Behind The Scenes At Formula 1: How The Internet Connects Millions Of Fans To Live Race Action

If I was standing inside the F1 Communications Centre without actually knowing where I was, I would imagine it to be the inside of any random datacenter. There¡¯s that unmistakable whirring of servers, air conditioning ducts pumping in cold air, and the feeling of being surrounded by plenty of processing power to put any home computer to shame.

But then, here and there, as you snake your way through the facility, you encounter screens and terminals busy doing amazing things. Highly confidential tech performing some intense F1 magic. Stuff that makes your jaw drop in astonishment. After all, this is the brain of Formula 1's trackside operations at any given race day weekend. Without this equipment and the experts required to handle them, there can be no F1 racing.

And it all begins and ends with the construction of a mobile datacenter on location that, from the outside, resembles a tent that should be inside the F1 fan village, selling official F1 memorabilia or something similar. But with 130 tonnes of servers, thousands of miles of cabling and networking hardware that can stuff a Boeing 747 jumbo jet to its gills, it¡¯s understandable why the F1 Communications Centre is tucked away in a corner, away from the spotlight. It doesn't need any undue attention¡­ until, of course, now.

The world's most high-tech mobile datacenter

If you¡¯ve ever visited a construction site, then you must¡¯ve seen makeshift offices built inside shipping containers. The F1 Communications Centre is a bit like that, only bigger and more high tech. At any given F1 racetrack in the world, the communications centre is up and running at least six days before race day. Tata Communications is responsible for dismantling the structure, transport it to the next location, and have it up and running in record time.

Why Tata Communications? Because they operate and manage the F1 Communications Centre¡¯s network operations, forming the backbone that enables Formula 1¡¯s entire telemetry, timing and broadcast operation. That means capturing every data point on each and every car in real time, providing dependable and precision timing operations, and beaming the final live visuals of F1 races all over the world.

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Every car has hundreds of sensors that transmit several gigabytes¡¯ worth of data back to the garage pits and team control centres in real-time for constant data crunching and analysis, and there can be no downtime in this operation.

Before even the race drivers, cars or their respective teams touchdown on an F1 race track, a team of Tata Communications F1 IT specialists are already on site to ensure connectivity is up and running. Three days before qualifying begins, pre-configured walls of the Communication Centre are slotted into place and Formula 1 Management is plugged into the network. Two days before qualifying testing begins for throughput, latency and resilience -- basically to ensure everything is in top notch working order.

One day before qualifying all systems are live and FIA (the sport¡¯s governing body) simulates race situations. Once they¡¯re happy, the race weekend proceeds to practice, qualifying and the final race. One hour into the final race on any given Sunday, Formula 1 Management prepares to dismantle F1 Communications Centre setup while Tata Communications continues to deliver Race Day connectivity. It is only after the podium ceremonies end, that the entire Communications Centre is dismantled within just three hours and Tata Communications equipment is packed to fly away to the next location. It¡¯s a carefully choreographed dance medley, with every character playing their part to perfection, and there¡¯s no room for any misstep.

If Formula 1 is a customer, then Tata Communications is their Internet provider. Just like you fire up speedtest.net on your PC's browser to ascertain your Internet speed at home, if you were to load an speedtest.net instant on the Internet line outside the F1 Communication Centre responsible for taking the F1 action to the world, you would see at least a minimum of 320 Mbps bandwidth, 0.244 seconds of average latency and a data backup and redundancy rate of 2.5 Gbps on an average, which ensures reliable access of service from any location in the world. Seems paltry, from what most would've imagined, but now you don't have to imagine anymore.

Meeting F1's eleventh team

If F1 has a match from the world of technology then it has to be the Internet, which is not only revolutionising our life but also motorsport, in many ways. How data is gathered in tiny bits and bytes from thousands of points across the racetrack, bundled together and made available for viewing anywhere in the world -- even in 4K UHD -- in a fraction of a second is nothing short of magical.

I shake hands with Mehul Kapadia, Tata Communications¡¯ F1 Business Head, the official team principal of F1¡¯s unofficial ¡°eleventh team¡±. But there¡¯s hardly anything unofficial about their work, as they help propel F1 to new heights in the Age of the Internet. The team he manages trackside, at every F1 Grand Prix, in UK and other parts of the world, is responsible for ensuring all the data -- sights, sounds and then some -- captured during the race is broadcast in every corner of the globe. A monumental task, no doubt.

Some racing dude speaking with Mehul Kapadia

This Eleventh F1 Team does its job by building a small ¡°connectivity village¡± at each location, one week before any given F1 race. But it wasn¡¯t always this huge, the scale of operations. In fact, back in 2012, Mehul together with a colleague ran their first F1 network connectivity operations while sitting in a little store room with one laptop connected to a single router, trying to deliver high speed connectivity to Formula 1 Management from halfway around the world. Now, five years and over 100 races on, Tata Communications runs its operations from trackside garages, commentary booths, the TV and Formula 1 broadcast compounds and off-site connectivity centres in multiple locations across the globe.

