F1, races are also won with simulators, remote controls and AI: here's how
“Someone once said that Formula 1 is too big a business to be considered a sport, but it is also too competitive a sport to be considered a business.” Garry Mannion is the Team Expert for Mercedes-AMG Petronas in Formula 1 and he leads us through the halls and corridors of the Brackley factory, in the heart of the United Kingdom, where the silver arrows come to life, from digital projects to real racing cars.
Brackley, where renderings become realityThe plant, 60,000 square meters of pure innovation, is located about 70km north-west of London and is at the center of the English motor valley. In the area, in fact, other teams are based, including McLaren , Williams and Aston Martin.
A space created to initially house 315 employees and which today has 1300. To which are added another 1200, also counting those who work in the nearby Brixworth headquarters.
Engineers, designers and mechanics who contribute to the constant development of racing cars. From the construction of wings and frames, to the turning of the smallest parts of the car.
“With our staff,” says Mannion, “we are able to ensure the factory operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.” The facilities in Brackley include, among other things, a wind tunnel for testing cars, test benches, ovens for curing carbon fiber and the team’s track simulator. A huge collective machine powered 100%, according to Mercedes data, by renewable energy .
During the week of the British Grand Prix, at Silverstone, the comings and goings at the factory are tangible. The hopes for home driver George Russell and for “our” Kimi Antonelli , moreover, originate from Breckley.
But if on the one hand the motorsport world is still based on mechanical principles, however innovative, on the other hand it is undeniable that most of the work, even during the race phases, is based on data analysis, probabilistic calculations and increasingly refined technologies . Among these, the flagship of Brackley is undoubtedly the "driver-in-loop" simulator, or the device used by drivers and testers to evaluate car setups, modifications and updates.
“It is in fact the winner of eight constructors’ and seven drivers’ world championships,” says one of the technicians in charge of the testing. The body of a single-seater, housed on a motorized trolley, faces a large LED wall that projects the pre-selected circuit. Over eighty computers process the input models provided by the team and, cross-referencing these with the responses of the driver at the wheel, return the data on which the team works for the track.
The Simulator and the Role of Team Viewer
Critics of modern Formula 1 often call it “ Formula Play Station ” in a derogatory sense, precisely because of the extreme use made of the simulator.
But since private tests are no longer contemplated, there are no credible alternatives at the moment. “Kimi Antonelli, in his first year in F1, comes here to test on circuits where he has never raced and the results are there to see,” we are reminded. But the simulator is not only used in the “dead” time between one competition and another. Indeed, even during race weekends, a reserve driver often finds himself working with the simulator.
“Ensuring that the engineering team has access to real-time simulator data is critical to track performance,” explains Steven Riley , Head of IT Operations for Mercedes-AMG. “And in fact, in one of the buildings in Brackley, there is a race support room , directly connected to the race garage, where 28 people analyse track and simulator data to provide guidance to drivers and engineers on the ground.
The entire connection system between the simulator and the personnel on the circuits, as well as the possibility of remotely accessing the data coming from the track, is guaranteed for Mercedes by Team Viewer , a German remote control software which in its basic version has reached over 2.5 million installations worldwide .
Thanks to Team Viewer’s Tensor platform, the Brackley team can interact directly with engineers on the track to make changes to the setups in the shortest possible time. “The concept is to extend the box beyond the paddock so that – says Mark Banfield , CCO of TeamViewer – there is real-time connectivity between the factory and the circuit. Whether the races are in Europe, a few hundred kilometers from here, or in Australia, Japan or Brazil”.
Years and regulations pass, but time remains the most precious concept in Formula 1. And not just for engineers .
“You know the screens that are lowered on the cars when the drivers are in the pits?” asks Banfield. “That set of data, telemetry, video recordings that the drivers need between one session and the next, we provide in real time.” And it is also that data, experienced directly by the driver, that determines his choices in terms of car setup.
Continuing our visit to Brackley, we notice dozens of designers busy designing aerodynamic solutions (sometimes in rooms with rippled glass to prevent peering inside) and sealed clean rooms where tests are carried out on carbon-fibre car components.
“We use about 50 different carbon fiber solutions for a Formula 1 car,” Mercedes Team Expert Garry Mannion reminds us. And the excitement in the factory probably doesn’t just come from the home Grand Prix (Silverstone is about 20 minutes away), but also from the fact that starting in 2026, Formula 1 will radically change its regulations for engines, aerodynamics and tires.
“Our first race was in 1952 right at Silverstone and – continues Mannion – the racing regulations were only one page long. Today there are over 500 pages”. The secret of victory, after all, always lies in the intersection between the best possible interpretation of the rules and the optimization of spending on projects and materials. “And we have learned a little about this”, jokes Mannion.
The future of Grand Prix racing is increasingly technological – It is inevitable, when you walk into a factory where even the smallest component of a car is produced, to ask yourself about the future of racing with the arrival of Artificial Intelligence .
If the simulator has replaced private tests, will AI, in turn, replace the simulator? “Let's say that some roles will be absolutely downsized but certainly – replies Steven Riley , head of IT at Mercedes – the goal is to go beyond the use we are making of it today, that is, for performance analysis or reviewing large amounts of data in a short time. AI must help us to be more productive in the factory, first of all. If we were already just 20% more productive, it would be a great result”.
And so, as with remote data control or the use of the simulator in parallel with the competitions, also on the AI front, Formula 1 is moving the sporting aspect from the circuits to increasingly distant places . That is to say that the grand prix, in the modern era, are not only won on the track but increasingly in remote, innovative but, no less, magical places, like Brackley.
La Repubblica
