Formula One is one of the most popular and complex sports worldwide, with over 1.5 billion viewers tuning in each season to watch some of the most advanced cars ever engineered compete.
Next weekend, the Bahrain Grand Prix will mark the first of 24 races, taking place in 20 countries, that will feature in the 2024 season.
Organising Formula 1 events requires a vast operation. Each race involves 20 cars from 10 different teams, and each team brings in hundreds of staff, from engineers to analysts. Not to mention, there are over 80 broadcasters that offer coverage of F1, and thousands of fans flock to cheer on the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen every race weekend.
This circus of events is known for appearing in different locations for a few weeks, culminating in a three-day marquee race weekend before moving on to the next location. But what’s lesser known is that much of the tech supporting F1 is managed remotely from a small airfield just south of London.
Biggin Hill, a small town in the London Borough of Bromley, is perhaps best known for its airport, which was once a primary RAF fighter base during World War II, launching planes to protect the British capital from German bombers.
Nestled in the airfield’s industrial park, you’ll find the F1 Media and Technology Centre (M&TC). Since the 2020 Covid pandemic, it has become increasingly important in managing F1’s vast array of technologies.
Additionally, it serves as the central production hub for the live broadcast stream that goes out to over 80 countries during race weekends. It’s also responsible for managing all of F1’s connectivity services.
Home to over 140 staff members across editing, production, and engineering, the F1 Media and Technology Centre is essentially the brain of the entire operation. It produces the world feed, including footage, audio, and graphics, provided to F1 teams, the FIA, and broadcasters as a service.
Additionally, the M&TC designed and built the start light system and provided the paddock club pass system.
“If the telemetry systems aren’t reporting or team radio isn’t being sent or received by us, the cars won’t leave the garage,” F1 Director of Innovation and Digital Technology, Pete Samara, tells journalists on a site tour.
Here, experts listen to streams from team radios during races from locations as far away as Australia and select the most interesting for broadcast. Then, during a live race, they add subtitles (and bleep out any swearing), all within seconds. But, to the viewers at home, it’s all seamless.
Previously, the majority of this was done on-site at the racetracks. This involved deploying production trucks and hundreds of staff to the venue several weeks beforehand to set up a mini technology hub and broadcast centre. Once the race weekend was over, they would dismantle everything and leave.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic forced F1 to adapt and change how it operated.
“We had originally planned to build out the Biggin Hill site across three years,” explains Amie Smith, Head of IT Systems at F1. The 2020 F1 season was set to begin in Australia on March 15th. But after a member of the McLaren team pulled out after testing positive for the virus, the FIA and other teams decided to cancel the entire event.
When countries worldwide went into lockdowns and sports events were being cancelled due to the pandemic, the F1 technology team, led by Smith, sprang into action. “Luckily, we had just switched to Microsoft 365 from a corporate perspective, which allowed us to continue working almost immediately,” she said.
To hold a race when international travel was limited, transportation of items restricted, and much of the world closed off, the F1 technology team looked at what functions could be operated remotely.
“We had in place a reduced disaster recovery system, which we used as our baseline to get people up and running. The question was what we needed at a minimum to run a race,” says Smith. “It was a case of working out what we needed, where and when, and then streamlining it.”
They began setting up certain functions in Biggin Hill — also operating under Covid restrictions at the time — including subtitles, replays, and edits. The project was a three-year plan, but the F1 team achieved it in under three months while maintaining social distancing.
Smith suggests this highlighted the importance of technology partnerships. F1’s global network is provided by Tata Communications, and the team had tested the network as part of its disaster recovery planning, meaning they knew they could get a link up and running quickly.
Formula 1 was the first global sport to resume activities during the pandemic. The lights switching back on at the Red Bull Ring in Austria in July 2020 was a massive relief for the team at Biggin Hill. But the work continued as F1 strived to achieve more significant gains, efficiencies, and advancements in its operations.
The main TV gallery room, kitted with 415 multi-view monitors that provide thousands of screens’ worth of information, is the centrepiece at Biggin Hill. The site also houses a fully functional physical and virtual studio featuring a green screen and its own data centre, consisting of 65 racks.
When the 2024 season kicks off in Bahrain this week, a significant portion of the broadcast and technical operations will be managed from London. Engineers will already be present in Bahrain, with a complete physical fibre installation established two weeks before the race weekend.
This installation is connected to Tata Com’s backbone, which provides F1 with access to its own private network, linked across the world via two 10G pipes, ensuring reliability and robustness. The data is then transmitted back to the Lenovo data centre at the F1 Media and Technology Centre.
Lenovo became a key partner for the F1 tech team in 2022. The Chinese American tech company provides F1 with various devices and systems, including computers, tablets, servers, and workstations. Lenovo also supplies systems for on-premises data collection, data storage, and video editing. Furthermore, the partnership is also seeing the two companies collaborate to develop new AR and VR experiences for F1 fans.
Chris Roberts, F1 director of IT, says having partners who actively participate in designing, implementing, and maintaining their technology stack is crucial for F1 to achieve the flexibility it requires.
“When you’re in a typical supplier relationship, if something goes wrong, it can be slow to set things right,” he says. “When you’ve got a great partner like Lenovo, not only do they join you on the journey, but they are invested in it. They give access to the best people, technology, and engineers, and they are motivated to provide the best service. When you’ve got a good partner, anything is possible.”
The switch to Biggin Hill also helps with sustainability goals, meaning F1 is flying far fewer people – and far less equipment – across the globe every week. This is seen as a key piece of the organisation’s goal to be carbon neutral by 2030.
Read more: Why an F1 approach is needed for smart cities
Are F1 cars so advanced that Biggin Hill has to constantly update its technology? According to Roberts, this is not the case. However, they collaborate with technology partners to ensure that they can support the race teams, broadcasters, and other stakeholders during a race weekend.
Smith adds: “We really don’t do anything just for the sake of it. We look at how we can grow and achieve the best results. But equally, if we move something remotely or try something that doesn’t work, we will swiftly change tack; nothing is set in stone.”
Roberts is reluctant to discuss specifics about future automated technology but confirms F1 has been looking into that space for functions such as error checking and diagnostics.
So, what tips would the F1 team recommend to businesses looking to overhaul their approach to technology and leverage more remote services?
In terms of advice for businesses looking to overhaul their approach to technology and leverage more remote services, the F1 team suggests being brave and committing to the change.
“There are direct tangible benefits you can measure the value of, such as sending fewer people and less hardware to a race. The longevity of the kit has also increased,” says Roberts.
He also mentions other unexpected benefits from the transition to remote services and points to a cultural impact that wasn’t predicted.
Traditionally, staff would “age out” of F1 after having families due to the demands of travelling across the globe for several months a year. They’d either seek other jobs within F1 or leave the organisation. However, moving more functions to the F1 Media and Technology Centre allows more flexibility, boosting talent retention.
Change management is critical to any business change, according to Smith. “You need to have an understanding of where you’re at and where you aim to get to,” she explains. “Getting buy-in from all of your stakeholders — when we transitioned, from a business acceptance perspective, there wasn’t a person in this building who didn’t have a part to play. It was really important that they were involved in the journey.”
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