How is Vast Data Supporting Williams Racing's Data Needs?

What does a Formula 1 team and a data company have in common?

Probably more than you think.

VAST Data, a serious player in the data infrastructure space, has extended its partnership with Atlassian Williams Racing with a multi-year renewal, looking towards 2026 and beyond.

The relationship was initially formed in February 2024 and the extension will continue to support Williams in the management and analysis of scale data intensive workloads across simulations, analytics and high-performance computing (HPC) generated by the Formula 1 team.

Marianne Budnik, Chief Marketing Officer at VAST Data, says: “Motorsport is the ultimate stress test for data. Every lap produces a torrent of information that can define the outcome of a race. 

“With Atlassian Williams Racing, we’ve used our platform to turn massive volumes of raw information into actionable intelligence, enabling the team to push onwards onto their technology and data-driven transformation. 

“Extending this partnership means continuing to help Williams unlock speed, efficiency and insight, all in the relentless pursuit of performance.”

Factory and track side data

Williams Formula 1 cars generate 1.1 million telemetry data points per second from 300 sensors, creating an unprecedented data challenge. VAST’s platform absorbs this continuous stream while supporting hundreds of terabytes from CFD simulations and wind tunnel testing.

The unified architecture eliminates storage bottlenecks, allowing engineers both in the factory and trackside to review historical data, run real-time scenario analyses and optimise case setup. 

The team currently runs a simulation-led development so that engineers can instantly access and review data to create efficient decision-making both on and off track.

Collaborations supporting Williams’ partnership

VAST Data recently announced a US$1.17bn partnership deal with CoreWeave reflecting this. By working with CoreWeave, VAST can be deployed in any data centre, delivering sophisticated data services to their shared customers.

This collaboration strengthens Williams Racing's data and AI infrastructure by providing a high-performance, large-scale and cost-efficient compute-and-storage foundation.

VAST Data has also collaborated with Nvidia and through the combination of VAST’s unified data architecture and Nvidia’s accelerated compute technologies, the partnership provides low-latency, scalable platforms capable of managing high volumes of simulation and telemetry data generated. This enables Williams engineers to run complex aerodynamic and high performance analyses.

A data driven sport

Modern Formula 1 is intensely data-driven, from sensors to real-time analytics. By leveraging the advanced architecture, Williams Racing can convert raw data into actionable insights more quickly, something which can provide the team with on-track advantages. Such advantages are being seen in the current season, with the team currently placing fifth in the Constructors Championship - its most successful season since 2016.

Brian Venturo, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of CoreWeave says: “The VAST AI Operating System underpins key aspects of how we design and deliver our AI cloud.

“This partnership enables us to deliver AI infrastructure that is the most performant, scalable, and cost-efficient in the market, while reinforcing the trust and reliability of a data platform that our customers depend on for their most demanding workloads.”

Sorin Cheran, Chief Information and Analytics Officer at Atlassian Williams Racing, says: “We are delighted that VAST Data have extended their partnership, after a successful and productive year and a half of work together. Their knowledge and insight have played an invaluable role in our progress this year and will continue to be important as we fight for future World Championships.

“We look forward to building on our partnership, including through new trackside initiatives and the ongoing expansion of our storage solutions.”