About Michal Switala – Netherlands

With the prospect of winning $50,000 and having his idea for the 2018 Tata Communications F1® Innovation Prize made into a reality, Michal Switala, from the Netherlands, submitted his entry and made it into the finals. We spoke to him to find out more about his submission.

 

Michal’s F1® Innovation Prize entry

Michal’s idea for the future of F1® involves storylines that are “automatically created, human-verified, dynamically visualized live statements that are constantly tracking driver progress and predicting chance of success in real-time,” explains Michal.

 

 

Michal continues by saying that “these storylines reduce the dependence on TV commentators and F1® experts, and allow fans to dive deeper into their favorite evolving storylines, as well as publish their own.”

With memories going back to the 70s, Michal first found interest in the fast-paced sport after reading a book summarising F1®, but it wasn’t until 1984 when he read about the “epic battle between Lauda and Prost (won by 0.5 points by Lauda),” that he “was sold for good!”

When it comes to how his entry may impact the sport in the future, Michal believes that his approach “would seriously help fans to understand and appreciate the sport and as a result it would increase overall fan engagement.”

 

What inspired Michal’s entry?

Inspiration for Michal’s submission came from lots of reading. He also admits to ‘smuggling’ his laptop onto a family vacation, just so he could work on it.

“I always enjoyed reading about F1® and analyzing the sport and I’ve been looking for something combining the thrill of live event with the insight of post-race detailed analysis,” says Michal. “I experimented with F1® visualizations on my little blog F1scope.com before, and this year competition seemed to me a great opportunity to bring it to the next level.”

 

Winning the 2018 Tata Communications F1® Innovation Prize

Naturally, while winning the 2018 Tata Communications F1® Innovation Prize and the $50,000 would be rewarding enough, Michal says that he’s looking forward to prototyping as being able “to work on this concept  would mean nothing less than a dream come true.”

 

Register here to stay updated on all things #tatacommsf1prize