level.

This is a whole new level and perfect for those nerdy fans who just wants that to numbers. The other really interesting thing is it used to be back in the day that the teams would create their own sensors and set up the own antennas and all of that, and then the teams kind of realize, hey, wait a minute, we're not in a race to create the best sensors and the best technology. Hence why today all of that is mandated by the FIA.

What a unique time in history for F one because tech is at its most profound ever ever. Yeah, so it's pretty interesting.

And it's it's at its most profound. And what's really interesting is behind closed doors, a lot of the things that are developed inside of the factories of the F one teams then spill over into the rest of the world. Glaxo Smith Klein, one of the big farmer companies in the world, looked at how I think it was McClaren or Williams did their pit stops, and we're just like, huh, there's something we can learn you about how we bottle toothpaste.

And I was like, genius, is it true that Max for Stapping keeps us coffee warm in that coffee cup? Because I heard that that that's how the car industry keeps our coffee worm. Now what No, But my point is sorry for the bad joke, everybody, but the point is much like the military was like leading the world in research and development and velcro and all this other shit, wender bread, all this stuff spilled over to us plebeians. F one is doing that as.

Well, exact same. The FIA produces like this fifty or sixty page guide at the end of every year where it just highlights all of the callshit that's developed behind closed doors, but then spills over whether it's taking care of newborn babies, they've used the same system that they

That's so cool. We have to take quick break and we'll be right back. Hey, we're back. Okay, where were.

We pulling on that thread of what the fan the lens at which the fans go to, So you mentioned your baseball fans. Some especially nerdy fans, will actually write up all kinds of different software that pulls the publicly available data from all the different relevant sources and then it lets them play around with it on their own.

Like there are some engineers or ex engineers who are sharing on social images of how like the new parts change the flow of a car and what that does to the aerodynamic forces on a car.

Okay, hold on CFD, Yeah, come on, Derek, what's CFD?

CFD Yeah. CFD is computational fluid dynamics. So if you ever see pictures of like simulations of how a of how an airflow will go over a surface. Those simulations are done in a computer, which are also then leads to what people decide to test in wind tunnels. Right, this is basically the rocket science part of the Formula

If you just head over, for example, to get her Michael, and you look at the Python code for fast F one like you will find if you know, if after this episode you get really into the data, that's where you should go.

In my life, no one has ever said this sentence to me. Just head over to getthub and look for the Python code for fast F one. Take that statistic sheets, you know, I don't know, like men go out ice fishing for six hours on a Sunday, you know, and it's like how much It's like, how much do you hate your family if you're But I'm like, well, if you're coating for F one, you know, we all got our stuff. Man, we did.

What they need is they need a GitHub code to tell them.

Where the fish are. Yeah, fun fact, they don't even care about the fish. It's just being out there.

Moving swiftly.

On.

Let me ask you this, Tony. I noticed watching the races that drivers do a thing called track walk. Is that what it's called?

Yeah?

Okay? And they literally just walk around the entire track. Given this conversation we've been having, am I understanding how the vast amount of data they have about every little detail. What data are these drivers picking up from just walking around the track.

They will look over if the track has changed, the layout, huts changed, look up identifying potential issues or challenges that the driver might have over the weekend, and more. It depends on the driver and the race engineer and the relationship that they have. But more often than not, it's like a two way conversation about going back and forth about what they're I imagine it's like a nice reset for the team of like this is okay, now it's race time. Let's go.

It must feel so fast when they drive it, yeah, because they were just like last time I was walking.

This fun fact of this year, I think they banned bicycles on tracks. These tracks are pretty long, and so some of the drivers would be like, oh, we're just going to cycle around the track. They banned that because too many drivers were having like bicycle accidents.

Just can't slow it down. They can't just slow it, just walk, use the two legs that God gave you.

Is there an element of like superstition to this, like a kind of bit of a ritual.

There's so much superstition in sport.

I feel like the higher the stakes the more superstition. And I would think when F one there's high stakes, because there's life can be on the line. Do these drivers pray? Are they're religious?

Pierre Gasley, for example, always does the sign of the Cross.

Because there's a beautiful contradictory here in data and faith, because they don't always go hand in hand, and often times the highest scientific scientists are not as keen to spiritual faith. And yet also every athlete I've ever known, especially the high levels, they there's a lot of faith there.

I can tell you what I think about this, which is that you can be an extremely technically oriented person and believe in science, believe in science being subscribed to science as a way of describing how the universe works, But answers to why things are the way they are or how they came to be that way are not answered by data that you can record, least of all

How did we get here?

I don't know, but that's what's fun about podcasting. So Okay, you know I was going to ask you this, but I've been excited to ask you this. Okay, too much data, at some point, they're overthinking it. There's too many data points. If you were to analyze everything, you would never sleep. You would just be a robot of data. And then you couldn't even drive. Put the keys on the car. I know these car, These cars don't have keys. But is there such thing as too much data?

