Formula 1 sponsor uses driver data to generate 'unique' musical track

Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber sponsor Hyland always goes all out for the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas, and even that statement may be selling the Westlake, Ohio-based software company short ahead of this weekend's race.

Hyland and Sauber's Valtteri Bottas, who formed a partnership with the brand ahead of his first season with Sauber in 2022, have released "Flight of the Valtteri", a thrilling new electronic music track created using Bottas’ actual biometric data as he raced at speeds topping 100 miles per hour at Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, California.

Hyland, which works with incredible amounts of data every day, connected Bottas to sensors that measured his athletic data, such as heart rate, brain activity, sweat production, and respiration. He then did what he does best: drive at incredibly high speeds, giving the company the opportunity to capture the necessary data.

A group of professional music producers and composers then took the data and turned it into a musical track, giving a unique spin to the speed, adrenaline, and emotions experienced by professional race car drivers.

Flight of the Valtteri

The full audio track is streaming on Spotify.

Bottas spoke at length with Beyond the Flag about the Hyland partnership and their efforts in making this unique idea a realty.

"The idea was from Hyland, and when I heard it, I was like, wow, that’s really cool," the 35-year-old Finnish driver said. "I could have never come up with that idea myself, and yeah, then we started planning, how do we actually do it?

"And it was actually in August, I flew just for one day to make it happen basically. So we were on a race track, Hyland was measuring all my biometric data when I was basically just doing my thing on the track, driving as fast as I can.

"From all the data points, they managed to turn that, with professional people, into a soundtrack basically, which really, for me, represents speed and adrenaline rush, and kind of the emotions that you feel in the car, which are sometimes quite hard to describe."

Bottas, who describes himself as a fan of all different kinds of music, had the opportunity to hear the track before it was released to the public.

"I listen to lots of different things," Bottas said. "It mainly depends on my mood. If I feel like I need to get hyped up, then I listen to something with a bit more high tempo, or if I want to relax, it can be even jazz. So really, I've got a big variety of things, and I’m always curious about the new stuff as well, so yeah, if I wasn't involved in this song, I would be super keen to hear it, because it's something just different.

"It's quite unique, I would say. It's not, I wouldn't say it's like a typical soundtrack, but for me, what's unique about it, is that it really has a meaning. How it was created, it's actually mainly from my body, and from the car, combined, so the more you listen to it, the more you kind of start to get the different parts of the track, the soundtrack, and you become more one with it and understand that it actually reflects the speed and adrenaline."

Now in year number three of his partnership with Hyland, the 10-time Grand Prix winner and former world championship runner-up says that this is his favorite collaboration.

"We've had a great partnership, done lots of cool stuff together, and I would say this one, for now, was my favorite collaboration we did."

Bottas previews United States Grand Prix

Ahead of Hyland's home race, which has become one of the most popular – and most competitive – races on the calendar, Bottas discussed his aspirations to deliver Sauber their first points of the 2024 season at the 20-turn, 3.427-mile (5.515-kilometer) Austin, Texas road course.

"Hopefully this weekend," he said. "It's another sprint weekend, which is a double opportunity. We also have some upgrades finally in the car for this race, and will have some a bit later on as well. I'm hoping for Vegas, but it's not confirmed yet, so I think we still have a chance."

The United States Grand Prix produced more lead changes than any other race in both 2022 and 2023, and the battle in the mid-field was just as close, giving Sauber further reason to believe that this could be the week they finally break into the points.

"Obviously we've been unlucky, and we've also been lacking pure performance, so I'm going into every weekend trying to get those points," Bottas continued. "That needs to be the goal now."

The United States Grand Prix, a race Bottas won with Mercedes in 2019, has welcomed more than 430,000 fans on race weekend in back-to-back years, and a similar crowd is expected in 2024. Amid Formula 1's continued resurgence in the United States, the race has become one of the signature events on the calendar.

“I would say so," Bottas said. "I think the following of Formula 1 has grown massively since my first race here in 2013, and it's a big difference in the popularity of the sport. This weekend you see, even in the city, it's changed massively throughout the years. It definitely deserves its place on the calendar. The track is really, really cool. The racing is normally good, and now the atmosphere is also pretty amazing, so I really enjoy it.”

ABC is set to broadcast the United States Grand Prix live from Circuit of the Americas starting at 2:55 p.m. ET this Sunday, October 20. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss the 19th of a record-breaking 24 races on the 2024 Formula 1 schedule!