2013-05-18T07:03:37-04:00 Tom Webb http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=tom-webb Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Tom Webb Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2955148 2013-03-26T19:00:00-04:00 2013-03-26T13:39:24-04:00

Tom Webb http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-webb/
On track the season is exceeding the pre-season hype.

In Australia, Kimi Raikonnen put in what he called an "easy" race win to kick off the season, and in Malaysia Sebastian Vettel gave the headline writers plenty to think about when he beat his teammate to the line, despite team orders being in place to ensure both cars made it across the line without any issues.

Team orders are part of F1, officially.

The teams are all fighting for two championships; the drivers' and the constructors' titles, and, unfortunately, they require different and sometimes competing strategies to ensure victory in both.

The drivers' title can only be won by one driver, hence Seb's move on Mark Webber in the final laps of the Malaysian GP. Seb wants to win his fourth title in a row, and he saw a chance to add to his 2013 points tally and took it.

However, the constructors' title is a challenge for the whole team. Theoretically, for the team it doesn't matter which driver finishes first on the road, as long as both cross the line as high up the final standings as possible, the team is happy.

However, team orders are used both passively and aggressively by teams to help both the drivers challenge for their title, and the team to fight for the constructors' honours.

Passive use of orders during a race would see both cars told to hold position to ensure the drivers' final positions on track are guaranteed (as much as anything can be guaranteed in a sport with so many variables at play).

By asking the drivers to act passively and hold station in the latter stages of a race, the teams can manage some of those variables - limiting unnecessary tyre wear, reducing the stress on engines, gearboxes and mechanical systems that have to last multiple races and thereby maximising their chances of success for the team.

Team orders are also used aggressively throughout every race by every team, and because they're not as obvious as one teammate passing another on track, they're not recognised as such by fans who think team orders should be banned.

The best example of how team orders are used aggressively is how drivers' pitstops are often timed to cover a rival team's race strategy.

If you have four cars fighting for position on track, two from each of two teams, and one team pits for new tyres, the other team may instruct one or both of their drivers to either pick up or reduce their pace. This might seem odd, telling a driver to go faster in a sport which, to the naked eye, involves 22 cars going as fast as possible for every lap of the race, and even more odd to tell them to slow down, but tyre management and track position is what's behind these strategic calls.

An F1 tyre starts to degrade from the moment the car leaves its garage and heads out on track. The drivers have to work very hard to bring the tyre up to its optimal operating temperature quickly and efficiently on the out-lap by applying the right amount of steering input, acceleration and braking force at the right time.

Then they have to work even harder to manage the degradation of the tyres through several phases until their next pitstop. Manage it super-efficiently and the driver can stay out on track longer than planned, maybe even saving a pitstop, and that can pay dividends at the end of the race. Mess it up and the car has to pit earlier than planned, and that can ruin a race strategy.

The driver might be told to "push", drive the car harder than he's already doing, and therefore degrade the tyres more quickly than planned. This sort of order from the engineers may be because the boffins have worked out that they can win enough time over their nearest rival on track to ensure that next time their rival stops for new tyres, he'll come back out on track behind their driver.

From that point, they can control their race and the car behind has to work his tyres harder to pass his rival, thereby degrading his tyres faster than planned, and so on....

The opposite is also true. The driver might be told to slow down to save tyre wear and therefore limit the total number of pitstops required throughout the race. The fans will see that driver's laptimes go down by, say, 0.5 seconds per lap, and what they see is what looks like a driver not going as fast as he could.

However, by reducing his pace by even that small amount his tyre wear could be dramatically reduced, and he might save himself a stop, thereby promoting himself in the final standings over a rival who's scampered off into the distance and destroyed his tyres in the process.

There are many arguments over whether or not this level of detail is good for the sport, but for me it's fascinating.

F1 is not supposed to be easy. It's supposed to be many layers of technical detail that all end up with the show on track that is watched by hundreds of millions of people throughout the year.

