Sweet Teams (are made of this)

...makes the dream work

This week we chatted to Blake, an ex-Red Bull & Force India performance engineer of 10 years, who shared with us what it means to perform that role in an F1 team.

Yep, that's a teaser trailer for this weeks episode so please make sure you are subscribed to the pod so that you don't miss it.

OK, with the pod-pitch out the way let's get back to the blog...

After hanging up the call with Blake I (this is Rob by the way so please read in an English accent) got to thinking about overall team structures and roles.  

It also got me thinking to Pit-lane Paul and the various roles he has played and shared with us on the pod (yep, second pod-pitch in as many paragraphs - not sorry).

This sent me off down a rabbit hole exploring a question I hadn't really ever given any thought to:

Just how big is an F1 team and what are all the various roles both at the track and back at the factory?

Well the answer is, as you might imagine, it depends.

The "big" teams have a bigger organizational structure than the little guys and also whether or not they build their own engines or purchase them plays a part in the team size needed.

A bit of googling to accompany my dazzling array of knowledge led me to the fact that team sizes across the grid range from about 350 to 1400 employees.  

The biggest are Mercedes and Ferrari as they are not only big in terms of being a leading team challenging for titles, but also manufacture their own engines so inherently require a bigger team size.  

Some figures I found online from Autosport magazine states that back in 2018 Ferrari had around 480 employees on the engine side of the shop while Mercedes had a very similar sized engine team with around 500 employees.

If we forget about the engine team for now (sorry engine guys), then what does the rest of the team look like and how many are travelling the globe attending race day?

As team size varies by constructor the following is a sweeping generalization of the average team profile so please no calling me out on being wrong....unless I am really wrong of course.  

Then you have my permission to steam in and hurl abuse at me.  

Any abuse should be pre-fixed with the phrase "Hey Brian, you're wrong and let me tell you why".

Sorry, where was I?  

Oh yeah, race teams.

As they don't tend to get the spotlight other than the occasional thanks over team radio from a race winner, let's start with the group back at the factory which account for the majority of the team.

As the old saying goes, races are won at the track but championships are won at the factory.

A factory with wings

The factory, or team headquarters, consists of many different departments. Typically these break down into departments associated with team performance and then those with supporting functions.

Team performance areas are broadly going to be design, simulation, manufacturing, testing & development, and the race bay.

The supporting areas might not be directly connected to the performance of the car but they do tend to be connected with something equally important. Money.

These guys will be split across commercials, logistics & support, and of course communications (which looks after all media).

Let's take a quick look at what each of these functions are responsible for.

Design

Arty photo to depict design

As you might guess they design stuff. Lots of stuff.  This is the brain trust consisting of the super smart folk who are dedicated to aerodynamics, materials, quality, reliability, etc.   They design every aspect of the car looking to maintain the balance between performance and reliability while also trying to push them both to the limits. They all graduated from Hogwarts with PhDs in the dark arts of race car design.

Simulation

Actual car telemetry

Teams will use two main sources of simulation; the wind tunnel and virtual simulation.

Depending on team budget they may or may not own their own wind tunnel or may have to use other facilities.  For example, Haas uses the Ferrari wind tunnel and McLaren is using a Toyota facility in Germany while they build their own tunnel.

The virtual simulator is a set of highly sophisticated computer programs and, as wind tunnel time is regulated, they provide huge amounts of data for the team to base such things as car setup & strategy on.  In addition, especially in years of new tracks, they allow the drivers to get to grips with the circuits. One of the simulators involves a real car cockpit hooked up to a simulator so that the driver is sitting in his actual seat using a real steering wheel and pedals.

These things are so realistic that it's the equivalent of Neo logging into the Matrix only with less focus on bullet time and more on lap time.

Manufacturing

Not an actual F1 factory

This team is going to vary depending on how much is being manufactured by the team versus how much is outsourced.  However, even when buying in items such as engines or gearboxes, a team still needs to construct their cars.  All F1 teams also manufacture at least one aspect of the car whether it be the chassis, bodywork, or hydraulics.  For example, Haas outsources almost every aspect of their car but they do build their own bodywork.

