A new F1 Team.

[DavidL]

Hi gals and guys.
i need a fair bit of help on this, please... as a rookie, i would be interested in some details, info and even guesses, about a fictional but totally realistic F1 Team.
How big would a new team need to be (2-3 years old team), to have 2 racing cars plus the test car/team, while already functioning properly and competing?
How big would the leadership be? I know it also needs mechanics, designers, commercials, media, security, but what other main positions, major groups and sub-roles are there/could there be? (as i am sure that i probably left out many major areas and roles).
Anybody could give some data, info, guesses on how many people would be in each area, that would ge really cool.
If the team is also a Constructor, around what sized development and production team would be needed for that? Also... budget for said team is not an and issue.

Thanks for the answers in advance.

[AnthonyG]

This is a very broad question. How competitive do you want to be? Do you want to do everything in house or source out?

And what should be the reason of existance for the team?

[turbof1]

Hi gals and guys.
i need a fair bit of help on this, please... as a rookie, i would be interested in some details, info and even guesses, about a fictional but totally realistic F1 Team.
How big would a new team need to be (2-3 years old team), to have 2 racing cars plus the test car/team, while already functioning properly and competing?
How big would the leadership be? I know it also needs mechanics, designers, commercials, media, security, but what other main positions, major groups and sub-roles are there/could there be? (as i am sure that i probably left out many major areas and roles).
Anybody could give some data, info, guesses on how many people would be in each area, that would ge really cool.
If the team is also a Constructor, around what sized development and production team would be needed for that? Also... budget for said team is not an and issue.

Thanks for the answers in advance.

That's a difficult question. For car maintenance and track operations alone you'd need 50-75 people at a minimum.

Concerning designing the car, I heavily suggest going the Haas route: create tight bonds with a top team, hire windtunnel usage and set up a system that goes around the sporting rules so you can effectively hire people from said top team. That way you have time to get a good team of designers and possible that top team is willing to install junior staff at your team. This all means you can start with a small group of designers and engineers if you can create tight bonds, and afterwards gradually expand.

When you say team as a constructor, I assume you mean an engine manufacturer with its own team. I'm going to say now that's out of anyone's league. Only the biggest car manufacturers have that kind of resources. A small engine manufacturer, let alone a startup, is never going to be competitive in the current situation. Not without a guarantee on bankruptcy. Either you work under a big manufacturer willing to make the investment, or you ask a supplier for PU's.

[NL_Fer]

Take Force India for an example, one of the smallist teams, with a tight budget, without any ties to bigger team (like Torro Rosso and Haas). Being very competitive and running a healthy, sustainable business. There WERE smaller teams like HRT, Caterham and Manor, but they went bankrupt.

I’m not a fan f FI, but they are an impressive efficient team.

[Manoah2u]

Don't forget it took Force India years to get there. Still respectable and i like them a lot, but it takes a long hard road.

I think HAAS F1 is an example of doing things right. They admitted going for this route leaves you without a certain amount of knowledge and experience, but that will come through the years and you have a solid base where you can build upon.

If one could follow that example it would give some good chances of having a healthy f1 team from the get-go. Don't expect WDC chances whatsoever, but neither total backmarker status either. Shop for a Merc engine and gearbox, Renault suspension, brembo brakes, buy the halo from a manufacturer and assign a chassis builder for the monocoque. Dallara, Lola (do they still exist?), etc.

Essentially a kitcar buildup untill you find enough knowledge and resources to start doing things on your own in-house; IF that's beneficial to your goals.

[Jolle]

A formula one team consists of different departments. Most big teams, like Mercedes have all of them, some of them outsource some of them.

generally:

- Design R&D chassis/wings and stuff (the test team/sim usually is in this department)
- manufacturing chassis (the actual factory)
- Powertrain and/or gearbox R&D and manufacturing
- racing team (what you see on track)
- marketing (this is bigger then most people think)
- Managment/HR/Faciltair/etc

At the moment Renault and Mercedes who actually have all these departments. Ferrari for instance has outsourced it's marketing to PMI
RBR and STR share their design departments in some degree, their marketing and some management
Haas gets as much as they can from outside, Force India the PU and GB from Mercedes, Williams and McLaren just the PU, etc etc.

[DavidL]

Sweet. thanks for all the info, guys. The team would be much bigger then i imagined, as it would do most things 'at home'. Making bonds with large teams is a great idea too.
Her is another one: How many trucks and vehicles are needed to pack and transport the whole team from one GP location to the next? Any info or guesses on that?