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“It’s massive. If you have an upgrade worth two-tenths of lap-time, and can bring it one race earlier. That’s fantastic. You have access to a bit more car performance.
“It’s a philosophy of the company where we push everybody to try to be as efficient as they can, and flag the things that are stopping them being efficient. We’re very, very focused on asking ourselves: can we do that a bit quicker? What prevented that update getting over the line a race earlier? And then dealing with that critical path.
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“Human nature can sometimes get in the way. Everyone has a bit of a margin because they don’t want to let the team down, but when you add all of those margins together, all of a sudden, you realise it could have been done quicker, so we try to look for the best we can do, and work on that basis – but then, if we do struggle to beat that optimistic timeline, not to start pointing fingers.
“It is a quite a different mentality. Part of the job is making sure people feel comfortable to challenge themselves, safe in the knowledge that, if something unexpected happens, they’re not going to be blamed. We don’t do blame – we do: review what went on and try to improve.”
Returning after the summer break, the design offices of the 10 teams will have their attention firmly focused on 2025 – though the many close battles in the field may mean the book isn’t quite closed on 2024. The manufacturing operations, however, will still be living in the moment, with at least one – possibly more – updates on the way in the weeks and months ahead.
We’ve already seen game-changers this year, and the balance of power may shift again before the season is done. We want to see the great moments on track, the spectacular pit stops, or the brave strategy calls deciding a championship – but behind the scenes, an awful lot of hard work and thought in a factory is just as likely to tip the balance.
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