- Formula 1® and Lenovo have worked together to implement Neptune® Liquid Cooling technology, allowing for further advancements within F1’s broadcasting systems.
- Lenovo’s solution optimizes the organization’s HPC footprint and represents a key step toward its wider sustainability goals.
- Formula 1 relies on Lenovo’s High Performance Computing to help deliver live broadcasts to more than 820 million fans around the world.
- The implementation marks another milestone in the Global Partnership between Formula 1 and Lenovo, as both organizations continue to push the boundaries of innovation to build a faster, smarter and more sustainable sport.
Formula 1® and Lenovo have today announced the deployment of Lenovo Neptune® Liquid Cooling – a breakthrough cooling technology which dramatically boosts performance while increasing energy efficiency by up to 40%. Lenovo’s Neptune solution enables enhanced High Performance Computing (HPC) capability and powers F1’s AI systems inside F1’s Media & Technology Centre (Biggin Hill, UK), making it the perfect fit for implementation at Formula 1 in the sport’s long-term sustainability strategy.
As Formula 1 continues to innovate across its broadcast production, race operations and real-time data processing, the demands on its HPC environment continue to grow. Scaling this capability efficiently is critical to meeting the sport’s technical and environmental objectives.
The introduction of Lenovo Neptune Liquid Cooling makes this possible. The solution integrates directly into Lenovo ThinkSystem SD665-N V3 servers, removing heat at the processor level using warm water and dramatically reducing the power required to cool high-density compute. This gives Formula 1 the freedom to deploy more powerful AI and data workloads without significantly increasing its energy footprint.
Dr. Tolga Kurtoglu, Chief Technology Officer at Lenovo, said: “Lenovo Neptune Liquid Cooling fundamentally strengthens Formula 1’s technical infrastructure, enabling consistently higher workloads and greater speed, paired with significant energy savings. It means F1 can confidently expand the scale and sophistication of its broadcast systems while meeting the efficiency, reliability and sustainability requirements driven by the evolution of the sport.”
Through its multi-year Global Partnership with F1, Lenovo provides end-to-end technology solutions, powering both race operations and the wider business. More than 600 Formula 1 employees depend on Lenovo servers and AI-ready devices – from AI laptops, monitors and workstations to tablets and Motorola smartphones – to collaborate globally and deliver world-class coverage to a cumulative annual audience of 1.6 billion.
On race weekends, Formula 1 assembles its track-side Event Technical Centre (ETC) – the largest and most complex transportable facility of its kind in the world. Here, the organization collects a wide range of data, from real-time timing, car telemetry and tire data, to team radios, camera feeds and audio streams, with Lenovo’s virtualization platform providing the computing power to run these operations.
Across a typical race weekend, around 600 TB of live data flows directly between the ETC and Formula 1’s state-of-the-art Media & Technology Centre (M&TC) in Biggin Hill, UK – the true nerve center of Formula 1’s broadcast and data operations and the primary site where Lenovo’s Neptune Liquid Cooling will be increasingly deployed. The recently refurbished M&TC now handles the majority of race-weekend processing, bringing the thrills of F1 to fans worldwide. The facility runs more than 180 bespoke software systems comprising over four million lines of code, supported by Lenovo infrastructure.
As Formula 1’s data demands continue to grow, Lenovo Neptune Liquid Cooling at the M&TC will deliver the higher performance, improved thermal stability and greater efficiency required to keep pace. Because F1 has ambitious sustainability targets, Neptune’s water-based heat removal technology is especially valuable – enabling peak computing performance while significantly reducing energy consumption compared to traditional air-cooled systems. This allows Formula 1 to continue pushing the boundaries of its broadcast and technology capabilities without compromising its sustainability goals.
Chris Roberts, Director of IT at Formula 1, commented: “Formula 1 is proudly on track to achieve its target of becoming Net Zero by 2030.Through our partnership with Lenovo we can continue to contribute positively to our sustainability objectives by reducing our HPC footprint as we continue to innovate.
“Our goals made Lenovo Neptune Liquid Cooling technology a natural fit for F1. It integrates seamlessly into our existing air-cooled data center, enables us to run data and AI workloads on-premises and lays the foundation for future innovation across our operations.”
This solution paves the way for Lenovo and Formula 1 to unlock the next wave of innovation, further elevating the fan experience of the fastest show on Earth.
About Lenovo
Lenovo is a US$69 billion revenue global technology powerhouse, ranked #196 in the Fortune Global 500, and serving millions of customers every day in 180 markets. Focused on a bold vision to deliver Smarter Technology for All, Lenovo has built on its success as the world’s largest PC company with a full-stack portfolio of AI-enabled, AI-ready, and AI-optimized devices (PCs, workstations, smartphones, tablets), infrastructure (server, storage, edge, high performance computing and software defined infrastructure), software, solutions, and services. Lenovo’s continued investment in world-changing innovation is building a more equitable, trustworthy, and smarter future for everyone, everywhere. Lenovo is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange under Lenovo Group Limited (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY). To find out more visit https://www.lenovo.com, and read about the latest news via our StoryHub.