The little details that go on during a race, like the use of team orders, mostly go unnoticed by the fans as there is no way of interpreting tactics, like telling a driver to push or go easy, without knowing the context of what the team's actual race plan is.

Increasingly, however, the fans are educating themselves on every aspect of the sport and they understand that F1 is not just a lights-to-flag mad dash. Managing tyre degradation, helping to position your car on track by varying pace and pitstop counts - all of this is part of the show and it's part of what makes F1 the greatest show on earth.

Last year it gave us seven different winners in the first seven races, and this year we've already had two different winners and a bunch of controversy.

If this is what comes from team orders then let's have more of it please!]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2806430 2013-03-05T19:00:00-05:00 2013-05-05T05:12:01-04:00

Tom Webb http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-webb/
The date means only one thing to the Formula 1 world - the pre-season tests are over and now the real work begins, starting in Melbourne, Australia just two weeks after we finished the third test in Barcelona.

For Caterham F1 Team it was as gruelling a start to 2013 as it was for everyone else in the pitlane, but it was ultimately incredibly valuable.

We completed just under 1,000 laps of the two circuits used for the tests, Jerez and Barcelona, and the engineers on track and back in our factory have amassed several terabytes of data that will be used to fine-tune the setups that will be applied to cars when we start racing in Melbourne and throughout the season.

With two new drivers for 2013, Charles Pic from France and Holland's Giedo van der Garde, we needed as much time on track to bed the new boys into our systems and procedures so nothing is new to them when it all becomes very serious in Australia.

We also needed to give them time to gel with the team, to form the relationships with their dedicated engineering team and the mechanics that will work on their car throughout the season ahead.

I am happy to say that both have fitted in very well, right from their first laps with us in the freezing cold of early mornings in Jerez, and they both seem to be revelling in the family atmosphere we have worked very hard to create in our "funny little team", a term our Co-Chairman Tony Fernandes has used to describe his F1 team.

It is very important that the drivers feel at home in their team. They need to trust the people around them to give them a car that they can use to extract maximum performance on track, and to create an environment around them that allows them to focus on their job, racing the world's fastest cars.

The drivers obviously have to do their bit as well. They need to show that the efforts put in by the whole team are rewarded by the driver when he gives it his all when he's in the cockpit, and that he's prepared himself as well as he can, mentally and physically, for the challenges that lay ahead.

I am very happy to report that both our newbies have done just that, and we now head to Melbourne in as good a shape as we could be for this stage of the season.

While the work has been going on in Spain, everyone back at the factory has also been pushing as hard as they can to prepare for the season ahead.

There is no such thing as a typical week back at our Oxfordshire base, but one example of how, frankly, insane the F1 world can be, is the visit of David Cameron to our base in the middle of the three tests.

As our local MP, Britain's Prime Minister was obviously aware of our arrival in his back yard in August 2012, when we moved from Norfolk down to the Leafield Technical Centre, and he arranged a visit with Tony Fernandes so he could take a look at the latest F1 addition to Oxfordshire's motorsport valley.

It is obviously not every day that such a high profile visitor drops by, but I was amazed to see how calm all our staff were about one of the most powerful people on the planet taking a close look at their work place. Perhaps it was because they are used to seeing superstar F1 drivers in the factory, or maybe it was because they are all so busy, but the PM's visit came and went with barely a ripple amongst the staff. I suspect it is because of their workloads - even David Cameron peering over someone's shoulder was not enough to distract them from their deadlines!

So now it is on to Melbourne for race one of 2013.

We have a very good idea of approximately where we will line up on the grid, and we know what lies ahead of us in the 18 races that will follow the Australian Grand Prix, but what I love about my team is that our spirit and our passion is as strong as anyone who will be fighting for race wins in 2013.

One day we will be up there, one day we will be disappointed with 'only third place', but those days are some way ahead of us.

Now it's time to catch up on some sleep, brace ourselves for the longest journey of the year and get ready to race.