Yeah, there is such a thing as too much data? There certainly is. I mean, you can argue, what harm does it do if it doesn't take time or money or to collect it or store it. But it does. Data is only as good as the rates that you can process it and the insights that you can glean from it. There certainly is. I mean, I would say most corporations suffer from the challenge of not being able to manipulate and distill insight from the data that they

So yes, there is such a thing as too much data. But also know, if there's data to collect, they're going to collect it.

They must think it's useful. Yeah, you know, I mean does max verst ap and collect more data?

My hypothesis would be no, I think that's really more of a function of the car than it is it is the driver. He might be generating less insight, but I don't know if he's if he's generating less data. There's a difference between data, information and insight. Right is the raw ingredient. Right information is when somebody puts that information on a chart or a screen, like what you

I forget what it was. It was an NPR and and know it's a different competitor. But they did a story on how you can hack into someone's computer and control their car. Now, me and you are car. So if they have all this data, can they control the car? Can the engineer control the car? Who's controlling the car? Is the driver just a pretty face?

Some drivers are pretty faces. I won't necessarily reveal who I think is pretty than others, but I mean, I think the clear answer is no. You know, if you sort of think about like that, the car is something which is being configured to create the maximum opportunity for performance.

We got to take a short break. Hey, we're back to Michael.

Now. Is all of this data hitting you? Are you feeling and enrich? Do you fashion yourself to be a data fan? Where's your head up?

I'm thinking calculating. I'm thinking. My knee jerk reaction to the word data is that it's a four letter word.

Michael doesn't like four letter words.

Yeah, and I don't enjoy how society is so data driven right now, because I'm you're taking the feel out of things. It's not everything in life is just a one in a zero. But I'm more intrigued now that we've talked about it.

I love it.

If I have multiple screens up watching Formula one, I'm not gonna want data. I'm gonna want different driver's helmet cams and the stadium shot. I mean, I'm gonna want those visuals.

You want the athletes, yeah, or just.

The machine, the rocket going off, you know. But there are these nerds that want to just check out torque revolutions or whatever, but have it. I mean, that's cool. I'm happy for them.

By the way, is the new name of the podcasts.

If anybody's listening to this thing that feels like they're not a data driven fan and that this isn't for them because they don't feel like they were never into math when they grew up, or they're not like particularly technical in their orientation or something like that, I guess.

Hearing from you is you like the idea that data could make you better, but you don't want data to be the driving force behind the athlete.

No, I don't want to be so judgmentally against data. It's just not what tickles my fancy in sport. But it is absolutely remarkable how this sport consumes data.

Here's another thing for you to think about. Why might be fundamentally different or exponentially using big words here, but exponentially more useful in a sport like Formula one because the teams have such limited times with the cars on. Every time you take a Formula one car, it's mandated, it's restricted. They can't, no one can. A driver can't just wake up one they and go I'm just gonna go and take the car up for a run and

I remember talking about that last season. It's very fascinating. So I think you can hit a tennis ball for as many hours as you're allowed to, as many hours as you physically want to. But that can't be the case.

Yeah, And I remember Kobe talking about this with being a basketball player. Of just like I get up five hours before everyone else, and so I have five hours of training on everyone else every single day. Formula one drivers do not have that. Hence why I think that data plays such a big role in Formula one.

Also, it's mind boggling to think that I was buying shoes today on the internet and it was frustrating me because I would add it to my cart and then check out, and it would there'd be like a gap in uh loading loading, you know, and I'd be like, why is there a gap? It's a new computer edition everything was fine, but it's like it's a little too strong. And then to think that this their way they're racing is happening in data like instantaneously yep, and it's crazy

And they're still pushing the limits to figure out how they can get the data uploaded to HQ faster than what it is now when we're talking zero point zero ones, you know, we're always pushing the limit.

Fall boots, if that's what you're asking, fall Boots. We still get like a month left in the fall here.

So Michael, shit is that? YOHI Again, our team here at Choosing Size HQ, we've been crunching the numbers and unfortunately it does seem that you're going off script about twenty five percent more than than than management would like. So that I've got a request here. They're asking if you can just try to be a little more vigilant.

You see. Uh, this has been Choosing Sides f one, a production of Sports Illustrated Studios, iHeart Podcast and one oh one Studio podcast.

The show is hosted by Michael Costa and Tony Cowan Brown. This episode was edited, scored, and sound designed by senior producer Johai may Thad scott Stone is the executive producer and head of audio, and Daniel Wexman is Director of podcast Development and production Manager at one on one Studios. At iHeart podcast Sean ty Tone is our executive producer. And a special thank you to Michelle Newman, David Glasser,

Michael, yess what's coming up next week?

Is it?

Yes?

It is finally, Yes.

Yes, it's the turn of the tireheads.

Yeah. I'm not sure why I'm so excited about tires, but I am time.

For talking rubber tires, screeching, the whole shebang.

It seems very important. It seems so so so important. The S and the M and the H and they all get the same amount of tires or whatever. And when I take my car into the MC, they say the most important thing is tires and breaks next on Torque Revolution. YOHI could you send us off with some screeching tire noises or something

Such a cliche