Williams Martini unveiled its new Williams FW41 Formula One car on February 15, 2018 in London. (Photo by Handout/Getty Images)
Williams Martini Racing recently enlisted Omnitude to help it bring blockchain to Formula One. Though best known for its use in cryptocurrencies, blockchain is a secure register for storing data, and data security can be crucial to an F1 team’s competitiveness, helping them protect trade secrets from rivals.
Omnitude launched its initial coin offering in March, and the partnership with Williams Martini should bring in additional funding. As part of the deal, Omnitude’s branding will appear across Williams Martini racing property and personnel.
Formula One teams handle a lot of data. Each car has hundreds of sensors onboard, collecting detailed information on almost everything imaginable. Race weekends produce perhaps 30 gigabytes, entire seasons add up to several terabytes. Just handling that data can be a challenge, but security is important, too. Teams have famously tried to get insider information on each other throughout the history of the series, and while the driver is an important part of success, the car, and its engineering design, is crucial. Blockchain could be a way to more securely store that data.
“Williams prides itself on speed of innovation and engineering excellence,” Claire Williams, Williams Martini’s deputy team principal, said in a statement. “We welcome the opportunity to form a close partnership with Omnitude and provide the ideal environment to showcase radical new technologies that have the power to transform the capabilities of businesses around the world.”
SportTechie Takeaway
Dabbling in new technologies is nothing new for Williams Martini, which partnered with a management consultancy called Avanade in 2014 to better understand its pit crew performance. Avanade is a subsidiary of Accenture and was founded as a joint venture with Microsoft. The result from that, along with the help of a human performance specialist, was the fastest F1 pit time in 2016. It will be interesting to see where Williams Martini goes with blockchain and if the emerging technology will help the team’s long-term success through data-based decisions.