Fire up!]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2661233 2013-02-12T19:00:00-05:00 2013-04-14T05:12:01-04:00

Tom Webb http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-webb/
Approximately half the flight is what we call petrol, people who work in F1, all heading back to the UK after a gruelling start to the year that saw the 11 teams who will compete in the 2013 Championship accumulate more 10,000kms of test laps between them.

The tests are a crucial part of the year, giving the teams the chance to iron out all the technical issues that may befall their cars before the season starts in Melbourne in mid-March.

In the past, testing was allowed throughout the season and all the F1 teams had dedicated test teams that would work through thousands of laps away from the cameras and fans, all in search of those elusive tenths of seconds that are the difference between winning and losing in F1.

In the modern era testing is banned, mainly to reduce costs, but every season now starts with all the teams decamping to Spain for most of February, running three four-day tests in the sunshine and warm weather of Jerez and Barcelona.

The February tests are a tough re-introduction to life on track for the whole team.

Every day on track we work two shifts of mechanics, engineers and truckies (what we call the lads who do all the setting up, packing down and maintenance of the garage and trucks on track): a night crew who start at around 1800 and will work through to around 0800 the next day, and the day crew who run the car while the sun is up, but start and finish their days in the dark.

Right across the team the hours are hardcore. We have a motorhome on track that is our base, our track home, where we eat during the day and where the drivers have their private rooms to prepare and relax after their work is done.

The motorhome's kitchen team are usually in by 0530 to prepare breakfast, and they bring with them the front-of-house people and the motorhome 'technicians', the guys who make sure everything works as it is supposed to in our track home.

Having started at 0530 and prepared, served and cleaned away a range of breakfast options that would grace the menu of any hotel, they then kick straight into lunch and dinner, all for a team of around 50 people who also need constant supplies of drinks and food to stay hydrated and energised. Leave time for the motorhome crew at the end of their shift is often past ten pm, just enough time to head back to the hotel for one beer and six hours sleep before it all starts again.

For the mechanics, truckies and engineers the day is no less tough. Streams of bleary-eyed men and women walk into the paddock as the clock ticks past 7am and head straight for the coffee machines and kettles before going to work. At 9am the peaceful Spanish air is ripped apart by the screaming sounds of F1 V8s propelling their drivers around the track and, barring technical issues, the drivers will be required to run up to 150 laps per day, around three full race distances for every day of the test.

When the track is officially shut, usually around 5pm, the cars are stripped down to the bare minimum so every minute detail can be checked for damage, parts replaced and everything cleaned up to F1 standards.

The engineers, many of whom are never seen on TV or by the fans as they are hidden away in their track offices in the pop-up sections of the trucks in the paddock, will spend the day analysing the data that is constantly coming from the car. At night they will analyse every last detail of that data to give themselves the car setup options they will run the next day, all in search of the elusive goal - time.

Having completed the first test relatively successfully our team will now have a week in the UK before heading to the second test in Barcelona.

The mechanics and truckies will have a day off to recuperate and then they will be back in the factory for four days of work before the flight to Spain. The engineers will have Sunday to recover and then they have a full week in the office ahead of them before it all starts again in just over seven days.

This is the side of F1 that the fans don't see.

It's hard work, carried out in often freezing conditions and with little visible results to motivate a tired workforce. It's not glamorous and it can be very tough, but without the February tests the F1 season would kick off with cars that stand a very good chance of grinding to a halt early in the opening races of the season, so it's vital.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2566483 2013-01-29T19:00:00-05:00 2013-03-31T05:12:01-04:00

Tom Webb http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-webb/
The first race of the 2013 season takes place in Melbourne in mid-March, but between now and then the 11 F1 teams who will compete in this year's championship will be racking up thousands of miles in three, four day pre-season tests in Spain in February - the first in Jerez, then two more in Barcelona.

Nearly all the teams will unveil their 2013 race cars before or during the tests, finally showing the world what all the hard work, sleepless nights and millions of dollars of investment have produced. Then it's straight to work on track, with the cars being run constantly (mechanical issues allowing, and assuming they stay out of the barriers) for each day of the three tests.

