On April 19th, the highly anticipated 2024 FORMULA 1 Lenovo Chinese Grand Prix will officially rev its engines at the Shanghai International Circuit. Since the 2022 season, Lenovo Group has been the official technical partner of F1®, leveraging its full-stack products, solutions, and services to efficiently deploy and closely coordinate operations for 40 weeks and 24 races worldwide, ensuring smooth sailing for global events.
"Lenovo has been an outstanding F1 official technical partner since 2022. We are committed to jointly driving technological innovation and its practical applications in our business," emphasized Pete Samara, Director of Innovation and Digitalization at F1, highlighting, "Throughout the events, Lenovo has provided stable and reliable equipment—the ThinkCentre M Master series desktops—offering technical support to our global teams and playing a crucial role in all 24 race events across 21 countries."
The foremost challenge in managing F1 events is the coordination of the annual racing calendar. According to official reports, the 2024 F1 season will feature a record-breaking 24 races over 40 weeks, spanning five continents, 21 countries, and 10 time zones. The schedule is incredibly tight, occasionally leaving less than a week between races.
Another significant hurdle is the endurance of smart hardware in extreme conditions. These devices must operate not only in the hot, dry, and dusty climates of countries like Qatar but also in the extreme heat and humidity of Singapore, which presents a stark contrast of "fire and ice" conditions. Beyond battling the severe weather at various locations, the equipment frequently withstands the jolts and vibrations of logistic transitions, as well as unexpected heavy rains or sandstorms during the races. Moreover, as F1 equipment undergoes extreme cold during flights and then bakes on the tarmac, some devices are required to frequently switch between being frozen and scorched.
Lenovo's ThinkCentre M Master desktop
In response to various special requirements, F1 racing demands powerful hardware performance, flexible deployment, and easy maintenance for the race circuit equipment, supporting over 130 frontline engineers and executives in rapid deployment and efficient management. The Lenovo ThinkCentre M Master series desktop, known for its high-end quality and innovation since its inception, has comprehensively upgraded in performance and form to efficiently support F1 race deployment and collaborative operations.
Firstly, in terms of core configuration, the Master series is equipped with Intel® vPro® and Intel® Core™ i9 processors, enabling it to effortlessly handle office applications and even light design rendering tasks. Secondly, its diverse forms meet various usage scenarios. The ThinkCentre M950q, with a chassis volume of only 1L, is compact and easy to deploy, while maintaining strong performance comparable to traditional desktops. Furthermore, its easy daily operation and maintenance fully meet F1's demanding requirements for office equipment, ensuring easy deployment, transport, and reliable operation around the clock.
Intel vPro, Designed for Business Excellence
In addition to rapid deployment and operation in extreme environments, Formula 1 also requires constant collaboration across teams, such as track engineers and broadcasting crews, while maintaining real-time, close coordination with over 170 colleagues at the headquarters in the UK. This is largely supported by the new "ThinkCentre M Master Management Center," an integrated software and hardware management platform pre-installed in the Lenovo ThinkCentre M Master series desktops.
Overall, the superior performance of Lenovo's ThinkCentre series products enables the F1 operational teams to efficiently deploy and closely coordinate every complex workflow, ensuring seamless support throughout the events.
