Ever watch a Grand Prix and surprise how the groups, vehicles and drivers get from occasion to occasion? The logistics of shifting the System 1 circus between locations is akin to a army operation. We check out the fascinating logistics of System 1 and the way one of many world’s largest sporting occasions strikes between international locations on time.
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Earlier than the chequered flag has fallen on Sunday’s Grand Prix, the pack-up operation is already underway to maneuver F1 onto its subsequent location. Some spare elements, similar to engines will be packed up prepared for transit as early as Saturday, as there’s not sufficient time to vary an engine between the tip of parc-ferme and the beginning of the Grand Prix.
The broader tear-down plan is intricately set out on the Thursday morning earlier than every race weekend begins. It’s not unusual for circuits to be fully cleared of F1’s presence in as little as eight hours after the Grand Prix ends.
If two races are separated by two weeks, there’s a window of ten days for journey and transit. If it’s a back-to-back race weekend, the time accessible to get the whole lot operational on the subsequent venue between back-to-back races is simply three days. Double headers which contain street journey throughout Europe will be a number of the tightest turnarounds of the yr.
Virtually each member of every System 1 staff has their very own position in serving to with packing up the garages. The storage partitions are de-constructed, and pc racks – and the miles of cabling that go along with them – are packed away. Engines and tyres are normally returned to their producers and the vehicles themselves should be dismantled, however this will solely be performed after the FIA have completed their inspections to examine every automobile’s legality.
For the European races between the Emilia Romagna and Italian Grands Prix, nearly all of the groups’ tools is transported by street to economize. That features the staff’s lavish motorhomes, that are dismantled by one other staff of individuals after which packed into vehicles, earlier than being then pushed to the following occasion.
If it’s not a back-to-back race weekend, vehicles shall be flown again to the groups’ factories to be repainted. Suspension and wiring is checked and changed if wanted after which the equipment is packed as soon as once more and pushed to the airport.
Ferrari, AlphaTauri and Alfa Romeo’s cargo will meet at a mainland European airport, whereas the British groups’ items arrive on the East Midlands airport. From there, the crates are handed over to DHL, F1’s official logistics accomplice, and are loaded onto cargo planes that are chartered by System One Administration (FOM). The groups nonetheless should pay for this service, although.
DHL: System 1’s official logistics accomplice
As System 1’s longest-standing accomplice, DHL have virtually 40 of expertise within the discipline, taking advantage of land, air and sea journey to make sure that each facet of the world’s quickest sport, from staff tools, tyres and gasoline, to hospitality and catering items, is all the time delivered on time.
F1’s relationship with DHL is without doubt one of the most important; with out it, the present merely wouldn’t exist. The job performed by DHL will be in comparison with that of the work carried out by an F1 staff throughout a pit-stop; a mass of individuals coming collectively to make sure a job will get performed as effectively and safely as potential, choreographed to perfection.
DHL’s spectacular statistics:
DHL estimate that, on common, every staff ships the equal weight of eight elephants per race.
It’s additionally estimated that every staff will transport round 50 tons of cargo per yr, which may price upward of $8 million.
DHL cargo travels upwards of 130,000km over the course of a season, in as much as six or seven Boeing 747 cargo planes per occasion.
As much as 300 vehicles head from race to race. For those who put all of them collectively, they’d make a convoy longer than 5km!
Over a season, groups ship 660 tons of air freight and 500 tons of sea freight (the equal of 165 elephants, if that’s your most well-liked scale of measurement).
The cargo crates are specifically designed to successfully fill all of the area accessible in DHL’s planes.
There’s round 100 individuals concerned within the logistics general, together with individuals from DHL, staff personnel and locals to every occasion who assist the operation.
Every staff has round three pallets value of precedence cargo. This would be the first cargo that arrives on the circuit, permitting groups to start establishing their vehicles and garages. It’s as much as the groups what tools goes in these pallets.
F1 logistics and abroad journey
Logistics turn into much more sophisticated for the Grands Prix held exterior of Europe. The way in which during which the whole lot is shipped relies on quite a lot of elements, together with the gap between venues and the period of time accessible.
To chop down on prices, some tools is shipped by sea. Groups start transport 5 a lot of cargo out for the primary 5 fly-away races of the season in January. Usually, the cargo shall be despatched on rotation world wide. For instance, after the Australian Grand Prix has completed the ocean freight shall be despatched to the sixth fly-away race of the yr in Singapore and saved there till the Grand Prix weekend in September.
Again-to-back fly away races will be probably the most difficult logistically, as there are solely three days to get items between circuits that are 1000’s of kilometres aside. That, coupled with a altering time zone, makes it a particularly tight schedule!
The staff will pack precedence pallets for every Grand Prix, which embrace all of the necessities to set the garages up, similar to computer systems and storage partitions. These arrive on the subsequent circuit first, on the Tuesday after the final race. Customs checks are generally carried out on the circuits themselves quite than on the airports, in an effort to velocity issues up.
For each equity and security, the groups’ crates are positioned within the pit-lane of the venue and are usually not allowed to be accessed till each staff’s cargo has arrived. As soon as this has all been arrange, extra cargo – together with the vehicles themselves – will arrive on the Wednesday, with the identical protocol going down.
By Wednesday afternoon, the whole lot within the pit lane and paddock is absolutely operational and prepared for media day on Thursday.
And all of that, in fact, is simply the logistics of taking the vehicles, motorhomes, vehicles and tools from race to race. Issue within the massive variety of lodge rooms which want reserving, rent vehicles which have to be discovered, meals which wants shopping for, catering preparations which want organising and web connectivity which wants establishing and, all in all, the race earlier than the race will be much more chaotic than the Grand Prix itself!
