The Logistics Behind F1

Formula 1 racing is not just about skilful crew, drivers, and fine-tuned machines. Logistics and transportation play a massive role in ensuring that each tournament is seamless.

These machines need to travel across 5 continents each year to compete in more than 20 races. It's tough for regulars like us to imagine how the teams handle the logistics for hundreds of tonnes of equipment. Curious much? In that case, keep reading!

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How Do the Formula 1 Teams Get Equipment to the Races?

The transportation method for F1 depends heavily on location and several other factors. For instance, in European races, the logistics mostly involve surface or road transport. It gets a bit more complicated when it comes to international or ´flyaway´races, where equipment has to be transported across continents. Here, the teams use a combination of air and sea shipping, depending on the criticality of the equipment and the time available between races.

On that note, let's take a sneak peek at the logistical channels behind F1.

• By Road: Do you know that F1 uses huge, custom-built trucks to get the racing cars and supported equipment from one spot to another. The cars are placed on an elevated platform inside the truck and cushioned and boxed up to prevent any movement or damage during transportation. In fact, the F1 2020 series used about 315 trucks to transport equipment! Each vehicle has numerous drivers so that they can change shifts to traverse long routes.
• By Air: There's no hiding that shipping by air can be a costly affair. F1 teams use air transport for critical equipment like chassis, tyres, engines, wings, computers and IT racks that cannot be delivered on time via road, and charters flights in partnership with DHL. The racing cars are broken down to their critical components and each of these components are stored in a separate foam slotted box and then shipped by air in custom-made cargo crates.
• By Sea: Shipping by sea is the best choice for non-critical equipment that is bulky because it is inexpensive. However, it is also time consuming. So F1 teams maintain 5 sets each of non-critical equipment like jacks and tools. Each time four sets are shipped ahead of time to the first four flyaway races.  

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What Do the Teams Do With the Equipment After the Race?

One of the most challenging parts of logistics is packing up everything quickly enough to dispatch the equipment in time for the next race. Within 8 hours of finishing the race, everything is packed and sent off to the next location.

Sometimes, the teams send back the vehicle to the factory for minor fixes and repainting.

The logistical team also takes care of the local custom nuances to ensure smooth and trouble-free logistics.

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Well, as you now know, race isn't the only tricky part of Formula 1. The logistics are equally challenging!