How AWS and AI helped create the trophy for the race

F1 is a data-driven sport that blends human, machine and technology with a single goal: win the race and raise the winner’s trophy on the podium.

Across five continents, 10 F1 teams in 20 cars compete in 24 races. Behind each driver is a team of engineers and strategists analyzing data from their team’s car. Did you know that each race car generates over 1.1 million data points per second from over 300 sensors?

With split-second decision-making, constant danger and multi-million-dollar implications – a lot is happening on and off the track.

Since 2018, F1 and AWS have innovated together to leverage F1’s data and AWS’s cloud technologies to digitally transform the sport. The partnership is built on a shared passion for technological innovation, which is why AWS set out to create the first F1 trophy ever inspired by generative artificial intelligence (AI), to be lifted by the winner of the 2024 GRAND PRIX DU CANADA.

Read on to discover how you can create your own trophy design with generative AI, and even win a trip to a 2025 F1 GRAND PRIX.

Using generative AI on AWS to design the trophy

An AWS team of marketers and designers created hundreds of trophy design concepts based on various prompts, using the Amazon Titan Image Generator as part of Amazon Bedrock – a fully managed service that offers a choice of high-performing foundation models (FMs) from leading AI companies like AI21 Labs, Anthropic, Cohere, Meta, Mistral AI, Stability AI, and Amazon through a single API – including Titan.

The variety of historical data from decades of F1 offered countless opportunities for the team to explore. Should the trophy reflect the shape of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, the iconic track in Montreal for the GRAND PRIX DU CANADA? Could the design represent the significant gravitational forces drivers experience? Could this trophy be a combination of all historic F1 trophies over the last seventy years?

As certain prompts showed more promise, AWS leveraged Amazon Bedrock to generate hundreds of further iterations on preferred designs.

Prompt: Design a F1 trophy representing billions of data points transmitted from a F1 race car. Trophy materials should be silver.	Prompt: Design a trophy inspired by the flow of data from a race car on the track to the cloud. Trophy materials should be silver.

Some of the initial images presented limitations around manufacturing feasibility and weight, and concerns around structural integrity for the designs. The designers were pushed to explore alternative prompts taking these requirements into account, as well as AWS’s brand style .

Inspiration from F1’s Next-Gen car project

The most promising designs came from inputs inspired by the next-gen F1 race car project. For the 2022 seasons and onwards, F1 and AWS partnered to redesign the aerodynamic profile of F1 car design regulations to allow cars to race more closely and more fiercely. Prompts focusing on F1’s use of airflow dynamics and AWS High Performance Computing to study the flow of the air around the F1 car eventually led to the final selected design.

AWS landed on the following prompt: “A sleek, aerodynamic silver trophy on a square marble base, its twisted airflow form resembling the intricate aerodynamic patterns around a Formula 1 race car. The trophy’s design incorporates swirls and vortices, symbolizing the complex simulations run on AWS, used in F1 car development. The background is a muted grey, with subtle motion blur effects to convey a sense of speed.”

Once more, AWS created hundreds of variations in less than 10 seconds using Amazon Bedrock – providing a wide array of options to choose from.

After internal reviews, the final design was selected by AWS and external stakeholders for its stunning and unique aerodynamic design and signature airflow twist. The final designs will be shared publicly during the race.

Blending generative AI inspiration, traditional design and British craftsmanship

The 2D trophy design image from Amazon Titan Image Generator was sent to a specialist 3D computer-aided design (CAD) designer. AWS and the CAD designer worked together to add subtle but intricate details to celebrate the race’s home country – with a maple leaf and the St. Lawrence River. This resulted in a 3D render, which was used to 3D print a full-size resin form.

A British silversmith took the full-size resin form and added a sterling silver layer through a process known as electroforming. This process was used for all four trophies: 1st Place Driver, 2nd Place Driver, 3rd Place Driver, and Winning Constructor’s Trophy, which are all identical versions of a single component.

The silversmith then finessed the shape of the trophies by hand, a traditional process that dates back centuries, to form each individual detail. The end result is the collaborative work of dozens of design professionals and expert craftsmen that captures the rich and elegant tradition of F1 adding generative AI for inspiration and innovation.

Design your own F1 trophy with generative AI

The team had so much fun during this process that they decided to give everyone the opportunity to use generative AI to design their own F1 trophy. With AWS PartyRock, a fun and intuitive generative AI app-building playground, you can easily create and share your unique trophy design.

If you want to learn about generative AI and experiment with prompt engineering, you can visit the PartyRock Trophy Sweepstakes and start designing today. Once you are happy with your trophy, you can even enter a competition to win a paid, all-access VIP trip to a 2025 F1 GRAND PRIX. Entries are due by October 31, 2024, and the selected winner will be announced at AWS re:Invent 2024. See full terms and conditions here. (Amazon employees and their families are not eligible to enter the promotion.)

So, what are you waiting for? Unleash your creativity, explore the power of generative AI, and design your own F1 trophy!