F1 - a celebration of speed and technology

State-of-the-art is the name of the game during the Grand PrixIT is once again that time of the year when Singapore's boring 90kmh speed limit is blown away, as the smell of tyres hits the tarmac and super engines rev up menacingly.迷你倉 Yes, it is Race Weekend as Singapore's Formula One (F1) gets underway.While the focus is always on the race itself, as it should be, what is often under-appreciated is the role that state-of-the-art technology plays in making an F1 race the adrenaline-pumping event that it is. In no other sport does technology play such a crucial role.Martin Whitmarsh, the principal of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Team, told The Business Times that each car is packed with more than 120 sensors. These sensors feed real-time information such as pressures, temperatures, gear changes, condition of brakes, tyres and level of fuel. Indicators also flag other factors that may affect a car's performance during a race."The ability to compare data from the car in real-time with historical data from past seasons, modelling in weather conditions, the state of the race, competitor strategies and so on, now form a vital part of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes' strategy calls during a race."Alan Peasland, the head of Technical Partnerships in Infiniti Red Bull Racing, said the race car is an evolving prototype; its design is never static and is constantly being tweaked."Over the course of a Formula One season, we process many thousands of design changes, ultimately sending all of these new components to the track to be assembled onto the car in time for the race. It is a constant search for the next 10th or 100th of a second's performance improvement per lap," he said.Adding to that, Mr Whitmarsh said it is true to say that an F1 car is at its slowest at the start of a Grand Prix season."The car development race off-track between teams is just as fierce as the races on track between the drivers. How quickly teams are able to understand their cars and develop the performance and set-up for the tracks throughout the year is crucial if they are to be competitive. That is why many teams form partnerships with leading technology companies."For example, Mobil 1 and SAP are two of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes technology partners. It is a win-win collaboration for both parties: The team gets access to the latest technology, specialist technicians and engineers, and SAP and Mobil 1 get an exciting showcase to develop technology on a global platform.Kevin Wo, Avanade Singapore's vice-president, said that, with Avanade's help, the Lotus F1 Team now has a unique planning tool to ensure that all divisions are linked and interfaced, enabling them to deliver performance parts on time, every time."The Lotus F1 Team is a technology business at its core and we are thrilled to be partnering with them."It is easy to get seduced by the cars and the technology that goes into making them such mean machines but, ultimately, it is just as much about the driver and the kind of challenges he faces on the circuit.Vodafone McLaren Mercedes' Mr Whitmarsh said the challenging nature of the 23-corner Marina Bay layout, coupled with Singapore's 30¢X C heat and 70 per cent humidity, makes the 61-lap race one of the F1 calendar's toug迷你倉est for the drivers."They lose up to three litres of fluid during the race; some even get headaches due to the concentration required under the artificial lights."He added that the 5.073km Marina Bay Street Circuit is the second slowest of the season, after Monaco; the cars run with maximum aerodynamic down force. There is a great emphasis on traction out of the slow corners, which is why Pirelli brings its Supersoft and Medium tyre compounds to this race, as it does in the Australian and Canadian editions of the race earlier in the year.Tough or not, McLaren driver Jenson Button relishes the challenge of the Singapore circuit. He said: "It's a unique spectacle, and one that I think is brilliant for F1. In fact, the Singapore Grand Prix is one of the wonders of modern sport. I enjoy racing around the Marina Bay circuit."Although I have finished second here for the past two years, this year it will be interesting to see how our car behaves on a bumpy, high-down-force circuit."This is also a race where good fitness preparation really pays off. The race is usually close to the two-hour limit, so it is the longest physical challenge on the calendar. I'm really looking forward to it."Red Bull Racing's Mr Peasland said that, for the teams, the main technology challenge for this race comes from the heat and the humidity."It's not just a case of trying to keep the drivers and the team cool, but also all of the IT infrastructure. While the circuit remains relatively unchanged, there are modifications to some turns on the circuit and these have to be evaluated to ensure any simulations performed at the factory are accurate and representative."He added that the wall-lined Singapore circuit gives very little "run-off area" for drivers who make a mistake or need to avoid an on-track incident. "As can be seen in previous years, mistakes are often punished with cars hitting the walls and subsequently retiring from the race," he said.Mr Peasland said racing at night presents unique challenges for the drivers, some of whom will comment on the difficulties in adjusting to the glare and the visual perspective that artificial lighting creates, but he draws comfort from the fact that the team's UK-based ops room experts can operate during normal daytime hours.Mehul Kapadia, Tata Communications' managing director for its F1 business, said: "From Tata Comms' perspective, we have to ensure that we create processes and implement them in such a way that we can achieve a lot from remote access. This ensures that there is no lacuna in terms of intellectual capital and technical knowledge - and all this with zero downtime."Tata Comms is one of the technology partners of the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team.Mr Kapadia added that, with each race location being different, Tata needs to set up its network equipment a week ahead of the race and complete configurations and connections to the access circuit."We undertake a number of extensive stability and load tests to ensure the circuit is absolutely clean with zero errors. We also need to extend fibre to our various customers around the race site and complete joint acceptance testing with them - a well-coordinated process to get the technical deployment right the first time."儲存倉