From personalisation to conversation: Formula 1 enters a new era of fan engagement

Formula 1 has become one of the world's biggest sporting and entertainment properties, with a global fanbase of 831 million people. But reaching an audience and knowing who that audience is are two very different things.

When Matthew Kemp joined F1 in 2017 as head of customer data operations, the business had around 80,000 fans in its customer database. There had been little historical need to build direct relationships with them. The sport operated largely as a high-margin B2B business, with commercial arrangements built around broadcasters, race promoters and partners.

“In actual fact, Bernie Ecclestone's mantra was we don't need fans,” Kemp told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE on the sidelines of Salesforce's annual Dreamforce conference in San Francisco.

That has now changed dramatically. F1 has 26 million fans it can reach directly, while its wider audience has grown to more than 831 million. The challenge, Kemp said, is increasingly about turning that enormous global reach into individual customer relationships.

“If you think about how most companies engage with their customer base, personalisation is: I know your name, I know you're interested in this, so I'm going to send you an email or something on Instagram," Kemp said. “We're trying to think about that slightly differently. Instead of presenting you with information we think you want, come and ask us for it."

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Today the sport is entering what Kemp, F1's head of customer data operations, describes as a new conversational era.

Instead of simply pushing information to fans based on what the business thinks they want, F1 is developing AI-powered experiences that allow people to ask questions, explore content and interact with the sport on their own terms.

For a long-time enthusiast, that might mean understanding the intricacies of the 2026 technical regulations. For a newer fan, it could be something as simple as what to wear to a Grand Prix. The opportunity is to serve both, using the same underlying data and technology.

A different kind of F1 fan

F1's transformation over the past decade has been as much about its audience as its commercial model.

Historically, the sport attracted an older, predominantly male fanbase. Since Liberty's acquisition, it has expanded into entertainment, lifestyle, fashion and popular culture, alongside the growth of F1 TV, digital products and its licensing business.

Netflix's Drive to Survive has played a significant role in bringing new audiences into the sport, while F1's growing presence in entertainment and social media has extended its reach well beyond traditional motorsport followers.

If you're only interested in the entertainment or the glitz and the glamour, there's no point in us forcing the technical details on you. We're starting that conversation journey now.

Matthew Kemp.

Kemp said the changes have fundamentally altered the composition of F1's direct customer base. Today, 43% of its database is female and 42% is under 34. That diversity creates new opportunities, but also a much more complicated marketing challenge.

Claire Sparks, F1's head of portfolio and technical initiatives, said the organisation is increasingly focused on understanding the different interests that bring fans into its ecosystem. Some want detailed technical analysis. Others are interested in drivers, celebrities, entertainment or the lifestyle surrounding race weekends.

The distinction matters because only around 1% of F1's global audience is ever likely to attend a race, according to Sparks. The other 99% still need ways to feel connected.

"They're still part of the family. We want them to feel engaged and feel like they're part of the F1 ecosystem," she said.

For F1, the answer increasingly lies in building a much richer understanding of individual fans and delivering content that reflects their interests, rather than treating its global audience as one enormous group.

From personalisation to conversation

F1 is already using and and increasingly agentic AI to combine information from its website, app, F1 TV, ticketing, merchandise and other digital touchpoints, creating a more connected view of its fans. That is beginning to change how the organisation approaches marketing.

Rather than simply knowing a customer's name or preferred driver, F1 can use engagement signals to understand which aspects of the sport matter to them

AI-driven marketing activity has increased click-through rates by 22%, while F1 is preparing to extend personalisation more deeply into its website and app. But Kemp believes conventional audience segmentation is only part of the answer.

The bigger opportunity is conversational AI, allowing fans to ask for exactly what they want while providing F1 with a better understanding of their interests. Existing personalisation, he acknowledged, is not yet truly one-to-one.

“We think the answer to that is this conversation piece,” he said.

A conversation could allow F1 to provide information in different formats, from a quick answer to a detailed explanation or relevant video content. It could also reveal interests that might otherwise remain invisible.

Someone asking about a particular driver's clothing, for example, may be signalling an interest in fashion or lifestyle rather than the technical side of racing. Those interactions could eventually inform the content fans see across F1's digital channels, including its website, app and social platforms.

Putting AI in front of fans

The first major test came earlier this year, when F1 introduced an Agentforce-powered companion to help fans understand the sweeping changes to the sport's 2026 technical regulations.

The regulations are complex, and F1 recognised that even experienced followers would need help understanding what had changed.

Rather than relying entirely on static explainers, the organisation brought its own editorial and technical content into Salesforce Data 360, allowing fans to ask questions and receive conversational answers grounded in official information.

Kemp said the trial demonstrated demand for the experience, with fans continuing to ask questions even after the changes had been extensively discussed ahead of the season.

It also provided an early indication of how AI could help F1 understand what its audience wants to know. The system uses guardrails to control its responses, including restrictions around speculative questions about which teams or drivers might win.

F1 is also explicit with users that they are speaking to an AI agent and provides access to human support when needed.

That approach is already delivering measurable results in customer service. Kemp said F1's self-service rate jumped from 26% to more than 70% following its Agentforce rollout.

“That was literally an overnight transition,” he said.

The significance extends beyond reducing pressure on customer service teams.

For an organisation with hundreds of millions of fans across different time zones, conversational AI offers a way to provide immediate assistance and make more of its content accessible around the clock.

It also creates another opportunity to learn from fans. Questions about regulations, tickets, merchandise or attending a race can provide signals that inform future content and customer experiences.

The bigger transformation is happening inside F1

There is, however, a less visible part of the transformation. Kemp said F1 has spent the past two years rebuilding its data foundations, a process he described as painful. And implementing conversational AI has required changes to how its teams work together.

Previously, digital, marketing and data operated more independently. Now they are increasingly collaborating to develop experiences built around the fan.

Digital teams manage the customer-facing channels, marketing develops content, data teams establish the underlying information and guardrails, and technical teams help orchestrate the experience.

Sparks described that cross-functional collaboration as one of the most significant achievements of the initial AI rollout.

For Kemp, it represents a broader cultural shift.

"This has really brought us together. All these worlds are converging and as we start to look forward, we've also got racing system and trackside data that we want to pull in and then you will really start to see us working together as one one team. That's a major cultural shift for us."