Experience: Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix Nagoya, Japan Features 02/03/2020 Hurrairah bin Sohail speaks with the people involved with ensuring optimal performance for F1 teams to discover the crucial importance of communication from the garage to the racetrack and beyond.Formula 1 is a sport of fine margins. Precision is key. Teams are always looking to gain a competitive edge and performance is eked out from every single component pressed into service. The scrutiny extends to the AV systems that enable the F1 teams to communicate together. Ekaterina Kasatkina from Scuderia Toro Rosso explains: “F1 is not just about the drivers. Of course, the drivers represent the team, but a majority of the work is done by mechanics, engineers, designers and more. There are members in the garage and in the bay area on race day and this is really a team sport.” Peter Crolla, team manager for Haas F1 Team, provides further details: “We have anywhere between 80 to 90 staff members at every race. There is a core set of 60 operational staff members and these people are responsible for the performance of the car all the way through the race. We also have people in Italy and the UK who are communicating with the teams at trackside. They are monitoring everything and providing their input and feedback.” All these people, for every F1 team, need to come together and work for the best possible result. Kasatkina from Scuderia Toro Rosso says: “The decisions on race day are not made by one person like the chief engineer or driver. The entire team is involved. There are different aspects that need to be considered and there are a number of people involved.” With this in mind, communication becomes a pivotal component that brings F1 teams together. In 2019, Riedel Communications handled the communication requirements for all the 10 F1 teams as well as the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile [FIA]. A range of products such as Bolero, Artist digital intercom matrix and the company’s decentralised real-time media network MediorNet along with intercom panels and radio communications come together to make the communication possible. It all begins with fibre infrastructure that is deployed by Riedel on-site before the race activities commence. At Suzuka in Nagoya, Japan approximately 6km of fibre infrastructure was employed. Jakob Stellbrinck, Riedel’s team leader for F1, explains: “We supply fibre to the teams and to the FIA as well. Every team carries a node from us, and it is housed on their pit walls and the same is true for the hospitality areas and just about everywhere else. The FIA needs a connection from the race control area to every team. As part of race regulations, it also needs the actual driver audio which is then made available to all the teams.” The Riedel Communications system for the F1 supports a range of formats from AES67 to MADI according the needs and specifications of the teams. VoIP is also supported as it is used to trunk the audio from the race site to remote locations, for use by personnel in factories for example. This feature is facilitated with the help of MPLS units. Bolero units are provided to the F1 teams to enable communications on site. Leonardo Di Biase, Riedel’s motorsport solutions specialist who is embedded with the Haas F1 Team, says: “Every team has their own Artist ring and they all have Riedel representatives that are responsible to ensure it works. On top of that, the Bolero has become a standard. It provides six channels, and pretty much all of those are used. And it uses DECT, so we can pretty much go anywhere with it and be certain that it is certified for use and we will have no RF issues.” Di Biase goes into further detail: “Communication during the race preparations and on the race day itself can get quite hectic. So, it helps that the Bolero can simplify a lot of the operating procedures. If you are on the radio system but want to switch to the intercom, you can simply connect to the IC panel using the IC cable of the headset, automatically switching audio from radio to intercom, in a matter of milliseconds.” In addition to providing Riedel personnel embedded with the F1 teams, the manufacturer is also committed to ensuring that its products deliver the performance clients need. Stellbrinck from Riedel Communications details: “We carefully monitor the kilometres on every single piece of equipment. The F1 teams have a serial number on everything, down to the smallest screws, so they can know how long it has been used and we are the same. This is to make sure that the level of performance does not drop. It can be something as simple as a keycap for a button. If that is the button to call a pit stop, then we need to make sure that the keycap works as intended at all times.” Riedel Communications systems are the de facto solutions for communication at the F1. But there is an evolution underway in how this communication is achieved and will be delivered in the future. Crolla from Haas F1 Team says: “For us, we have to weigh up the best option for each potential user and find out what option is suited for them. Are they best suited to be a radio user or best suited to being an intercom panel user? Or should it be a mixture of the two? We do find as well that some users will switch from Bolero to an intercom panel because they need access to a greater number of channels. Equally, there are users that will switch from the intercom panel to the Bolero because they need to move around and are only in the garage intermittently.” He continues: “Essentially, when it comes to communication, we have three tools and it is about finding out what the person needs. Right now, there are no shortfalls and there are no gaps in our structure. But as we go from year to year that will change and we will grow, nothing ever shrinks in this sport. But at the same time, we will deploy sensible methodology in what we do. We work closely with our partners and we will come up with a solution that works for us.” On Riedel’s end, efforts are on-going to see how the balance between the three options detailed can be tweaked to make communication for F1 teams even better. Stellbrinck from Riedel Communications says: “There are some clear benefits with digital systems, they provide a range of coverage that radio cannot match. But right now, radio has its own advantages which makes it the most popular option. Digital systems cannot support the density that F1 teams require. Theoretically, digital systems provide audio quality that is ten times better and it has six duplex channels, but they require RF fencing. It is now a matter of finding out how to overcome the challenges and we will be embarking on trials in 2020 to get more data.” Could the solution to the current deficiencies of digital systems be 5G? Stellbrinck posits: “Before any technology can be considered, we first have to make sure that it works in a car going 300km/h. Right now, we use Wi-Fi and that has problems transmitting data from the car. We have to make sure that the handshake is happening in one direction only. Perhaps 5G can have an impact when it comes to data transmission. We are involved in some development in this area and we will have to wait and see."