Williams secures Acronis sponsorship deal

Acronis has been involved in Formula 1 with Toro Rosso since 2016, and more recently also announced a partnership with the Renault e.dams team in Formula E.

While it is set to remain a partner of Toro Rosso, albeit in a less high-profile manner, the Singapore-based company has decided that its main push in Formula 1 will now be with Williams.

Rumours of a switch to Williams first surfaced last year when Sergey Sirotkin was linked with the team - with Acronis' CEO being Russian-born Serguei Beloussov.

But the company has denied that its decision to move to Williams was dependent on Sirotkin getting the race seat.

John Zanni, Acronis president, said: "For us it was totally unrelated. It had to do with the technology. That was the basis of our decision.

"The reason we moved to Williams was the scope of the infrastructure that needed to be protected and Williams’ vision to work with us to protect that infrastructure."

Acronis will be working with Williams on innovative data protection solutions, including back-up, disaster recovery and storage, as well as help protect it from potential ransomware attacks.

Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams said: "Technical innovation is at the heart of everything we do at Williams, and with that comes a crucial need to protect our data."

"We are delighted to be partnering with Acronis whose values mirror our own to push technology and innovation.

"We look forward to them helping to deliver practical solutions throughout the coming season to support our racing efforts."