Testing & Development

Don't try this at home

This area puts all components through their paces.  Custom rigs are designed to test components individually such as suspension, brakes, wings, etc. to make sure that they will stand up to the forces that they will be exposed to on the car.  They also conduct safety tests to ensure the car will comply with FIA safety standards and even test non-car components that are just as important such as the wheel guns the pit team will use.  

Race Bay

Full size LEGO model

These folk build things up and strip things down.  Ahead of a race week they assemble the race cars and after the races they strip the cars down.  This second activity is to both service the cars and inspect components as part of a reliability assessment. These guys are so skilled at assembly that in their spare time they build flat packed furniture...without instructions.

Support Functions

Support structure...see what I did there

The commercial area is all about generating money whether it be sponsorship deals or partnerships.  This team is crucial to keeping the lights on so, while they might not do anything on the car, they are a just as important.

The communications department look after all things media related and are responsible for maintaining the brand and image of the team and will cover both professional media as well as social media. They may well have their own team photographer or photographers.

Last but not least there is the team that manages logistics and hospitality.  On the one hand they need to ensure the team and their equipment are where they need to be at the time they need to be there and on the other hand they have to ensure that any VIPs attending the races are treated to a quality experience (Note: here at the Dirty Side we are more than happy to trial this out and help test the VIP experience)

Right, with the factory taken care of let's take a look at the team that hops on planes, trains, and automobiles in order to attend the race weekends.

Even though the overall team sizes differ across the grid, the race team tends to be much closer in size with teams taking anywhere from 50-75 personnel to the event.

The obvious members of this group are the two drivers and the team principal but who are all the others?

First up let's talk about the next most obvious group, the pit crew.

Doesn't take too many people to change 4 wheels right?

Wrong.

Luigi says Guido is still quicker

Each wheel to be changed in a pit stop needs three mechanics. One to hold the new wheel, one to take the old one, and one to use the wheel gun.  So that's twelve people just to take care of the wheels.  

Then there are front and rear jacks to operate giving us 14 team members.  There are spare front and rear jack operators as well so now we are at 16.

Side jack operators are present to both steady the car on regular stops but also operate side jacks in the case of front wing damage which renders the front jack useless pushing us up to 18. 

There are also team members to adjust the front wing if required and a "lollipop man" to oversee the safe release of the car even if the once real traffic lollipop has now been replaced by technology.

All in all each constructor has essentially 21 people involved in a pit stop.

Think about that for a moment. Twenty one people per team.  Ten teams.  That's over two hundred people involved in pit stops alone on a race weekend.

The pit stop team is made up of mechanics from both drivers meaning that while each driver has their own side of the garage and their own dedicated mechanics, at pit stop time they merge to form one pit crew.

There are usually another 8 or so mechanics that form part of the overall team who do not have a role in the pit stop.  Overall a team will have around 28-30 mechanics attending the race weekend.

Sitting up on the pit wall with the team principal tend to be the sporting director (who ensures compliance with the regulations), chief strategist, the engineering director, and finally the race engineers.

"Slow button on"

There is a race engineer per driver who you will often hear on team radio who conveys updates to and from the driver.

Supporting the race engineer are a team of performance engineers (the role Blake did) dedicated to each driver.

Wrapping around this you also have a team responsible for putting up, taking down, and running the paddock during the weekend. Media & Marketing  resources will also be on the ground including a dedicated press officer per driver.

F1 is a very efficient sport with a tight budget cap.  There is no room for slackers or people taking up room.  Therefore every single one of the team, whether travelling to the race or not, is playing a part in making sure the team is as successful as they can be.

So next time Lewis or any other driver for that matter thanks their team and then explicitly gives a shout out to the team back at the factory, I hope you now have a better appreciation of just who those folk are.

Right, all this analysis has tired me out.  I need to pull my cap down over my eyes and have a nap in the deckchair.

Keep an eye & ear out for this weeks episode featuring Blake and while you are waiting, if you haven't already done so, please take a listen to our Canadian GP review.

Finally, yes that was a Eurythmics reference in the title.