According to Clare Lansley, CIO of Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team, she was destined to work in Formula 1. She says that from a young age, her parents – both avid F1 fans – ‘indoctrinated’ her into the cult of Formula 1. With a passion for the sport already instilled, Clare wanted a business career where she could use the many languages she speaks and travel the world to satisfy her wanderlust. F1 ticked all those boxes – and more. Now leading Aston Martin Aramco’s technology team, Clare has smashed through the glass ceiling of a sport where there are still very few women in senior positions. And she and her team are steering Aston Martin Aramco’s digital transformation in a sport and industry in which data and speed of decision-making are at the very heart of competitive advantage.

As CIO of Aston Martin Aramco, you are leading a critical digital transformation. Could you elaborate on how your role integrates with the overall strategy of the team, and what key initiatives you’ve spearheaded to enhance performance both on and off the track?

“IT’s a critical enabler for making not only the race team but the whole organisation operate successfully. Prior to our current owner’s arrival, it’s fair to say that the technology team had not received the investment it required. But with that now in place, we’re working on a digital transformation program that is delivering the technology required to drive performance – both at HQ and at track.”

In Formula 1, operational efficiency is key not only on race day but across every function of the organisation. Can you highlight specific examples of how your IT team supports the broader business, such as finance, production, and supply chain management, to maintain seamless operations?

“We’re obviously providing the race team with the telemetry and performance data they need. But, for example, finance need to know at any point in time where we are against the cost cap set by F1’s governing body, the FIA. For production, we need to be able to understand not just how long a component may need for tooling, but whether any machines are offline so we can balance the workload of other machines to make sure that components are available and will get to the track in time.”

How does your team prepare for the intense schedule of 24 races a year, and how do you ensure that the necessary telemetry and performance data are delivered on time for each race, regardless of location or conditions?

“Everything is incredibly time-boxed. We have 24 races this year. Each one is in a different location around the world, all of them with their own unique set of requirements. That might be altitude or climate, a street circuit or a smooth racetrack. And each of those different factors determines what’s called the race pack for the car. So, for every single race you are effectively running a unique product. That means we’re constantly going to market with a new product, sometimes back to back in three weeks, which is intense!

“Performance is at the heart of that need for speed. Engineers, as you might expect, always need the information now. But more generally, as new technologies or new demands from the business arise, we need to be able to act fast. To get that competitive edge, speed of adoption is the name of the game.”

As the first female CIO in Formula 1, you’ve broken significant barriers in a traditionally male-dominated industry. From your perspective, have you observed a tangible shift in gender diversity within the sport, and what are some of the most impactful initiatives you believe could further attract and retain talented women in F1 and STEM roles?

“Well as the first CIO in Formula 1, that’s one glass ceiling broken! And when I started with Aston, there were two women in IT and now there are ten, so that’s positive.

“And at Aston, we do a lot of engagement with female groups, whether that’s students and school pupils or people who have completed their degrees. We’re actively trying to give women opportunities to come in and see what life is like. I currently have two women doing 12-month placements with me, and we make use of internships and apprenticeships.

“We also subtly changed the way that we advertise our roles, and that’s making a difference, too. Women typically will not apply for a position unless they tick every box. So we changed how our job ads read to say that a particular quality is desirable but not essential. I’m much more interested in how well someone will fit with our dynamic. If there’s a specific skill that’s missing, we can teach that.”

How do you foster a culture of upskilling and cross-training within your IT team to ensure that no single point of failure exists, and how do you encourage your team to embrace flexibility in their roles?

“Above all I need a team that’s multi-skilled and able to switch to cover different roles as required. I can’t afford to have a single point of failure because a specialist is, for some reason, not available. So we really push upskilling for everyone to make sure that we always have the capabilities and expertise we need on hand, where and when we need them.” 

You’ve been leading the digital transformation at Aston Martin Aramco for over two years now. Could you walk us through the key milestones you’ve achieved in that time, and share some of the most significant challenges you’ve encountered in laying the foundations for a fully optimised, tech-driven organisation?

“We started with a back-to-basics program that we put in place to make sure that the fundamentals of system stability, reliability, security and so on were in place. And security is of course absolutely paramount for us, as we are a real target. We needed those foundations in place before we could then go on to deploy the tech that will allow us to optimise and automate a lot of the standard roles and repeatable tasks. With that done, the team now has the capacity to truly transform and push forward. 

“We operate a hybrid estate and we’ve been upgrading our core platforms, including ERP and PLM stack. The current focus is on optimisation.”

What processes have you put in place to ensure that data flows seamlessly throughout the organisation, and how do you maintain trust in the data so that teams can make informed, real-time decisions with full confidence?

“For me, it’s all about how we can get the data where it needs to be, really efficiently. One, perhaps the, crucial factor for F1 is the speed at which you’re able to make decisions. And if you have lots of offline copies of data, you’re burning valuable time trying to figure out which is the master. So, to eliminate that inefficiency, you have to get all users to trust the data.

