How have F1 technical structures evolved over the decades?

It should not catch anyone by surprise that the technical structures of Formula One teams have evolved a lot over the decades. F1Technical's Balazs Szabo delivers what Aston Martin and Red Bull technical directors, Dan Fallows and Pierre Wache.

Today, F1 teams might be made up of a dozen departments that must harmonise to create a competitive car. In a bygone era, when an F1 team was a handful of people, the technical department might have been a designer with one or two assistants.

Over the years, teams grew gradually, and now teams consists of huge technical departments with all of them focusing on a specific area of the car. Although most of the teams have their own structure, it is a common practice to have a technical director who oversees the work of the chief designer.

Asked to highlight the biggest difference to the past, Aston Martin technical director Dan Fallows insists that the most signifiant change has been the growth of teams.

"Since I started, I mean, a lot of things have changed. We weren't quite using slide rules, but it wasn't far away. Certainly drawing boards were a lot more prevalent.

"But the structure has changed a lot over the last 20 years in terms of just overall size. But just the focus on what people are working on means that you have to structure yourselves very differently. Where we were before, there was, you know, a big lack of data from the track, you know, that, that is an area that's really been a lot more sophisticated now.

"And it's a lot easier to understand what your car is doing on the circuit, particularly from an aerodynamic point of view, but also in a lot of other areas.

"And that means that you then have different demands on your technical structure and your engineers, we've obviously been able to grow an awful lot more, particularly Aston Martin, we've grown an awful lot in the last two years, just simply as a result of having the correct level of budget to get yourself to the right size.

"And then more recently, obviously the cost cap has meant that you've had to really focus on, you know, where is the area that's going to pay the biggest dividends for you. So there's been a huge amount of change.

"And I think in all honesty, you know, it's still a little bit in flux. You know, I think people are still learning about where is the best place to spend your chips and get your engineers," noted Fallows.

Asked about the difference between teams' current structures compared to the past, Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache stressed engineers previously had more of a holistic view of the entire car while current engineers focus on specific areas.

"I think the main change from what I saw was the level of expertise we bring in the team. Before, the people were doing a broader area of working field, and the skills were quite broad.

"Now, we employ people with a massive expertise in a very detailed area. Then it affects the number of people you have in the team compared to 20 years ago, but also how they work together, then for sure the expertise overall in the team improves.

"But after, the capability for the people to see a wider view of the car performance, how the car is done, is diminished. Then the challenges for the people are different.

"The challenge to work together is different and is more challenging because the motivation, to put the staff together, for what the people are doing, is more difficult. Then the structure of the team also evolves with this kind of change of expertise for different areas," Wache concluded.