Attentive Colapinto: FIA will implement an AI system to monitor track limits

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.

"If a car deviates from the ideal line, it will potentially cover more distance. This allows us to see a difference in the sector time and go back to understand where it went off the track or what happened. The idea is to use all the data, enrich it with the available videos and track these elements, so that the system is the one that tells us what is happening", explained Chris Bentley, director of single-seater information systems strategy at the FIA.

Bentley added that the objective is "to move from a manual process to a semi-automatic one", although maintaining the human component to assess final penalties and situations such as black-and-white flags.

Another important innovation will be transparency, since RaceWatch will allow images and evidence to be sent to the teams in real time, speeding up communications and preventing later complaints due to lack of information.

With this technological evolution, the FIA aims to solve one of the most controversial issues of recent years in Formula 1, opting for a more efficient system that guarantees quick and consistent decisions without losing human control over the final judgment.