AWS re:Invent: Ruth Buscombe on How AWS Helps F1 Engineers Read a Million Data Points a Second

Dec 3, 2025

In this engaging discussion, Ruth Buscombe, a seasoned motorsport engineer and F1 TV presenter, dives into the thrilling world of Formula 1 data. With cars generating over a million data points per second, she explains how AWS transforms real-time telemetry into captivating storytelling for audiences. Ruth shares insights on race strategy, team culture shifts due to data abundance, and innovative tools for identifying errors. Her reflections on pressure in high-stakes environments and the growing fan engagement around F1 provide a fascinating look at modern motorsport.

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ANECDOTE

Career From Thesis To Global Ambassador

Ruth explained her lifelong F1 career from a master's thesis to working at Ferrari and now advising F1 and AWS.
She called the ambassador role 'geek squared' because it blends engineering passion with cloud tech influence.

INSIGHT

Racing As Continuous Data Story

Each F1 car creates 1.1 million data points per second, turning races into continuous data stories.
AWS enables real-time insights that transform raw telemetry into actionable storytelling and engineering decisions.

ANECDOTE

Root-Cause Analysis Slashed Latency

Ruth recounted AWS reducing latency in root-cause analysis, cutting fix times by 86%.
Faster diagnostics improved reliability for broadcasting telemetry worldwide.

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Did you know a single Formula 1 car produces 1.1 million data points every second from hundreds of sensors? That number alone sets the tone for this conversation with Ruth Buscombe, an F1 strategist, analyst, and F1TV presenter whose work sits at the meeting point of engineering precision and real time storytelling.

We met at AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas, and her insights into how much pressure, judgment, and creativity are wrapped inside each decision brought the sport to life in a fresh way for anyone who has ever stared at a dashboard of metrics and wondered what really matters.

This discussion goes far deeper than split times and tyre choices. Ruth explains how AWS and F1 are rethinking race strategy through real time insights and cloud compute, from TrackPulse and root-cause analysis all the way to predictive graphics that let commentary teams spot a race-defining moment before it happens.

She also reflects on the sport's changing culture, the growth of new fan communities, and the shift from old telemetry to modern systems that process millions of data points every second. Her stories from the paddock at Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, and F1TV help frame just how intense the job can be when 12,000ths of a second separate pole from second place.

There are moments in this conversation that remind us that F1 strategy is as much about human pattern recognition as it is about machine intelligence, and that the strongest engineers find ways to absorb pressure without losing their instinct.

What stood out most was how clearly Ruth links F1 to decision making in every industry. Whether she is talking about marginal gains, pattern detection, or the discipline needed to separate noise from signal, her examples make perfect sense to both race fans and tech leaders.

She shares how AWS tools allow broadcasters and engineers to interpret scenarios instantly, why the sport needed to move past manual diagnosis, and how new tools even help verify whether a driver's mistake came from a small steering slide or a split-second shift error.

Her passion is infectious and her explanations cut straight to the heart of what makes the blend of live racing and cloud computing work so well. As you listen, think about how your own team makes choices under pressure and ask yourself one last question. If you were in the garage making a call with the whole world watching, which signals would you trust and how fast could you act?

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