While a Formula 1 driver may be the star athlete behind the wheel, it’s the cutting-edge technology and the skilled engineers who deploy it that make the rest of the team more complete.
F1 races are often decided by tenths of a second, and technological advances can determine a team’s time on track.
Ben Waterhouse said: “Formula 1 is all about performance and it is performance that drives success on the track. So as engineers we are always focused on how to get the fastest car possible and Achieving this goal requires a very innovative approach.
Waterhouse said the four main elements of building a high-performance car are the chassis, power unit, tires and driver.
Waterhouse added: “If all four of them are not operating at a high level, it’s going to be difficult to achieve real success.”
The F1 winter break is the period between the end of the season and the start of pre-season testing, but this is hardly a “rest” for team engineers.
“There are different approaches to designing a Formula 1 car. Either you take the basis of the previous year’s car and carry it over, or you make a complete concept change to unlock more performance. In both cases, there is a lot of work done over the winter, A lot of work still needs to be done to actually build the race car.
Williams Racing team principal James Vowles said he spends about 30 percent of his time on technology.
“What I’m doing is creating the technology and the infrastructure to allow us not to produce a good car in ’24, but let us produce a good car in 2026, ’27, ’28. That sounds like in our world. It’s very far away, but it’s important to get the timeline right, the problems we’re solving are not going to be solved overnight,” Walls said.
Watch the video above for an in-depth look at the technology that drives F1’s success, including comments from Formula 1 Group CEO Stefano Domenicali, McLaren Racing CEO Zac Brown Zak Brown, Williams Racing Team Principal James Vowles, Ferrari HP Team Principal Fréd Vasseur and more.
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