For one of the most globe-trotting sports teams on earth, the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team takes a lot on the road: personnel, cars, spare parts, equipment, and mobile data centers. It’s one challenge to carbon offsetting objectives, but adopting Pure Storage® technology, with its durability, efficiency, and smaller footprint, made a difference.
The Team didn’t just shed freight, fuel, and shipping costs; they moved closer toward their goal—all without compromising performance. It’s just one synergy in the partnership between Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One and Pure Storage.
Here’s a look at how we’re both engineering for efficiency.
Mercedes: Engineered for All-in Performance and Efficiency
The Team is leading the way in the sport, investing in new generations of fuel and working with partner technologies and solutions that further these goals. This includes storing their data on Pure Storage for decreased power utilization and a smaller data center footprint. It’s helped reduce the amount of freight and shipping costs in one of the most mobile sports around.
“It’s our ambition to lead the way to carbon neutral and sustainable mobility. F1 is one of the toughest technical competitions in the world and success can only be achieved by pushing technological boundaries every day.” –Markus Schaefer, Member of the Board of Management, Daimler AG
The Team employs other gold-standard offsetting measures both on the track and off, addressing the biggest, most visible sources of emissions with a transition to renewable energy at the factory. Other successful efforts to minimize its impact in every corner of its business and supply chain include:
- 50% reduction in air travel footprint for race team personnel. The Team was the first global sports team to invest in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
- 89% reduction in land freight emissions, evidenced in the first successful trial of the use of biofuels for freight between races at Spa in Belgium, Zandvoort in the Netherlands, and Monza in Italy. This is part of the Team’s wider strategy to introduce more sustainable fuels in 2023.
As long as Formula One engines run on fuel, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions are unavoidable. But Mercedes F1 is actively working to minimize its impact with:
- Greater fuel efficiency. New rules enforced that advanced sustainable ethanol must comprise at least 10% of the fuel for improved efficiency.
- Improved thermal efficiency and energy recovery. The current Mercedes F1 engine is over 50% thermally efficient, with Energy Recovery Systems (ERS) elements, including the electric Motor Generator Unit–Kinetic (MGU-K) and Motor Generator Unit–Heat (MGU-H) that recover and utilize waste energy.
- Enhanced aerodynamics. Improved aerodynamics in the car’s design boost efficiency even more.
Pure Storage: Efficient, All-in Data Performance with a Smaller Footprint
“We are lower power; we are lower cooling; we are lower waste than everybody else out there. We’re also focused on reducing our load on the environment through our entire supply chain.” –Charles Giancarlo, CEO, Pure Storage
Pure’s challenge is different but nearly as fast-paced. Like Mercedes F1 cars, Pure’s storage systems are engineered from the ground up to be efficient. While traditional storage can affect customers’ goals to achieve reduced carbon output or carbon neutrality, Pure has engineered storage that does more with less impact and in a smaller footprint. That smaller footprint has been essential to the Team’s ability to reduce freight and shipping costs as they take their mobile data centers on the road.
Pure stands apart for its ability to offer:
- Up to 80% reduction in direct carbon usage versus competitive all-flash systems. DirectFlashⓇ systems, as opposed to hybrid systems, reduce power and cooling requirements and wasted capacity.
- More power and capacity in a smaller footprint. Pure technology has helped data center footprints shrink dramatically and require fewer resources. As capacity grows, FlashArray//C™ can handle enormous capacity needs in a smaller data center footprint.
- Greater longevity of products means less e-waste. 97% of Pure arrays purchased six years ago are still in service, thanks to Pure’s Evergreen™ architecture and continuous improvements and upgrades. This extends sustainability compared to the industry standard of replacing and junking outdated hardware.
A Partnership Rooted in Responsibility
Both the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Team and Pure Storage prioritize sustainability through cutting-edge technology, operational efficiencies, and a commitment to sustainability across our organizations—even in the face of record growth and record-breaking speeds.
“The small footprint was really helpful. If they don’t need to take as much storage kit, they can take more spare parts for the car.” –Michael Taylor, IT Director, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team
Mercedes F1 chose Pure for its “F1 approach to storage,” using both Pure FlashArray™ and FlashBlade® technologies in its mobile data centers. The efficiency and smaller footprint has directly contributed to the team’s ability to reduce power utilization in the factory and at the track and cut down on freight between races. “The small footprint was really helpful. If they don’t need to take as much storage kit, they can take more spare parts for the car,” says Michael Taylor, IT Director, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team.
Even for businesses that don’t have mobile data centers like Mercedes F1, Pure can help reduce data center footprints and support corporate sustainability initiatives.
As an official technology partner of Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1, we’re proud to help support an organization that shares values and ambitious goals for the future of our planet. Learn how Pure Storage can help you gain efficiencies across your data center to move toward a more energy-secure future.
- https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/how-much-fuel-does-a-formula-1-car-use-f1-nascar-more-compared-4980266/4980266/
- https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/energy/study-data-centers-responsible-1-percent-all-electricity-consumed-worldwide
- https://www.purestorage.com/docs.html?item=/type/pdf/subtype/doc/path/content/dam/pdf/en/misc/esg/2021-esg-pure-report-technology.pdf
