Formula 1 world champion Lando Norris has signed up with a mysterious company claiming it provides 'rocket fuel for AI' — but why? | Tech Radar
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Formula 1 world champion Lando Norris has signed up with a mysterious company claiming it provides 'rocket fuel for AI' — but why?
What is Starburst? And what can it provide Lando with?
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In today's social media age, celebrity brand ambassadors are a common sight, helping endorse or promote a brand's products or tools, giving that extra bit of sparkle or star power.
This is especially true in the consumer market, but we're now increasingly seeing it in the B2B tech world, where what 10 years ago would have been niche businesses now have the power to hire top talent to promote their brand - I'm talking Idris Elba promoting Service Now, Keanu Reeves bigging up Palo Alto Networks, and Matthew Mc Conaghey being the voice of Salesforce.
But as a massive Formula 1 fan, I was intrigued to read a press release announcing reigning world champion Lando Norris as a "brand ambassador" for a data company I'd never heard of - so who (or what) exactly are Starburst?
Founded in 2017, and boasting that organizations in more than 60 countries rely on it to unify their data, "from startups to Fortune 500 enterprises" - Starburst's initial pitch is strong.
In its press release, Starburst describes itself as, "the enterprise intelligence platform for governed data and AI" - a pretty big claim, and one that the likes of Salesforce and Oracle might raise eyebrows at.
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Continuing, Starburst says its platform will allow customers to, "run AI directly on distributed data in place, without moving or replatforming it, across cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments while providing consistent business context to queries, models, or agents regardless of where it is stored or processed."
Overall, this should help companies develop and run faster analytics, "trusted" AI, and "better decisions at enterprise scale."
So what does this have to do with Formula 1? Over to Lando to explain.
“People often see motor racing at the highest level as being about reactions, but most of the performance comes from preparation and understanding the details," he says (in the same press release).
"I’m constantly asking questions, looking for information, and trying to build the clearest possible picture before making decisions. Whether that’s racing, running a business, or working with a team, having access to the right information at the right time gives you confidence to act. That’s what stood out to me about Starburst and why I’m excited to partner with them."
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Not much clearer then - but it seems the two-year partnership will launch Starburst’s “Ask. Know. Go.” campaign, which the company says will be "connecting the speed, precision, and data-driven decision-making of Formula 1 racing with the enterprise challenge of turning distributed data into trusted action."
The three parts of this, unsurprisingly, are around getting access to data via AI agents, making sure this data is accurate and trusted, and supporting it with fast and powerful systems.
“Lando represents what happens when preparation, data, and split-second decision-making come together,” said Justin Borgman, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Starburst.
“That's the challenge enterprises face with AI: ask the right questions, access the complete context behind the answer, and act before the opportunity passes. Starburst makes that possible by giving teams and AI agents governed access to data wherever it lives.”
So there you have it - another stitch in the fabric joining enterprises and Formula 1 - and one that will hopefully lead to a more successful second half of the 2026 season and beyond for Lando.
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Mike Moore is Deputy Editor at Tech Radar Pro. He has worked as a B2B and B2C tech journalist for over a decade, including at one of the UK's leading national newspapers and fellow Future title ITPro Portal. When he's not keeping track of all the latest enterprise and workplace trends, he can most likely be found watching, following or taking part in some kind of sport.
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