“To that end, we’re building our data lake which is a limitless repository of all data in all formats, structured and unstructured, so that we can properly mine one source of data for the analytics that are needed by different teams.”

Strategic partnerships with technology providers are crucial in F1, where every second counts. Can you give us a few examples of how collaborations with partners have transformed key operations, such as employee onboarding or data management, and contributed to a sharper competitive edge for the team?

“A good example is ServiceNow. It’s helping us to drive the productivity of our end users, for example making our onboarding process much slicker and faster with automated workflows that make sure people have got access to the right tech from day one. So someone joins us on a Monday at 9am, they have their induction and by 10am they’re on the tools and adding value to the team.”

AI is revolutionising industries across the board, and F1 is no exception. How has Aston Martin Aramco embraced AI so far, particularly in areas like real-time race data analysis or simulations, and where do you see AI creating the most significant performance gains for your team in the future?

“We’re already using AI for real-time data analysis. Algorithms provide insights throughout a race, including the car’s performance, tyre degradation and so on that help the team make informed decisions about pit-stop strategy and car settings.

“We have more than 250 sensors on each car, generating millions of data points per car, per race. All that gets streamed back live to the garage and more or less immediately to our HQ in Silverstone so the team can analyse and make suggestions for optimisation of performance. That’s a serious amount of data that has to be tagged and analysed. And, of course, we also archive the data so that we can do the analysis for the next time that we race at that circuit, so we can look at how the car performed and bank the learnings.

“But the real-time data is crucial to help us deal with unexpected events. That’s the fun thing with F1; something will happen and your ability to react at speed is critical. You’ll have a race plan, but need to adapt on the fly with real-time analysis.”

While AI and data-driven technologies are advancing rapidly, Formula 1 still relies heavily on human intuition and decision-making. How do you foresee the relationship between AI-generated insights and human judgment evolving in the sport, and in what areas do you believe AI will enhance human decision-making without replacing it?

“Generally speaking, AI is a big shift for F1. It’s a powerful tool that simplifies vast amounts of complex information which makes back-end processes much more efficient. And if you can process those huge amounts of data more rapidly, you’ll get a recommendation faster than ever before. But at the end of the day, you still need a human to make the decision to ratify making a change.   

“We also use AI in simulations so that we see what a change of design would look like, particularly on the aerodynamics. And with aero accounting for 60% of the performance of the car, clearly we want to ensure that it’s optimal. We also use AI in generative design for manufacturing components that need to fit a specific size or shape and be the right weight. 

“At the end of the day, you still have a human operating the car, and that’s not going to change. It could be that AI will improve how we can predict mechanical failures so we can take pre-emptive action. But you’re not going to influence the drivers’ performance and their response to something unexpected that happens on the track.

“But AI will have a significant impact generally. The FIA actively defines parameters for certain elements of technology, and I’m positive they will be actively monitoring the use of AI going forward.”

Sustainability is becoming increasingly important across industries, and Formula 1 is no different. How is your team addressing the environmental impact of high-performance computing and storage, and what are some of the innovative steps Aston Martin Aramco is taking to reduce its carbon footprint, especially in such an energy-intensive field?

“For example, the high-performance compute that we use has very strict limitations. The FIA mandate the amount of power that can be used for simulations, which restricts the type of chip sets and clock speed which can be used. Furthermore the Team’s position in the championship dictates how many simulations can be run. Furthermore, you can be audited at any time at short notice. You have to keep two years of hot data available so that auditors can take a look at any simulation that took place in that period. It’s not just the engineers in the garage being scrutinised. On the technology side, we too have to open our doors and provide whatever information is required.”

Formula 1 operates under stringent technological regulations set by the FIA, which limit power consumption and other computational aspects. How does your team navigate these constraints, while still pushing the boundaries of innovation and ensuring that Aston Martin Aramco remains at the forefront of technological advancements?

“Our new purpose-built HQ at Silverstone was designed and built with sustainability at its centre. We have photovoltaics on the roof that generate 6% of the operation’s energy consumption. After heating and lighting, compute and storage are the biggest consumers of electricity, so we’re very conscious of the need to reduce that demand as much as possible and are actively doing so.

“We ensure that the products we use are TCO-certified [a sustainability standard for the technology industry] and our supplier engagement processes include a sustainability evaluation element, to reduce our scope 3 footprint.”

There’s been growing momentum around diversity and inclusion in motorsport, particularly in female representation. With increased visibility of female motorsport, do you believe we are getting closer to seeing a female driver on the F1 grid, and what more can be done across the industry to cultivate a truly inclusive and diverse talent pipeline?

“Female motorsport is getting much more coverage, which is great. But we need to keep pushing on this. It’s up to us all as a community and a culture to keep knocking on that door. After all, talent has no gender.”

ServiceNow is the official Intelligent Platform Partner of the Aston Martin Aramco F1® Team, streamlining operations off and on the track.

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