More on what testing life is like next week, but for now our focus is on what we call "car build". This is an incredibly intense week leading up to the first test when the 2013 race car finally takes shape. The chassis is built, checked and painted and then the tens of thousands of parts that make up a modern F1 car are fitted to the chassis, all under a stopwatch that is counting down until the moment the car has to leave our factory and head to Jerez.

This is the culmination of a process that started almost one year ago when the first discussions about the 2013 car took place. Since then thousands of hours have been spent in the design office and the wind-tunnel, honing the aerodynamic capabilities of the car and designing a complete package that is within the rules, as light as possible and easy for the mechanics to work on throughout the season. Not a particularly easy list of requirements to fulfil, but that is why F1 is the pinnacle.

The work of the design team does not stop when car build starts. In fact they are working several months ahead, and the car the public will see for the first time in Jerez is a version that was signed off by the boffins at the factory many months before it was actually produced.

To give you an idea of how far ahead they work, our design team have already completed work on the updates we will bring to the car right up to GP05, the Spanish Grand Prix in mid-May. They might not be able to tell me what the lottery numbers will be in May, but they can very accurately predict what laptimes our car will do when we race in Barcelona on May 12th. Theirs is a gift with limited value to the outside world, but to an F1 team that sort of information is critical.

Throughout the car build process there will be sleepless nights. There are going to be parts that need to be reworked to fit them into the incredibly tight space they're designed to squeeze into under the bodywork. There will be bodywork parts that need to be adjusted to make sure they fit and the engine and gearbox will be attached the chassis and fired up the engine for the first time in 2013 to make sure everything fits, and, importantly, works!

Assuming it all goes to plan, and it always does, the car will be very carefully packed up and sent down to Spain for T01, the first test. As soon as it arrives the same people who finished building it back in the UK will strip it all down and check everything to make sure nothing has been damaged in transit, and then it will be time to go to work.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2431995 2013-01-08T19:00:00-05:00 2013-03-10T05:12:01-04:00

Tom Webb http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-webb/
As the rain fell across the Interlagos circuit, the teams were packing up their equipment for the last time in 2012 and looking forward to a very well deserved break back home.

Many of us flew home to the UK straight after the race. A few short hours after the chequered flag fell on the 2012 season we were at 36,000 ft, heading home for the final time after a year that had seen our little team fight its way to 10th place in the Championship and, with that place, millions of dollars in prize money that could be the difference between success and failure for many years to come.

For the fans that was the end of their F1 year. The end of the Brazilian GP was their signal that there would be no more F1 until it all starts again in February, but for the teams it's a very different story.

By the end of the season most of the race team, the people who travel to each of the Grands Prix, have accumulated several weeks of time off and as soon as they've packed away the equipment back at the factory, it's time for them to put their feet up.

But for the factory team, the people who never make it onto TV but without whom F1 simply wouldn't exist, December, January and February are their busiest months.

By late November next year's race car will be very close to completion. Every year the teams design and build new cars, using every loophole or trick of the trade to claw back thousands, hundredths and tenths of seconds that can make the difference between winning and losing on track.

Visit an F1 factory in January and you will see an awful lot of very tired eyes. The deadline is immovable - the cars have to be ready to fire up and start running in Jerez, Spain on Tuesday February 5th when T01, the first 2013 test, heralds the start of the new season.

By that time, many thousands of man hours will have gone into the design and build of the new cars.

On TV they may all look pretty similar, but the difference between finishing first and last can be measured in Dollars and hours - the more time and people you can afford to have working on your car the quicker it will be.

And that is why the 'off season' is so important. It's the culmination of more than a year's work by the boffins that make F1 the technological marvel it is and it is punishing for every single person who works in the sport. The hours tick by, the deadline looms ever nearer and teams will push their staff to breaking point in the hunt for laptime.

While the fans are pining for F1 to fire up and start all over again, spare a thought for the men and women who will not see much of home until Spring.

F1 - it's all glamour baby.]]>