CLOUD COMPUTING

The human element: Empowering remote teams The third pillar of this transformation focuses on people and processes.“ Our firm view is that our first responder team has to be the best, and second is, then we have to empower them,” Dhaval says.“ There’ s no point in having the best of the best, but if they have to pick up the phone during a live event and ask somebody for permission for what they think is the right way to do it, then you have lost the battle.”

This empowerment philosophy has created a new model for live sports production, where expertise and authority are distributed across global teams rather than concentrated at venue locations. The approach has proven so successful that“ about four or five years ago, if you had asked me, I would be up at night, thinking about‘ I hope nothing goes wrong on some cable system off the coast of North Africa or some earthquake in Southeast Asia,’” Dhaval says.“ But now, we have enough experience to foresee problems and see how we would get ahead of them.”

AI and the future of sports broadcasting The partnership between Formula One and Tata Communications continues to push technological boundaries, particularly in AI applications.“ Over the last 18 months, we have looked at more than 25 use case ideas to see how it can change the industry when it comes to sports and when it comes to media and entertainment, and we have really been going through all of those 25 plus, along with some of our core partners,” Dhaval explains.

The applications span multiple categories, from language translation to automated content creation.“ If you are adding a new language for commentary, you really want to translate that emotional aspect as well. You want to have that emotional connection being translated into a new language so that it feels natural to me or you.”

Perhaps most significantly, AI is democratising access to high-quality sports broadcasting.“ A lot of these smaller broadcasters will have a far lower barrier to entry in terms of technology and cost, and also for individuals today. If you are a massive super fan of a particular sport, you can basically deliver your commentary from your living room, which means that you can really now be employed in this industry without really having to be in the media hubs,” Dhaval says.

Formula 1’ s leadership has embraced this technological transformation as central to the sport’ s future.

58 September 2025