In Formula 1, it all comes down to one thing: being the best and fastest on the track. That involves more than just engine parts, new floors for Formula 1 cars, and other technical marvels. The underlying IT also plays an important role. ServiceNow recently invited us to visit the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team headquarters in Silverstone. We wanted to find out more about this.
To maximize returns on investment, it is important for Aston Martin Aramco to attract the right people and design the best components. During a tour of the Aston Martin Aramco factory, we were given a good overview of the complete process of designing a Formula 1 car. Among other things, we heard how special some of the materials used in a Formula 1 car are. But we also felt how strong extremely light materials can be.
Above all, we also saw how many people work every day to provide the drivers on the track with the best materials. The countdown clock to the next Grand Prix in the central hall of the complex helps everyone remember what they are doing it all for in the first place: the next race. Of course, everyone is also looking ahead to the next season. In that season, hybrid engines (combustion engine plus electric motor) will have to be installed in Formula 1 cars.
When you walk through the Aston Martin Aramco factory and adjacent buildings, it’s all about high-tech and its development. IT doesn’t seem to play an important role. And to a certain extent, it doesn’t. No one can seriously claim that choosing the best piece of software will result in a Formula 1 car that spontaneously wins races. Nevertheless, a significant change has taken place at Aston Martin Aramco. ServiceNow plays an important role in this.
Strong foundation thanks to ServiceNow
Aston Martin Aramco partnered with ServiceNow several years ago (in 2023). According to Sioned Edwards, IT Operations Director at Aston Martin F1, this was definitely a good move. “Our IT team consisted of 15 people. There were no processes and no tool sets,” she says. In other words, there was virtually no insight or overview of what everyone was doing. This despite the fact that everyone uses IT to do their job.
Such a use case is right up ServiceNow’s alley. The company has been active for a long time in helping organizations in this area. It has set itself the goal of connecting all parts of organizations. This enables optimization, automation, and maximum insight and overview.
Gaining insight and overview should lead to gains. And in this sport, gain can mean two things. On the one hand, there is the gain that inevitably comes when organizations do things more efficiently. Less investment is needed to achieve the same end goal. “We use ServiceNow for the approval process when requesting new materials. In just a few months, we saved £50,000,” Edwards gives as a concrete example.
The second definition of gains for a Formula 1 team are the gains on the track. “Our currency is time, not money,” Edwards summarizes succinctly. It’s about the seconds that can be gained during the time drivers are on the track.
The central question Aston Martin Aramco asked itself was how to make IT work as efficiently as possible. This involves issues such as time to resolution, first fixes, and automation. In short, delivering value to the team as a whole as quickly as possible.
IT Operations, IT Service Management, and more
Based on what we hear from Edwards and later from Max Eversfield, Senior Advisory Solution Consultant at ServiceNow, the collaboration between ServiceNow and Aston Martin Aramco is intended to be a long-term one. “We were looking for a real partner,” Edwards summarizes. According to her, ServiceNow has now become part of the team. That will remain the case for the foreseeable future, if all goes well. She also indicates that they have only covered a quarter of the route they want to travel together with ServiceNow.
What has been done with and by ServiceNow so far can be seen as the foundation. It starts with knowing what assets are available. Aston Martin Aramco was then able to take steps in the area of IT Service Management. This was done to get reporting, onboarding, and ticketing in order. Once that was in place, they could look at IT Operations.
ServiceNow is now an inherent part of Aston Martin Aramco. Everyone uses it, says Edwards. That certainly did not happen without a struggle. You can’t expect it to, considering that nothing was in place before ServiceNow was brought in. Especially in the areas of change management (culture and people) and technical debt, there were quite a few hurdles to overcome.
The foundation is now in place. As already indicated, there is much more to come. For example, the team is working on very small initial and specific use cases for the deployment of AI. Both Edwards and Eversfield see particular potential in track side, where fractions of seconds really matter. ServiceNow’s integrated approach will certainly come into play as things become more automated. Eversfield specifically highlights AI Control Tower here. This should ensure that people can trust AI to do what it is supposed to do and, above all, not to do things it is not supposed to do.
IT is a prerequisite for performance
Ultimately, the role of IT in virtually all enterprise environments (and beyond) is a supporting one. This is particularly true at Aston Martin Aramco Formula One. There is a very clear relationship between having the basics in order, ITSM and IT Operations on the one hand, and the consequences for the drivers on the track on the other. That’s not to say that a car will suddenly become competitive. Aston Martin Aramco’s cars have not been competitive lately. However, a solid foundation does create the necessary conditions for making the leap to the top. Aston Martin Aramco is steadily improving that foundation with ServiceNow. Who knows, we may already see the effects of this indirectly in 2026.
