INSIDE MERCEDES F1 MISSION CONTROL
“RADIO CHECK”
Two simple words and a crackle on the intercoms mark the start of an important day for Mercedes. It is the Saturday of the United States Grand Prix, and final practice is about to begin at the Circuit of The Americas. Lewis Hamilton trails Max Verstappen by six points at the top of the championship, making qualifying later in the day an important session as Mercedes looks to turn the tide in the title race.
As the radio channels fire up and the final preparations are made in the Mercedes garage, 4800 miles away in Brackley a team of strategists and engineers are also getting ready for practice. They may not be physically beside their colleagues in Austin, but they are ready to play a critical role that will be decisive to the outcome of the race.
The heart of Mercedes’ race weekend operations is the Race Support Room (RSR) at its factory, acting as ‘mission control’ for the team. It is from here that the numbers will be crunched, data will be analysed and plans will be formulated for the pitwall to then execute.
“It’s part of the team now,” says Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ trackside engineering director. “While everyone is separate, it doesn’t really matter anymore where anyone is sat. You get the same communication, the same data coming at you. There’s really not a lot that you’re missing back there. We’ve probably got as much going on there as we have at the track.”
Calls that could win or lose races will originate from this room. The voices you hear on the radio may be the trackside race engineers or senior officials taking the final decision, but everything will be based off data analysed back in the RSR.
