Race control

 

Race control is at the heart of Formula 1 races. Race control is responsible for monitoring and supervising the practice sessions, the qualifying sessions and the race itself. Facilities vary between different circuits, but all will have several key features essential to allowing the FIA Race Director and his staff to make the right decisions to keep things safe, legal and to schedule.

Race control has screens which show all parts of the circuit so that problems can be flagged quickly and dealt with.

While the identity of the entire group of people working in race control is usually unknown – and even if it is, those name would most likely not ring a bell to anyone – they are all headed by the FIA's race director Charlie Whiting. Whiting's first job with the FIA was as a technical delegate. In 1997, the Brit was appointed new Race Director of the FIA, while also being named Safety Delegate.
The FIA race director Charlie Whiting and three race stewards, plus, from 2010 one ex race driver as consultant, make sure the race is safe, legal and on schedule. To do so, the race control unit make use of CCTV (closed circuit television system) and car onboard cameras to locate problems and take action quickly.

Additional information is accessible by the FIA race director. He will have access to data such as the pit lane speed trap, contact with relevant personnel about marshal posts, safety car, medical response car and the medical centre. Deployment of the safety car and other important instructions are under the responsibility of the race control unit.

 

When a driver breaks rules or sporting code of racing, it is the duty of the race control unit to discipline the drivers.

They have a timing data feed that they can watch - this is the same feed that is given to the teams. They will also have access to other racing information so that they can check that all cars are running a fair race and adhering to all the FIA's rules and regulations.
Race control are in constant contact with the teams, principal marshals, the safety car, the medical response car and the medical centre, both via telephone and radio. This means that if any major unexpected event occurs, the Race Director can deploy any one of these safety teams to the scene quickly and safely.

Charly Whiting, race director

The Race Director has a whole support team behind him - both FIA personnel and local circuit personnel. Race control have the responsibility for ensuring all driver's abide by the rules and they will punish any drivers who break these rules - the most common punishment is a 'drive-through' where the drivers have to drive through the pit-lane instead of going down the main straight, or "Stop and Go"where a driver have to enter pit lane, stop for 10 seconds and then continue the race. For more complex disciplinary issues such as someone causing an accident, the penalties will be decided at the end of the race to give teams chance to review footage and to defend their drivers.

The racing past comes to play when race control has to react on something that happened on the track (from a sporting point of view). Now, bear in mind the fact that each and every steward of an F1 race knows by heart every paragraph of the sporting regulations.
However, there is this old, never-ending dilemma that constantly attaches itself to every decision making process since the term “law” was invented: do you judge by the letter of the law, or in the spirit of the law?
For many years, the F1 stewards used to make title-impact decisions by simply obeying the law, without taking into account the sporting element of the equation. To solve that problem, the FIA has now, from 2010, appointed a former racing driver to assist when sporting decisions are made, in order for the decision to be correct from all angles. However, it's not the same person who takes that role race in and race out, but a different ex-racer.

If a serious event happens or if the conditions become too poor to race, the Race Director is able to stop the race.
All traffic light systems (red-green in pitlane, flag warning system) are programmed and controlled from the Race Control Centre. The emergency doctor also receives his order to go into action from here when required. In addition to images of the racetrack and data for time measurement, all information on the power supply, air-conditioning system, the heating and ventilation system, fire alarm system and access control runs in parallel into the Building Management Control Room, where it is permanently monitored.
A racetrack requires its own internal communication system so that communication between the different organizational and event units functions smoothly and, above all, reliably. This is the job of the SMATV (Satellite Master Antenna Television), a type of internal broadband information system that transmits pictures and sound. Last but not least, the marshal intercom system guarantees that the information exchange between marshals and the Race Control Management Centre runs smoothly.

There is only few suppliers capable of delivering such sophisticated control system. One of them is Siemens.
Siemens installed the complete race control management, security, data-exchange and communications infrastructure at the Bahrain race track. The 5.4 km track in the middle of the desert boasts a race management system, a GPS synchronized timekeeping and signalling system, and digital video recording and PA systems. Track managers have access to 45 signal lamps and nearly 1,000 loudspeakers. Thirty-six remote-controlled CCTV cameras monitor action on the course. Smooth communication is guaranteed by a 550 km fibre-optic network equipped with gigabit Ethernet technology and backed by a digital communications system.

 

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