Supercomputer boost for AT&T Williams F1 team

The AT&T Williams Formula One team has completed the installation of a new supercomputer to boost the aerodynamic development on its 2007 racer.

The team worked with computer manufacturer Lenovo on the project, which will allow the team's aerodynamics department to increase the amount of data it can process.

Alex Burns, COO of AT&T Williams, said the increase in processing power will allow the team's engineers to look at a greater rage of aerodynamic design options between races.

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He added this will increase the speed of development and allow improvements on the car to be implemented in a quarter of the previous time.

The supercomputer can run at up to eight teraflops and is around four times more powerful than the team's previous capability.

Like other teams, Williams uses the supercomputer for Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation work which requires billions of calculations to be made to simulate airflow on a 3D virtual model.

This allows the team to predict the effect of the smallest change in component shape on drag and downforce which are critical to the overall performance of the car.

The supercomputer will also help with work carried out in the team's two wind tunnels as well as on-track testing.

Lenovo has been an official partner of the team since the beginning of the 2007 F1 season with initial collaboration including the supply of laptops required to start the car.