When I visited the Tata Communications¡¯ terminal inside the F1 Communication Centre during qualifying at the Shanghai F1 Grand Prix earlier this year, I remember seeing the live service bandwidth hovering between 800 Mbps to 1 Gbps. One would imagine peak raceday bandwidth to run into multiple gigs per second.

"We carry more than one petabyte of data over our network every season. To put this figure into perspective, that equates to more than 2,000 years of continuous music playback!" - Mehul Kapadia, Managing Director, F1 Business, Tata Communications

The F1 Communication Centre¡¯s story isn¡¯t over with what it¡¯s doing today, but how it will transform the sport in the near future. And something tells me that Tata Communications is going to play a big role in that transformation.

Capturing intangible F1 moments that make it an ultimate experience

From the grandstand, a Formula 1 race appears to be a loud, frenetic, and intense affair. A spellbound crowd feeling the adrenaline rush of some of the world¡¯s fastest cars flashing past amidst a cacophony of sounds, not least a low-flying helicopter hovering above the race track, adding to the fervour. It¡¯s an intoxicating, edge-of-the-seat experience.

Beyond the grandstand, I find myself inside the racetrack paddock, peeling away the curtains to get an up close and personal look at just what it takes to put together a Formula 1 race. I see all the 10 garages lined up on my right -- all sharing the pitlane beyond -- and their respective team houses on my left.

Before long, I¡¯m sitting a few feet away from Valtteri Bottas' race car, inside Mercedes AMG F1¡¯s team garage, witnessing a rare intimate moment from the sport. Lewis Hamilton¡¯s ¡°Silver Arrow¡± is stationed further beyond as I watch both Mercedes cars from the rear, held back and constrained by a multitude of diagnostics wires and terminals attached to their various orifices. The raw, visceral state of the cars as they are inspected by a dozen mechanics isn¡¯t unlike watching a couple of patients being treated inside a hospital¡¯s emergency room.

Both the Formula 1 racecars sit still like chained beasts biding their time. Until they whine and whirr into action, seductively teasing all the firepower they hide under their sleek, aerodynamic hood. And when they blast into life, kicking and screaming unlike any beast you can imagine, pouncing onto the pit lane and disappearing in a wink, there can be no doubt in your mind that you're witnessing something at the pinnacle of its existence. The sweet smell of exhaust, the heart-stopping boom of the F1 engine, and the meticulous precision and perfect harmony exhibited by engineers and technicians working behind-the-scenes in the garage only accentuates your trackside F1 experience.

I spare a thought to the 400 million speed junkies who religiously follow their favourite teams and race drivers on television as qualifying kicks into gear. Because, as I sit on a bench alone trying to soak in the atmosphere on a clear sunny day inside the paddock, I realise what they¡¯re missing out on. Getting beyond just the action on track. Like watching David Coulthard catch your eye and crack his characteristic grin. Ross Brawn talking on his phone with someone, as he nods at Felipe Massa, who is idly walking past. Watching Toto Wolff in deep conversation with a couple of folk as he walks out of the Mercedes motorhome.

As I seat myself at an empty table, I nearly choke on my glass of water to see who¡¯s at the next table. It's Niki Lauda. F1 royalty. Legend of motorsport. He¡¯s sitting alone, eating a lump of buffalo mozzarella with some slices of tomato. As I contemplate whether to go and introduce myself, the great man¡¯s phone starts to ring. On cue, his lieutenants gather around him, and I sense my chance slipping away. I cry inside a little. Because most fans at home will never experience these moments. What a shame!

Driving data-fuelled F1 experiences into the future

After going past the limitations of the television, technology and the Internet offers a range of possibilities to ensure some of the paddock experiences I witnessed can someday be made available to any F1 fan following the sport from any corner of the world. That¡¯s what¡¯s keeping Mehul and his F1 team at Tata Communications busy.

In the five years since Tata Communications started transforming how Formula 1 is consumed and delivered to millions of fans worldwide, Formula 1 has witnessed several firsts -- live race action delivered to smartphones through over-the-top services, first 4K Ultra HD race broadcast, digital cataloguing of historical F1 content online and managing the official Formula 1 website for unprecedented content consumption. The next five years are definitely filled with plenty of exciting possibilities, with the advent of new technologies like AR and VR reintroducing the sport to many more fans worldwide, and helping Formula 1 teams excel even further.

Just like you don¡¯t have to be a Michelin star chef to appreciate a perfectly cooked biryani, you don¡¯t need to be an engineer, daredevil or even a diehard F1 fan to realise that what happens on the racetrack is nothing short of amazing. Every single time.

Having glimpsed into the future of Formula 1 and the technology driving it forward, I can confidently say that it promises to be a fascinating ride ahead for everyone involved in the sport, not least the fans. To think that a communications company is revolutionising an almost century old sport dictated by technology is a testimony to the times we live in.

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