A Smart Perspective with Claire Sparks

For the final episode of the series, A Smart Perspective goes trackside -recorded at Formula 1®’s legendary HQ and Media & Technology Centre in Biggin Hill. Per Overgaard sits down with Claire Sparks, Head of Portfolio and Technical Initiatives at F1, to explore what it really takes to run one of the most technologically advanced operations in the world.

F1 is synonymous with speed, but behind the scenes, the pace is just as relentless. Claire reveals how a four‑year remote broadcast operations roadmap was condensed into just 10 weeks during Covid, how race weekends operate like precision‑engineered disaster‑recovery rituals, and how F1 captures and processes massive volumes of data - 3.5GB per car, per race - to elevate the experience for 827 million fans, only 1% of whom ever attend a race in person.

Claire’s career story is just as compelling. From recruitment to early IT days with Lotus Notes and printer rescues, she’s built a career defined by curiosity, continuous learning, and thriving in high‑stakes transformation environments. She and Per dive into the power of partnerships, women in motorsport, the rise of AI skills across every function, and what responsible IT leadership looks like in a world of unprecedented change.

They explore whether AI must prove ROI, why enriched data underpins every use case, and why the future belongs to leaders who can guide their teams - confidently and humanely - through rapid evolution.

Tune in for a thrilling finale at the intersection of speed, data, and human ingenuity. Find out more about Lenovo’s partnership with F1 here: https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/sports-partners/formula1/