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On the pitwall with the Marussia F1 team

2013-06-13T08:16:21+00:00

During free practice 3 at the recent Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal I had the chance do something I have never done before in 23 years in F1: to go on a team’s pitwall stand. I’ve listened in on team radio and observed in plenty of garages, but never sat plugged into the famous ‘prat perch’ and got a detailed insight into operations.

It gave me a chance to get closer to the sport; to really understand how a team like Marussia operates. It was an eye-opener.

With Marussia technical director Pat Symonds staying in the UK that weekend, there was a spare seat on the pitwall. Marussia’s sporting director Graeme Lowdon offered it to me for the Saturday morning session. I was given Symonds’ radio and plugged into the main desk, meaning I could hear all the radio traffic for both Jules Bianchi’s and Max Chilton’s cars, along with any intercom messages on the pitwall.

It provided a unique window in on the operations of the team. It is all about clear communication and fast, clear, decision making.

That Saturday morning FP3 session was wet and the start was delayed by barrier repairs, but when it started it was all about deciding when to go onto slick tyres. It provided a fascinating case study in how a team makes a crucial decision like this.

The level of discussions and real time analysis was as impressive as you would expect. They knew exactly what everyone else was doing, how the crossover point from intermediate to slicks had been hit by Gutierrez on a sector by sector basis. At one point the engineer in charge Dave Greenwood observed, “if we were racing we’d have gone to slicks by now.”

With just two hours to prepare the cars between FP3 and qualifying, the highly experienced team principal John Booth knew that he didn’t want to put excessive pressure on his rookie drivers to try to set times on slicks on a cold, damp track and face possible crash damage. But at the same time, they are here to learn and those last few laps on slicks were an invaluable learning exercise.

Some experienced drivers like Webber and Alonso went out on slicks first. The track was cold and the tyres were taking their time to come up to temperature. The Williams pair went out and then suddenly the decision was made to send Marussia’s drivers out. It was well judged; despite final analysis showing they waited about 90 seconds longer than was ideal they still got enough timed laps to get a sense of the conditions, should qualifying turn out the same way. In the end it was wet and they never got to slick tyres.

To help them make the vital decision on timing, the management figures on the pitwall have screens in front of them that are an Aladdin’s cave of software and real time analysis tools. At the click of a mouse it was possible to view the runs of each driver to make quick and easy comparisons. There was also a tyre degradation chart, showing the drop off in performance of each car. In all there were dozens of ways to look at and analyse what was going on.

All F1 teams have their own driver tracker graphic, which shows where its cars are on the circuit. Marussia’s is a circle with clear delineation points. It shows the gaps in the traffic and the cut off points for decision making, such as for when a car should come in to the pit lane. It also has a countback facility, which recalibrates timings based on the car’s progress around the track.

With seven minutes to go in the session, on a damp but drying track, Greenwood knew at a glance that it was possible to complete four-and-a-half timed laps. It meant that Chilton’s engineer was able to inform his driver exactly what time he had left, and so by pushing a bit harder on the out lap Chilton duly got all his timed laps in.Interestingly, while Bianchi struggled to get the slicks up to temperature in those conditions, Chilton managed it and set a good time. Greenwood is an experienced engineer; he worked with Fernando Alonso at Renault in the mid 2000s.

Marussia has a deal with McLaren for this kind of support and they have modified McLaren’s system for their own purposes.

What struck me the most about the experience is the high level at which the team operates. The difference between the backmarkers and pace-setters in F1 is now the smallest it has ever been.

James Allen is BBC Radio 5 live's Formula 1 commentator. You can read more from James on his website (external link). The Chequred Flag podcast, featuring a review of the Canadian Grand Prix (recorded before the annoucement of the death of a race marshal) is available here.

A feast of 5 live programmes for Christmas and New Year

2012-12-21T14:16:52+00:00

There are plenty of special treats, as well as all the live sport and live news programmes on 5 live over Christmas and New Year. Our schedule this year has more live output than ever before.

On Christmas Day, from 7am-10am Chris Warburton and Clare McDonnell present 5 live Breakfast which is followed by a live three-hour show from Lapland with Colin Murray and guests.

Then at 1pm we have a special taped edition of Not Just Cricket with Greg James, Jimmy Anderson and Graham Swann, recorded towards the end of England’s recent successful tour of India.

The Radio Review of the Year on Christmas Day 4pm-6pm celebrates the highlights of UK radio in 2012 and reflects on all the big news stories in the radio industry from 5 live’s coverage of the Olympics to Chris Moyles’ departure from Radio One. Mike Sweeney, a legend for over thirty years in commercial radio co-presents that with Radio 4’s Jane Garvey. It really is a compelling listen.

The Olympic and Paralympic year will be reflected across three special programmes – we thought our Olympics Soundtrack programme, which contains all of the great moments from London 2012, including every single Team GB medal, set to music, would be perfect for 6pm-7.30pm on Christmas Eve as many people drive to family and friends.

Tanni Grey Thompson and Marc Woods present Tanni and Marc’s Paralympic Feast on 30^th December at 11am, with guests including David Weir and Sarah Storey.

Listen to 5 live commentary as David Weir takes a second gold in the T54 1500m.

We also have the 5 live Sport Review of the Year 10am-midday on Boxing Day capturing not just the Olympics but everything from Manchester City’s dramatic title win to the Ryder Cup comeback of comebacks, and from Andy Murray’s first Grand Slam win to Chelsea’s Champions League final triumph.

On Thursday 27^th, Tony Livesey and Stephen Nolan look back at the biggest news stories of the year featuring the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, the Eurozone financial crisis, the Syrian uprising, the fallout following revelations on Jimmy Saville, and Barack Obama’s re-election as US President.

I also want to give a mention to one other news programme we commissioned – Hillsborough: Faith and Justice in which Shelagh Fogarty talks at length to the Bishop of Liverpool, chair of the Hillsborough Independent Panel. This really is a must listen interview on one of the news stories of the year, and is first broadcast at 6pm on December 28th.

We get in the mood early for one of the big football weekends of the year with FA Cup Third Round Memories on Monday December 31^st at 8pm-9pm. Mark Chapman and Robbie Savage host a retrospective journey through the stories of the FA Cup Third Round, compiled by the 606 football community highlighting the magic, despair, frivolity and uniqueness of the oldest club competition in the world.

It all starts this weekend (Sunday 23^rd), with a big Roy Hodgson interview on Sportsweek with Garry Richardson at 8.30am and then our behind the scenes documentary with American football team Green Bay Packers at 11am - 5 live NFL – A Week with the Cheeseheads.

Darren Fletcher talks to Bea, who has missed only one game since 1957. But why?

I wish you all a very nice Christmas and a Happy New Year wherever you are listening. I do hope there is something in the above list that you will really enjoy. I know how much our teams have enjoyed making these special shows.

Happy Christmas

Jonathan Wall is acting controller for BBC Radio 5 live and BBC Radio 5 live Sports Extra

You can download a selection of 5 live's Christmas and New Year programmes by subscribing to our 5 live Christmas Specials feed.