Forget petrol — the team will be tapping high-octane cloud data to get the competitive edge it never had in the 60s!  

Fans of Formula One will know that Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One is gearing up for its return to the renowned competition after more than 60 years of absence. However, this time, the British brand will be returning to the F1 grid fueled by the power of data in the cloud.

To make an indelible impact after such a long hibernation, the team has to stand out in their ability to gauge their machines’ performance levels and address necessary refinements before, during, and after each race. From trackside to factory to cloud, the data used to inform racing strategies to be decided in split seconds will be available in real time on a global scale — through their partnership with a data and cloud services vendor NetApp.

Broad and ambitious in scope, the partnership will focus on maximizing performance both on and off the track. The resultant cloud-native data fabric — spread across all aspects of their planning and operations — will empower the team to extract more value from their data.

The British racing team will also be able to maximize resource utilization and remove inefficient data silos, reducing costly IT investments so funds can be diverted back into car and team development. Ultimately, the end-to-end data management ecosystem is expected to help reduce operational complexities while ensuring data compliance, security, and protection of the team’s intellectual property.

Said Otmar Szafnauer, CEO and Team Principal, Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One: “F1 teams have always been pioneers in analyzing data for a competitive advantage, especially when milliseconds mean the difference between pole position and starting somewhere in the middle of the pack. The team’s partnership with NetApp, along with title partner Cognizant, represents a new stage in our journey of continuous improvement… in a new era of racing where we can constantly evolve to be a faster, smarter and more exciting team.”

NetApps’ SVP and General Manager (Asia Pacific) Sanjay Rohatgi said: “By tapping into our 28 years of data-centric innovation, we are proudly supporting the team as they push the boundaries of continuous performance improvement beyond the finish line.”