In their
role as the gladiators of the hi-tech age, it is always the drivers who are
the centre of attention and make the headlines in Formula 1. However, they
are only ever as good as the team that backs them up. It is the people in
the background who, with great commitment and under enormous time pressure,
create the conditions for a successful performance on the race track. “A
good team is more important for success than a good driver,” says Alex
Burns, General Manager at WilliamsF1.
The headquarters of WilliamsF1 at Grove in Oxfordshire, UK, is a kind of
United Nations in Formula 1. In the team’s expansive complex, more than 500
people from 13 countries work by day – and often by night as well – with
tremendous devotion, for Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber to start a race in
optimally prepared cars. The Chinese Grand Prix is no exception. Most of the
employees – about a third each – work in the fields of research and
development or in manufacturing, the production of the car's individual
components. |
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At the race
itself, around 90 people are employed by the BMW WilliamsF1 Team – from
truck drivers to engine specialists, from kitchen helpers to sponsorship
consultants. These background people are rarely in the public eye for more
than a short time – for instance, when the mechanics spend mere seconds
completing a pit stop. But when, after the season’s finale in Shanghai, they
add up the miles they have travelled to the 19 races on four continents this
year, their total will be well above 100,000.
Since the early years of Formula 1, it’s not only the technology and the
safety that have developed rapidly. The number of people employed by the
teams has also risen dramatically. The intimate race teams, in which
everyone could do almost everything and which considered the art of
improvisation more important than cool technical calculation in many
situations, have grown into medium-sized industrial companies with a host of
specialists. Let us take a closer look at the example of WilliamsF1: when,
in 1980, the team founded by Frank Williams won the first of its nine
manufacturers’ championships and also claimed the world drivers’
championship for Alan Jones, its list of employees featured only 50 people.
Over the past six years alone, the number has doubled.
Alex says: “Formula 1 is a highly attractive field for young and ambitious
engineers, because it is a manageable environment for them to work with and
develop the latest technologies. And that is exactly the kind of challenge
such people are after.” Despite the size of WilliamsF1, it is still possible
for an engineer specialising in a certain field to understand the entire
vehicle. It is precisely this fact that, for Burns, distinguishes the work
from that at a large automotive company or aeroplane manufacturer. He says:
“With us, each engineer can experience for him or herself how the individual
parts merge into a whole and how much the component they have developed
contributes to the success of the project.”
An important prerequisite for creativity is an atmosphere in which people
are comfortable. This is just as true for Formula 1 as for anywhere else.
What makes WilliamsF1 an attractive employer? Alex sums up the advantages:
“We work in a very informal atmosphere. Frank Williams himself regards that
as important, as he takes a great interest in the well-being of his company
and his employees. Of course, we also pay very well, but the young people
who come to us aren’t interested in the money alone. What they are looking
for is an interesting task in a friendly environment, and that is what we
offer.” To cover the increasing demand for good engineers, WilliamsF1
co-operates closely with the technical faculties of Oxford and Cranfield
Universities. There are also close ties to Cambridge.
The 2005 season, with its 19 grands prix, including six back-to-back races -
each held on two consecutive weekends - put the employees under an enormous
strain. The specialists in the factory, where the cars had to be serviced
and rebuilt in the shortest possible time for the next race, were no
exceptions. The members of the on-site teams were also subjected to the
additional travel stress of frequent flyers as they flew to four continents
with varying time zones. All this took its toll. Are they at least allowed
to spend the bonus points collected in their frequent flyer programmes
privately? “Of course they are,” Alex says. “But when are they going to do
that? They don’t have the time to.”
And did you know...
... that this is the first season in which Formula 1 has seen 19 races? The
fewest grands prix were held in the years 1950 to 1955, each World
Championship featuring only seven events. The periods between the races were
also significantly longer in some cases – for example, in 1955, between the
season’s first race in Argentina and the second in Monaco, no fewer than 18
weeks went by. |
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