Engineering Scuderia
Ferrari HP’s fan
engagement strategy

Scuderia Ferrari HP, the renowned Formula 1 racing team, boasts one of the world’s largest and most passionate fan bases, standing 396 million strong. Ferrari fans are unique to many F1 followers in that they’re loyal to the team above any individual driver. At the core of this loyalty is Ferrari’s multigenerational super fan base, the Tifosi. They’re an enduring global community whose support has helped shaped the team’s identity for decades.

In the words of Scuderia Ferrari HP driver, Charles Leclerc: “The passion that Ferrari fans have for the brand, for Ferrari, for the history, is something very special to witness and you can definitely feel it every time you are in Italy or on a racing track.”

Scuderia Ferrari’s fan base is expanding. Alongside legacy fans, a new generation of supporters is emerging. These new supporters are digitally native superfans and first-time followers, discovering the excitement of Formula 1 through fresh channels and perspectives. 

Stefano Pallard, Head of Fan Development for Scuderia Ferrari HP said “Ferrari fans are different for many reasons. It’s history and heritage. Ferrari is the only one in F1 since the very beginning. So, we feel this, and we are proud of it.”

With such a dynamic and varied audience, Scuderia Ferrari needed a way to engage with multiple different needs while preserving the exclusivity and authenticity of the Ferrari experience. They wanted to bring fans closer to the action, before, during and after races, both on and off the track.

Scuderia Ferrari’s existing F1 fan app was rich in editorial content. But the team wanted more interactivity and personalization. So they asked IBM to build a fan experience that could scale globally, adapt locally and reflect the prestige of the Prancing Horse.

Emphasizing the need for a more in-depth, engaging fan experiences, Scuderia Ferrari’s Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur states “We’ve had many new fans join us in the last couple of years, and not everyone comes in with a deep understanding of F1. It’s important that we give them an opportunity to understand what we’re doing.”

The partnership between IBM and Scuderia Ferrari HP is built on a shared passion for pushing limits and redefining what’s possible. The Ferrari brand is fueled by a relentless drive to innovate. They’re constantly evolving, testing new ideas and striving for peak performance. It’s this shared value of continuous innovation that makes the collaboration between Ferrari and IBM so powerful.

To make that vision a reality, the F1 team partnered with IBM Consulting® to completely reimagine their mobile app. Together, they created a next-generation fan engagement platform, shaped by IBM® Design Thinking and built with IBM watsonx® technology. 

The project began with in-depth research into Scuderia Ferrari HP’s diverse fan personas, from lifelong Tifosi to emergent newcomers. IBM then used those insights to shape a roadmap for the new app, paying attention to every last detail. IBM Consulting led the redesign of the app’s architecture and interface, creating a sleek, intuitive platform that delivers race insights, interactive features and personalized content.

The transformation of Scuderia Ferrari HP’s digital presence illustrates how technology–well-executed– drives smarter business outcomes. The use of a hybrid cloud infrastructure created a flexible environment for future scalability. Incorporating IBM AI tools notably enhanced productivity. Automation with the IBM Instana® platform improved uptime and reliability. The IBM watsonx.data® data store enabled the management of high volumes and the variety of data. Together, these solutions created a modern digital foundation built for speed, scale and smarter business.

At the heart of the transformation is a hybrid cloud infrastructure and AI models trained and managed with the watsonx portfolio of products. The Scuderia Ferrari app is powered by a combination of clouds from different vendors, including AWS, with a serverless architecture that drives performance at scale, and a series of applications written with the Red Hat® OpenShift® Platform. This foundation enables watsonx.data to unify, curate and prepare data from across Ferrari domains, including the racing division, merchandise and the iconic luxury car brand. “For this app, we had to bring together a lot of different data sources from different locations,” explains Fred Baker, IBM Sports Lead, EMEA. “To do that, we built a hybrid architecture, which incorporates elements of multiple clouds from multiple vendors, including AWS. watsonx then helped us to ingest, classify and ultimately serve data and insights up for more meaningful moments for fans.”

Generative AI (gen AI) models built with IBM watsonx.ai® AI studio produce dynamic race summaries and storylines by analyzing live telemetry and historical data. The IBM watsonx Code Assistant® solution helps developers move faster, using AI to streamline coding and accelerate feature delivery. 

Another important part of the suite is the IBM watsonx.governance® toolkit, which helps protect two of Scuderia Ferrari's most revered assets: their brand and their data. A defining characteristic of Ferrari’s brand identity is their unique tone of voice. watsonx.governance helps developers govern AI model outputs, including conversational style. This feature was pivotal in giving the app an authentic tone of voice for fans to interact with.

Enhancing the storytelling experience, the app delivers rich historical insights—drawing connections between key 2025 race moments and iconic Scuderia Ferrari HP milestones across cars, drivers and tracks. These insights, generated by watsonx large language models (LLMs), such as IBM Granite® AI foundation models, are seamlessly embedded within AI-generated race summaries and other Ferrari content, adding depth, context and a sense of legacy to every fan interaction. 

The content engine for the app gives the editorial teams AI-powered workflows with the ability to publish real-time updates and personalized content as the race unfolds. These capabilities also mean fans get something new every time they open the app. Meanwhile, Instana provides real-time monitoring, improving uptime and reliability, no matter how many users tune in.

In addition to all the above, a commerce engine powered by Salesforce gives fans in-app access to official Ferrari products and exclusive race-day releases. It also lays the foundation for a richer understanding of the interactions and needs of each fan for more personalized interactions.

Together, these solutions position Scuderia Ferrari HP to deliver a digital experience as immersive and precision-driven as the race itself. The result is a scalable, AI-enhanced environment that brings fans closer to the team and the track than ever before. 

Key features include:

• AI-generated race summaries that synthesize telemetry, weather and strategy data into compelling narratives in a tone of voice of the fan’s choosing. These summaries are generated for every race through the season and iconic races of Scuderia Ferrari’s past.
• The Iconic Races feature showcases highlights from the team’s most famous victories throughout its history. 
• A revamped and animated race center experience that helps fans unpack and interact with key race details, from visualized interactive fastest laps to lap-by-lap position and tire strategies.
• Exclusive behind-the-scenes content from the team principal, drivers, engineers and the whole team.
• Interactive features, such as daily fan polls and sending messages to the team, help fans engage directly with the team.
• Personalized content delivery, with future plans for localization and behavior-based customization
• Racing Insights, built with watsonx, give fans unique historical insights into past races, drivers and Scuderia Ferrari moments thanks to a unique set of aggregated racing data.
• Fans can access Scuderia Ferrari merchandise directly from the app thanks to integrated in-app capabilities provided by Salesforce.
• AI-powered personalization based on fan behavior and preferences.
• Expanded multilingual support to reach fans in their native languages.
• Virtual experiences such as digital garages and interactive learning journeys.

Together, these solutions improved content delivery efficiency and streamlined internal workflows. Unified access to data supported faster, more informed decision-making–now and in the future. As a result, the app achieved faster development cycles, enhanced platform reliability and consistent performance at scale.

Key business outcomes include:

Founded in 1929, in Maranello, Italy, Scuderia Ferrari HP is the most successful and storied team in Formula 1 history, with 16 Constructors’ Championships and 15 Drivers’ Championships.