Ferrari has turned its fan app into something much closer to a digital pit wall, and the bet is paying off. With IBM’s help, Ferrari says it has lifted fan engagement during race weekends by 62% after rebuilding the app around AI, analytics, and less dead airtime.
The Ferrari app overhaul is bigger than a cosmetic refresh. Formula 1 has become a magnet for tech companies chasing a younger, more global audience, and Ferrari is trying to keep control of its own relationship with fans instead of handing it to social platforms or the broader F1 ecosystem.
Ferrari app now behaves like a content platform
Where the old app mainly offered schedules and basic race information, the new version leans hard into interaction. Fans now get games, predictions, behind-the-scenes material, AI-written text commentary, and an assistant that can answer questions about the team.
Ferrari has also added full Italian localization, a basic but important fix for a brand built on national identity. That matters because premium sports apps fail all the time by acting like brochures with push notifications.
IBM is using telemetry as a storytelling engine
The partnership is built around one idea: turning raw race data into something fans actually want to read. In Formula 1, a single weekend generates millions of data points per second, and IBM says that flood of information helps ordinary users understand what AI can do in practical terms.
Ferrari’s digital team is also using IBM’s tools to watch how people behave inside the app, from which stories they tap most often to the tone of messages sent by tifosi. That kind of feedback loop lets the team adjust content quickly instead of guessing what fans want and hoping for the best.
A younger fan base changes the brief
Ferrari is building for an audience that no longer looks like the old one. According to official Formula 1 figures, up to 75% of new fans are Gen Z and women, helped along by the rise of F1 Academy and by the sport’s broader social media boom.
- 62% increase in fan engagement during race weekends
- Full Italian localization for local supporters
- Games, predictions, race commentary, and an AI assistant now sit inside the app
- Ferrari is one of the few teams, alongside McLaren and Williams, running its own independent digital platform
That independence may turn out to be the real prize. A team app can collect richer first-party data, package sponsor inventory more cleanly, and keep fans inside Ferrari’s own world for the full year, not just on Sunday afternoons.
What comes next for Ferrari’s digital playbook
The challenge now is whether Ferrari can keep the experience personal as the audience grows. If the app becomes too crowded with features, it risks becoming another noisy sports portal with a red logo on top. If it stays sharp, useful and a little obsessive in the way Ferrari tends to be, other teams will be forced to copy it.