Formula 1 will take a new technological step in the 2026 season with the implementation of an automated system that promises greater precision and speed when it comes to penalizing track limit infringements. The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) will incorporate a tool based on artificial intelligence that will monitor every car in every corner, throughout the entire race.
According to information released by the specialized outlet Motorsport, the project, called ECAT (Every Car All Turns), will be integrated into the RaceWatch platform, which is used by race control and the remote operations center to monitor on-track activity. Its objective is clear:to reduce the workload of the stewards, who in recent seasons have had to analyze more than a thousand incidents in a single weekend.
The system combines computer vision, strategically distributed cameras and an advanced positioning model that builds a kind of "digital twin" of what is happening on the track in real time. Thanks to high-performance GPUs and a centralized camera controller, the FIA will be able to process enormous volumes of data and automatically detect when a single-seater crosses the white line or enters areas delimited through geofencing.
According to the Federation, this technology has already made it possible to reduce by 95% the cases that require human intervention to make a decision. The key lies in cross-referencing trajectory data, microsector times and the so-called "ideal racing line" of the lap. If the system detects an anomaly it generates an alert for review.
