At first glance, data and Formula 1 – the pinnacle of motor racing – seem unlikely bedfellows, but nothing could be further from the truth: data is the reason engineering feats on the racetrack are possible year after year. This is arguably best presented by Aston Martin F1 Team and their partnership with NetApp, a data storage and management specialist, as Aston Martin F1 has harnessed the power of data to jump from seventh in the standings at the end of the year, to being second in the current season. With only five races completed (at the time of writing), Aston Martin F1 have nearly doubled their points total from the previous year, with four podium finishes to top it off.
So how has data been instrumental in such an explosive degree of success? Alex Roberts, DataIQ editor, was invited to Silverstone in the UK to speak with Matt Watts, chief technology evangelist, and Piero Gallucci, vice president and general manager UK and Ireland from NetApp, as well as Clare Lansley, chief information officer, Aston Martin F1 Team to better understand how data is instrumental to challenging for world championships at the upper echelon of motor sports.
Rebuilding with data
For those that are not F1 fans, the name Aston Martin returned to the grid after a 60-year hiatus in 2021. The team that would become Aston Martin F1 experienced a string of different owners, brands and mid-tier performances, meaning that Aston Martin F1 inherited a legacy business with different tools, technologies and levels of data literacy from retained staff. When it rejoined the grid, Aston Martin F1 took on the mantra of being “the first truly modern Formula 1 team” and data was at the heart of this rebirth.
Clare Lansley described what Aston Martin F1 inherited as a collage of different technologies and tools that were far from efficient and capable of delivering what the team aspired to achieve. To remedy this, the whole infrastructure needed to be examined and rebuilt with the future in mind as there are frequent regulation changes from the motor sport governing body, the FIA, and a desire to be as sustainable as possible.
“Everything needed to be designed with sustainability in mind,” said Lansley. “We knew what we wanted to accomplish in the coming years, which would require a huge level of scalability and agility, which is why we partnered with NetApp.” The NetApp solutions allow for the movement of data and workloads with ease, security, agility and compliance – aspects particularly important for a sport that takes place in a different country almost every other week.
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