This is a sponsored post.

Photo courtesy of the Cricuit of the Americas.

The Formula 1 Pirelli 2018 United States Grand Prix starts Friday in Austin and thousands of people are in town to watch the racing.

Among them, Acronis, a data protection and storage company, hosted an event Thursday night at Trulucks Restaurant in downtown Austin featuring a talk by the Williams Martini Racing Team’s Chief Technology Officer Paddy Lowe.

At the event, Lowe said it’s 50 percent the car and 50 percent the driver that determines who wins the race. And technology plays a key role in today’s Formula 1 races, Lowe said.

Also at the event, Acronis’ President John Zanni did a podcast with Silicon Hills News’ Ideas to Invoices talking about its technology partnership with Williams Martini Racing Formula One team.

Acronis, which is based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, provides the team with data protection solutions, including backup, disaster recovery, software-defined storage and file sync and share.

“Formula One is one of the world’s most technologically advanced sports,” according to Acronis. “Every Grand Prix weekend Formula One teams capture hundreds of gigabytes of telemetry data and produce terabytes of engineering and test data at the factory. Data analysis fuels innovation and technological development. The ability to interpret the data and make informed decisions is often what sets teams apart, making data the most valuable asset in the race toward the finish line.”

Acronis’ expertise in data protection will assist Williams to deal with the growing volumes of data without compromising the security and flexibility mandated by Formula One.

Editor’s note: This is a sponsored post by Acronis.