{"id":56910,"date":"2026-06-12T11:24:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T15:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/?p=56910"},"modified":"2026-06-12T11:24:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T15:24:25","slug":"data-in-the-drivers-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/inquiring-minds\/data-in-the-drivers-seat\/","title":{"rendered":"Data in the Driver\u2019s Seat"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Full-body

Talia Hovsepian<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\n

In the world of Formula One racing, every tenth of a second matters. Just ask Talia Hovsepian, an applied mathematics and statistics<\/a> student who\u2019s spending her gap year in England as a student data scientist for the Racing Bulls, a team best known for its up-and-coming young drivers. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Last year in the Dutch Grand Prix, Racing Bull\u2019s Isack Hadjar placed third, just 3.233 seconds after the winner. It was the team\u2019s first podium finish since 2021. If Hadjar had been 2.5 seconds slower, he\u2019d have missed the podium entirely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hovsepian\u2019s world revolves around these numbers. Her job is to optimize. Which parts of the car can be made lighter? Can the downforce distribution be improved? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery car is overweight,\u201d she says. For example, \u201cThere\u2019s a particular sensor on our car that we wanted to replace because it weighs about a kilogram, which doesn\u2019t sound like that much, but in the grand scope of the car, that\u2019s about 3 seconds over the course of a Grand Prix.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, Hovsepian was able to reduce the sensor\u2019s weight by 700 grams\u2014a heavy lift in the world of F1. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cKnowing that the car is\u00a0two-tenths of a second faster because of the work\u00a0that I put in is really exciting for me.\u201d\u00a0\u2014 Talia Hovsepian<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The data science group supports other areas at Racing Bulls. Teams such as aerodynamic performance bring problems or ideas to the data scientists, hoping the solution is somewhere in the numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll spend two weeks doing exploratory analysis and tell them what it will take to solve their problem, and they tell us to proceed or that they have another priority,\u201d Hovsepian says. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a project-oriented class where you have unlimited access to the professor because he sits right next to you all day. But at the same time, they trust me with the same caliber of projects of anyone else in the group.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hovsepian\u2019s interest in Formula One racing was fueled at the Whiting School, where she gained experience designing off-road vehicles as a member of Blue Jay Racing. She also researched F1 racing strategy under Tam\u00e1s Budav\u00e1ri, a professor of applied mathematics and statistics. \u201cWhen I applied to Racing Bulls, I was lucky enough to have some actual experience in the field,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On race days, Hovsepian and the other students set up shop in the operations room. Although their headsets can hear other teams\u2019 radios, Hovsepian spends most of the race focused on the Racing Bulls driver. Sometimes, the race ends without her even knowing who won. After working so hard on the car, the team\u2019s success is her success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot only do I get to do cool bits of mathematics that are really at the forefront of research and interesting theoretical stuff, but I get to see it being applied,\u201d Hovespian says. \u201cKnowing that the car is two-tenths of a second faster because of the work that I put in is really exciting for me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese are all the things that I\u2019ve been seeing on TV that I now get to have a part in,\u201d she says. \u201cIn the entryway of our office is last year\u2019s car, so every day I come in, I see a Formula One car and think, \u2018Wow. I actually work for this team.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Talia Hovsepian, the answers are in the numbers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":56937,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"issue":[105],"class_list":["post-56910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inquiring-minds","issue-spring-2026"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nData in the Driver\u2019s Seat - Johns Hopkins Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/inquiring-minds\/data-in-the-drivers-seat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Data in the Driver\u2019s Seat - Johns Hopkins Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For Talia Hovsepian, the answers are in the numbers.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/inquiring-minds\/data-in-the-drivers-seat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Johns Hopkins Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-12T15:24:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-12T15:24:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/JH_Racing_bulls_final_cmyk-copy.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"691\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Monica Leigh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine\\\/inquiring-minds\\\/data-in-the-drivers-seat\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine\\\/inquiring-minds\\\/data-in-the-drivers-seat\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Monica Leigh\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/19b4705df419225ddfc32b0473d2e58f\"},\"headline\":\"Data in the Driver\u2019s Seat\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-12T15:24:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-12T15:24:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine\\\/inquiring-minds\\\/data-in-the-drivers-seat\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":628,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine\\\/inquiring-minds\\\/data-in-the-drivers-seat\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/JH_Racing_bulls_final_cmyk-copy.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Inquiring Minds: Student Discovery\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine\\\/inquiring-minds\\\/data-in-the-drivers-seat\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine\\\/inquiring-minds\\\/data-in-the-drivers-seat\\\/\",\"name\":\"Data in the Driver\u2019s Seat - 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