Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix final saw tremendous quantities of real-time data transmitted to factories all over the world in what's seen as a major technological breakthrough.

During the 90-minute race, there were "10 terrabytes of data float through the system, which makes it the biggest science project on the planet for that period of time, eclipsing even the human genome project," Ian Rhodes, CEO of McLaren Applied Technologies, said ahead of the race.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Singapore Summit on Saturday, Rhodes explained how his company provides the electronics backbone for the entire race series.

Data coming from the cars racing around the island-nation's city-center goes through engine control units that Rhodes' firm supplies to every team. Those units essentially end up becoming the data hub, he explained.

The data from the control units are sent in real-time to the track-side, pit lane and international factories, where mission control departments will utilize the information to help race teams improve performance and strategy, Rhodes said.