Attempting conditions: System 1 logistics at triple header occasions
A lot of elements could make the logistical operation much more attempting. System 1’s first ever triple header again in 2018 proved a testing time, with three races on three consecutive weekends throughout Europe.
Some groups used alternate motorhomes for the center weekend of the triple-header. For the 1,600km journey between the Crimson Bull Ring and Silverstone, every truck had three drivers to make sure the cargo by no means stopped shifting apart from gasoline stops.
Triple headers have since turn into a longtime a part of the System 1 calendar and the groups and their logistical companions have tailored to make sure freight arrives on time – although delays almost threw the ultimate triple header of the 2021 season off target…
How the climate can interrupt System 1 logistics
System 1 groups and their logistical companions can plan transportation all the way down to the minute – however generally these plans will be thwarted by elements exterior of anybody’s management. The climate could cause complications for everybody concerned.
In 2021, System 1 staged its first triple header of flyaway races with the game visiting Mexico, Brazil and Qatar on three successive weekends late on within the season. Because the pack up was accomplished as ordinary on the Mexico Metropolis Grand Prix, fog precipitated six hours value of delays in transporting three cargo planes of freight from Mexico Metropolis’s airport to Brazil.
The delays meant that some groups’ freight didn’t arrive in Sao Paulo till Thursday afternoon and with qualifying going down on Friday – as this race used F1’s new Dash format – this was a removed from best scenario.
The FIA subsequently waived the same old curfew and adjusted the scrutineering deadline, permitting groups further time to arrange their vehicles for the race weekend. Their common schedules rewritten, each staff was in a position to full their preparation in time for opening apply on Friday. F1’s Sporting Director Steve Nielsen mentioned that System 1 and the groups would conduct a “full autopsy” of the scenario in an effort to work out what classes could possibly be realized.
This wasn’t the primary time that climate had impacted preparation plans in System 1. The tight turnaround between the Mexican and United States Grands Prix in 2018 was additionally virtually derailed by opposed climate circumstances. A hurricane, which had made landfall in Florida, was to trigger main delays to the transportation of System 1 freight.
The groups’ sea freight, which was headed to Mexico, was on account of be delayed till the Thursday earlier than the race – leaving too little time to arrange. DHL needed to suppose shortly and discover a resolution. They took the equivalent package which had been utilized by the groups at america Grand Prix to Mexico and despatched it by street, as is the norm for the European races, instantly after the Grand Prix, eliminating the necessity for sea freight. Fast considering is important to make sure that System 1 all the time arrives on time.
System 1 logistics: Racing by the pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic introduced System 1 with unparalleled logistical points. Not solely was travelling between international locations exceptionally tough, holding crew members protected and wholesome would additionally show to be a problem. Strict testing regimes had been put in place and interactions between groups was restricted.
In 2020, DHL aided System 1 by 17 races, set at 14 venues, over 24 weeks in a season in contrast to another. After the cancellation of the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix, the groups’ tools was transported to 4 strategical hubs in the UK, Belgium, Canada and Vietnam, making certain racing might resume at any venue globally with a ten day discover.
The 2020 System 1 season finally started in early July with the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix. DHL transported over 40 containers by sea, together with 19 vehicles by street, for the delayed F1 season to lastly start. Over the course of the primary pandemic-impacted season, DHL transported 800 tonnes throughout the season by air, sea and street.
With journey restrictions in place, transporting freight grew to become an elevated problem. Some concessions had been made to make sure the whole lot ran easily, together with System 1 internet hosting its first ever two-day weekend on the 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix – with the Imola race following simply seven days after the Portuguese Grand Prix.
System 1 logistics and sustainability
In November 2019, System 1 set itself the target of getting internet zero carbon emissions by 2030. Whereas sure parts of attaining this embrace utilizing 100% sustainable fuels in System 1 vehicles and less complicated acts similar to lowering single-use plastics within the paddock, one in every of F1’s largest hurdles to beat in attaining internet zero standing is inside the realm of freight logistics.
System 1 supplied an replace in December 2022 on its progress in enhancing the sustainability of the game. It famous that freight containers had just lately been redesigned in an effort to be shipped in additional fuel-efficient plane, whereas distant broadcasting had been carried out to decrease the quantity of journey freight. Strategic hubs have since been arrange in Europe, the United Arab Emirates and america to scale back the gap which freight has to journey between occasions. A mixture of all of those elements has seen emissions decreased by 17%.
The game has already set about regionalising its calendar, grouping races collectively by geographical location thus reducing air miles and travelling distances. Grouping races collectively on this means can also enable to be used of extra environment friendly modes of transport – freight trains for instance – to move tools between circuits sooner or later.
Throughout 2022, over the triple header of occasions which visited Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, Zandvoort within the Netherlands and Monza in Italy, Mercedes trialled the usage of biofuels for his or her freight. Impressively, their analysis discovered that the usage of such fuels depleted their carbon emissions by a staggering 89%. As a substitute of utilizing fossil fuels, the groups’ vehicles had been powered by Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO100) biofuel. F1 adopted swimsuit in 2023, with all European races now delivered by vehicles working on biofuel. DHL say this has resulted in an 83% reduce in carbon emissions when in comparison with working vehicles on diesel. DHL doubled their fleet of sustainable biofuel-powered vehicles in 2024.
In 2024, in collaboration with companions DHL and Qatar Airways, F1 introduced that it had expanded its funding in Sustainable Aviation Gas (SAF) for its flyaway occasions. The programme, which had been working since March 2024, is estimated to lower emissions by 80% per flight vs typical aviation gasoline. Round 20% of F1’s cargo flights used SAF in 2024.
