Wolff and Massa hail the importance of new Acronis tech partnership

On the Friday before the Berlin e-Prix, the VENTURI Formula E Team announced a multi-year technology partnership with Acronis, a global leader in cyber protection and data storage.

In all sport, but particularly in motorsport, management of data is of vital importance. Over the course of a race weekend, VENTURI will generate up to 20GB of data at each meeting alone. And, as team boss Susie Wolff told Motorsport Tech, the partnership will give VENTURI the peace of mind it needs.

“It’s critically important to have proper data storage and backup for Venturi,” said Wolff. “We generate up to 20GB of data at a race weekend alone – the correct protection, storage and rapid processing of this data has a massive impact on our ability to perform as a team.

“One of my first priorities when I came in was to ensure that we have no areas of weakness – having a world class and experience technical partner such as Acronis who specialize in state-of-the-art cyber security and data resilience puts us in a very strong position.”

This season has produced a closer championship than any other so far – the homologation of chassis, faster, wider Gen2 cars, unique qualifying format and competitive level of drivers all contributing to the excitement.

Although the FIA closely limits what can be developed over the course of the season in terms of drive train and battery development, software is not one of them.

“We don’t underestimate the importance of strong technical partnerships,” adds Wolff. “The speed at which we produce and process data in Formula E is such an integral part of our success that it was very important to me that we find the right partners to work with. Software is one are where the teams can have a huge influence on their individual performance and working with Acronis gives us a huge advantage.”

Susie Wolff analyses vital data in the VENTURI garage

Of course, data has always been of critical importance to the team’s drivers in analyzing where they can make up ground on the competition. This has sometimes been a closely guarded secret, particularly between dueling drivers in Formula 1 in the past.

Yet in Formula E, sharing this data between teammates for the good of the team is of vital importance to gain an advantage.

“Felipe and Edo have the main shared goal of driving the team forward and doing what’s best for the team as a whole – sharing data is essential to delivering on that. Working together is what drives the team forward and the collaboration between Felipe and Edo also allows them to learn from each other, benefiting from their individual experiences.”

Felipe Massa and Edoardo Mortara in Marrakesh

Talking to Motorsport Tech in Monaco, where he finished on the podium, Felipe Massa gave an insight into how the forthcoming partnership would benefit the team.

“It’s a very important partnership because all the protection, the software, the data, everything is part of our working ethos, part of improving,” said Massa. “All of the software and little things you can improve in different areas makes lap time on the track, so definitely this is a very important partnership. It gives a lot of software, electronic data knowledge and as much of that knowledge you can have, especially in this type of championship, is a big help.”

Echoing the sentiments of his team boss, Massa added that he has an open relationship with teammate Edoardo Mortara and that the drivers are happy to share date to help each other beat the opposition on the track.

“Normally data is shared,” added Massa. “All the teams I have driven for in Formula One are sharing data. Maybe you have some situations where there are fights, but normally it is. If a team is not sharing all the right data, they are not doing the right job.

“We work together in sharing the data, we work together in the simulator. If one driver is doing something better than the other with the battery or something, the other one is looking and understanding too, so this is the best way to work in the end.”

 

Fraser Masefield

Sports news and features writer, web editor and author.