Following Midland F1 from Afar

Visitors to MidlandF1.com might wonder how team personnel who do not attend Grand Prix venues track the fortunes of the team at far-away circuits like Malaysia and Shanghai. Do they enjoy some form of superior, closed-circuit television coverage that allows them to closely monitor the team’s progress? Well, not exactly.

While it’s true that back at the factory in Silverstone, England, non-traveling engineers receive quite a lot of information over an ISDN line (including timing screen reductions, radio transmissions and intercom, offloaded car data and so on), the majority of MF1 staff watch the same coverage and has access to exactly the same information that is provided to the interested public.

In view of the fact that Midland F1 is a new team and that the performance of the M16 has not yet fully been realised, television coverage of the team and its cars on the race track has been relatively sparse. Anyone interested in the progress of the team and its drivers is therefore limited to the positional graphics that occasionally appear as part of the official picture feed provided by the host broadcaster.

Many of the TV networks that broadcast Formula One coverage – including ITV, the UK rights holder – not only tilt their commentary towards the official picture feed, but also largely concentrate on the news and views of the top 4 or 5 teams of the moment.

So how does the team’s UK-based staff – and anyone else who happens to be interested, for that matter – follow Midland F1 each time the race team takes to the track?

In combination with the TV coverage, the live timing screens provided by www.formula1.com are definitely worth a look. These are the same screens that the teams use on the pit wall, and there is no bias towards any one driver or team. They can be a bit daunting to the first-time viewer, but they do give a lap-by-lap picture of how the race is unfolding.

The times given are split into the three sectors that make up any of the circuits on the Grand Prix calendar, and colours are used to signify personal best sector times, most recent sector times, etc. There is also information available relating to gaps to the nearest competitor and whether a particular car has pitted or has stopped out on the circuit. A guide is provided within the timing screen window that clearly explains what all the options are and what they mean.

Alongside the times, but in the same window, formula1.com also provides a text commentary, but this tends to be a post-facto description of what has already been viewed on the TV feed.

The real beauty of the system is that all the information is live and accurate. So although the TV cameras may have missed Christijan Albers’ overtaking manoeuvre on Takuma Sato on lap 28 at the Australian Grand Prix, the change of position was shown on the timing screens. These screens were also able to show that Christijan was capable of better pace than the Super Aguri driver, because he immediately started to consistently pump in green sector times lap after lap (with green signifying personal best times).

At Malaysia, the commentary failed to notice that before his second pit stop, Tiago Monteiro put in a personal best lap time which was quick enough to make up a position on the race track following his pit stop. Furthermore, no one drew viewers’ attention to the fact that the Portuguese driver was 1 second a lap quicker than he had been when stuck behind the competitor whose place he had just taken.

If this has whetted your appetite for giving these screens a look, then it is strongly suggested you watch one of the practice sessions first, in order to get a feel for the information being presented. In the UK, there is no TV coverage of these sessions and therefore, no distractions. The first practice session on Friday (Thursday if it’s Monaco) tends to be relatively quiet and a good way to break in new viewers gently.

Give it a go – you might gain some insight into how race strategy works, and you’ll definitely feel closer to the action, regardless of where on the planet Midland F1 is competing.