Logistics

In its purest form, Formula One is all about cars driving around a pre-determined stretch of road as quickly as possible. It is about drivers fighting wheel-to-wheel in ferociously rapid machines. For some casual observers, this is all that Formula One will ever be, but those who delve a little deeper will discover a vast, ever-moving circus of people and parts. The same people that are chatting in France one week might find themselves in the US the next, staring at the same laptop, wearing the same shirt and even drinking the same coffee.

When Jenson Button won this year’s Hungarian Grand Prix, he understandably received most of the plaudits. But supporting Jenson’s superb driving effort was a crew of 143 people, 18 hire cars and 11 articulated trucks. Those people had to be flown on 19 different flights and required 104 hotel rooms.

It was a logistical triumph to match anything that happened on the track and the man responsible was Gwilym Mason-Evans. “If it doesn’t walk out of the factory, it’s my responsibility,” says the jovial Welshman. “I’m based at the team’s headquarters in Brackley, but I liaise with colleagues in the field. There are four of us in total dedicated to logistics.”

It is a stressful job but Gwilym can draw upon a vast wealth of experience. After leaving the British Royal Air Force, he went to work for the Benetton Formula One team in 1984. “It was very different back then,” he recalls. “The Benetton test team consisted of six people. Our kitchen was a microwave in one of the trucks.” At a contemporary F1 test, it is not unusual for Honda to take a team of 80 people, all of whom will need to be fed. “It is so much more professional today.”

Gwilym has been based at Brackley since November 1998, when the British American Racing team was in its infancy. “I walked into an empty office with just a phone sat on the floor”, he remembers. “I had 12 weeks in which to set up a logistics department and get us ready for the first race.” Today, his life is a little more organised, but he is still on-call 24/7, just in case.

This year, there were 18 races, placing a huge strain on the team’s resources. “If we have two weeks between races, then the cars will return to the UK, be painted, re-built and given a good polish,” he explains. But four of the races this year - Malaysia, Spain, Hungary and Japan - followed just a week after the previous grand prix.

For European rounds, such as Hungary, a carefully orchestrated strategy is thrust into action. “After the race is over, the majority of the team will fly out that night, but a core of 12-14 people stay behind to de-rig the garage. They’ll normally finish at about 9pm. The trucks will then leave for the following race on the Monday morning, arriving at the next circuit on the Tuesday evening.” In addition, vans full of spare or new parts will be sent from the factory to the track. “We sent three vans full of parts for the Hungarian Grand Prix,” says Gwilym. Top secret parts are carried in mini-security vans.

The Honda race team has eight articulated vehicles in total, each measuring 16.5m and weighing 38-44 tonnes. They will drive around 26,000km each year. “The trailers are built to an exact specification and designed by us from the chassis upwards,” he continues. “There is only one way to load them to fit all of our equipment in.”

The flyaway races pose even more of a logistical challenge. As Formula One expands into the every corner of the globe, the team is becoming more and more reliant on air freight. “The transportation of the equipment to flyaway races is managed by FOM (Formula One Management),” explains Gwilym. “We’re allowed 22-24 tonnes of freight plus the cars. We will pack all the equipment into specially designed ‘pods’ in Brackley and then transfer them to Stansted airport in four of our articulated trucks. We’re given a certain slot time to arrive in, then all our pods will be weighed and put on to three chartered Boeing 747 freighters. The next time we will see the freight is when the team arrive at our allocated garage at the particular race. At the end of the race the process starts again, but in reverse.”

It is a well-developed system, but such is the breathless pace of development in Formula One that parts often need to be delivered at the last minute, normally by hand. “It’s not unusual for us to meet team members at Heathrow Terminal 1 with a van full of spare parts and whisk them to Terminal 4 for their flight to a flyaway race,” says Gwilym. “Lots of teams do it. You’ll see all manner of different suitcases coming off the flight. I feel sorry for the man on the carousel.”

The attention to detail is extraordinary, but even the best made plans can sometimes be compromised by unforeseen circumstances. “There’s always something to catch you out. One year, for example, we ended up having to find a backstreet garage in Malaysia where we could spray paint the cars. You have to be on your toes but that’s what I love about this job.”

A cool demeanour, a tidy and ordered mind and an ability to work under pressure are prerequisites of the Logistics Manager’s job, but, says Gwilym, you also need another ingredient. “You have to have a passion for racing to do the job. You couldn’t do this job without it. I’ve always been a racer at heart.”