What we see at the Formula One races on out tv is only the tip of the iceberg of what is really going on. Formula One teams were forced to change things in 2008 due to budget cute. No longer are they allowed to travel with 100 or more people buy they are now limited to a maximum of 60 people at track side.
This may sound like a lot of people but once you factor in that there are two cars racing and each has a set of engineers plus you have the pit stop crews you start filling the 60 spots fairly quickly.
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Fortunately the cars are more computer than machine these days and everything is about data. When we see the team principal plus a few others sitting in a line next to him watching screens they are just reading the information sent through from the main hub.Teams with a better set up and back up systems will only get better than the ones who don't have these toys.
Ferrari is based in Italy and the core of the team stays behind working out and planning via the data they receive. On race day the work has already been done and the car has been configured to that specific track. This is why the times are tumbling down from a Friday practice session and then on race day.
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Inside the main hub they will have banks of screens displaying the race coverage plus a host of other information. The tires being used by all the teams, the track temperature, wind speeds. They would have all the data from Fridays and Saturdays practice and qualifying sessions.
Knowing the speed of tire degradation and where they can gain small margins over their rivals is all updated and read by analysts in the Headquarters back home. The engineers and analysts keep up to date on everything including the major components on the car. When you are traveling at these speeds you need to be sure the car is safe and will perform how it is supposed to.
The teams have about 4 terabytes of data per race plus more terabytes from practice and qualifying the teams spend more time on the screens configuring the car than actually physically testing it. The new regulations limited the amount of track time and the use of wind tunnels so it would be fairer on teams that have a smaller budget.
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The real truth is the simulators is where the real testing is happening now as new components are added and the analysis checked and reworked to perfect the set up before applying it to the race car. A team needs an operational center and a virtual garage with simulator more than ever today. Who would have thought when the budget cuts happened the teams just got smarter and are really big into virtual reality as a major tool and testing station.
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Strategies for the race change as the race is ongoing and why you will see drivers being suddenly pulled in as the analysts have found an opportunity from the data to undercut another car ahead of them.
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Simulators are used to get the proper braking distances and speed gauges calculated.This is Red Bulls simulator with Mark Webber showing off his skills. Drivers spend hours at a time perfecting the circuit instead of on the circuit itself.
The odd thing is Formula One has now been having discussions to try and get rid of the virtual garages that the bigger teams have. They want it to happen on the track and try and make it more competitive. I would rather Formula One gave the ones that don't have virtual garages as technology is improving and these will benefit the motor industry in the future.