The headmaster's office
Race director Charlie Whiting and key lieutenants meet for a briefing every morning of a grand prix weekend. This is what they talk about
It's 8.30am, Saturday morning at Interlagos. FIA race director Charlie Whiting is sitting at his desk in a spacious office. Windows on two sides offer a panorama of the twisting Autodromo Carlos Pace - Interlagos, home of the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Filing into his office are the 20 or so white-shirted FIA crew - those collectively responsible for running the grand prix. Opposite Whiting is deputy race director (and former Toro Rosso chief engineer) Laurent Mekies. Technical delegate Jo Bauer stands with his back to the wall, while sitting amongst the team are FIA stalwarts such as Kris De Groot (responsible for tyre usage) and John Marson (power units).
This is a rare glimpse into the inner sanctum of a grand prix, and Whiting acknowledges it as such: "We have to be on our best behaviour this morning," he smiles. "We're being watched."
First, an update on yesterday from Bauer: "We had no major incidents. There were power unit problems for Toro Rosso. The scavenge pump failed on Brendon Hartley's engine, while [Pierre] Gasly had a brand new MGU-H which failed."
A brief discussion follows about a conspiracy theory doing the rounds; it relates to the Renault works team now being just five points behind Renault-supplied Toro Rosso in the constructors' championship. For some in the media, the rash of Toro Rosso engine failures in recent races suggests foul play. Wiser heads point out that correlation doesn't equal causation.
Whiting interrupts the chatter by focusing on the change in the regulations governing work allowed on cars when the race is suspended: "Last year, it was confusing for everyone," he says. "Can we get an update on the weather today?" It'll come at 9am, he's told.
Then he adds: "Haas broke the curfew last night." To which Bauer replies: "I haven't heard anything..." But then Whiting: "I got an email from [team manager] Peter [Crolla] this morning." Business is routine and succinct.
Talk follows about deflection tests due to take place in scrutineering after qualifying; Whiting mentions Mercedes' new floor, due to run on Valtteri Bottas's car on Sunday. Despite having wrapped up both titles, Mercedes is still pushing development, ready for next year's campaign.
"Incredible the lengths they go to," says Whiting, directing his comment as much to himself as anyone else.
Finally, medical car driver Alan van der Merwe is directed to look out towards Turns 5 and 11. "There's a shortcut, Alan," says Whiting. "You can save 30 seconds if you need to."
With that, van der Merwe compares notes with safety car driver Bernd Maylander and the meeting comes to a natural conclusion.
The FIA's all-seeing eye
Every millisecond of on-track Formula 1 activity is recorded
Chris Bentley sits alone in the tower above the pits at every grand prix. Nothing escapes the attention of the FIA's eye in the sky. Presiding over a plethora of computers (each with a colour-coded mouse) and monitors, he records everything. Every driver's every turn of the wheel is captured and stored securely on 80TB 'Storage Area Network' servers.
We visit the man responsible for all the FIA's IT systems during practice two on Friday afternoon in Brazil and he gives us a glimpse into the breadth of data he is managing.
It ranges from the marshalling system (which displays the electronic boards and coloured LEDs in the drivers' cockpits) to weather data, monitoring the position of every car via GPS, collecting the images from all the CCTV cameras trackside and in the pits, as well the FOM 'world feed', plus tyre and scrutineering data.
If a scrutineer spots damage to a car, he can take a photograph which is instantly sent to FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer for his observation, but is then wiped from the scrutineer's own screen to prevent sensitive images being observed by rival teams.
Bentley's IT system enables each team on the pitwall to follow their cars around the track with automated CCTV cameras, so they don't have to rely on the pictures FOM is broadcasting to keep an eye on their drivers. To ensure total accuracy, the cars are tracked using a combination of GPS, radio loops and direct telemetry measuring wheel speed.
"We synchronise the GPS, all the onboards, our four pitlane cameras, the audio from every car, timing and positioning to end up with a complete picture of what's going on - everywhere around the track - at any one time," says Bentley. "If there's a yellow-flag zone, then we can instantly look into the data of every car travelling through that part of the track."
At last year's Belgian GP, Kimi Raikkonen was penalised after he passed through a yellow-flag zone and failed to ease off the throttle. Using the technology that Bentley controls, the stewards could see Raikkonen's transgression in his car's telemetry. Guilty as charged, your honour.
As well as recording everything, Bentley can replay or access footage from previous grands prix in an instant by tapping into a vast archive of data. He says this has become invaluable for the stewards when it comes to making decisions: "We can show every single incident from the past two years where a driver has left the track and gained an advantage - and been awarded a two-second time penalty."
Bentley is also responsible for typing up every stewards' decision and electronically distributing all the documents to the wider world, be that team managers or media. He might sit alone, but he's connected to virtually every single person working at a grand prix.
On board the medical car
We take a back seat for a few laps of Interlagos with the FIA's rescue team
It's just a Sunday morning drive with an old friend - except the car is a four-litre twin-turbo Mercedes-AMG C63S and the man behind the wheel is 2003 British Formula 3 champion Alan van der Merwe. And the location is Brazil's fiendishly sinuous Interlagos circuit.
Even at 8.30am the Sao Paulo sun is baking the asphalt. Ahead of us is Bernd Maylander's safety car, which van der Merwe chases around the 2.67-mile lap, regularly unleashing the brutal 550bhp under his right foot. As a final preparation to ensure the track is in perfect working order for the afternoon's Brazilian GP, the two machines are conducting a test of all the circuit's electronic equipment: GPS, timing and marshal boards.
Very quickly, we are dipping, rising, sweeping right and left with the rear end sliding, beautifully controlled by 'Swerve' as he tucks the nose into each apex. It's a joy to watch a professional driver ply his trade.
In the front passenger seat is medical rescue co-ordinator Dr Ian Roberts, and in the boot all the kit required for an immediate medical intervention. It's a heavy but fast car, and could be the difference between life and death for a driver involved in a serious shunt.
Data capture
Electronic control units scrutinise the drivers' tiniest inputs
As power unit technology has become more sophisticated, so the FIA has had to police opportunities for any 'unfair advantage' more closely. When driver aids were banned in 2008, for example, FIA techs had to ensure no artificial wheelspin management had been electronically engineered in. The standard Electronic Control Units (ECUs) enabled this to happen.
In a garage space alongside the safety and medical cars, the FIA's Andy Leitch receives real-time fuel use and fuel-flow data from sensors on every car.
Olivier Hulot, the FIA's head of F1 electronics, says: "We receive live data from all 20 cars and when something appears that is abnormal, we investigate it. Before every race we work with the teams and give them specific circuit information, such as DRS calibrations or delta times for a virtual safety car. If a driver then fails to adhere to that speed profile, we can see he's been too fast and we'll notify race control and can supply evidence if the stewards need to penalise that driver. This can all be done in real time."
ECUs record between 1.5 and 2GB of data during a race. Additionally, the scrutineering data recorder (SDR) gathers information that monitors deceleration forces in an impact and transmits that to the medical car. It also records images from a cockpit-mounted high-speed camera looking at the driver, which monitors their head movement during an accident.
Inside race control
The operations centre of a grand prix is surreally calm
In the nerve centre of a grand prix you can hear a pin drop. Four rows of desks lined with FIA personnel, medical delegates and local track supervisors face a wall featuring 43 screens. A camera is positioned at every corner of the Interlagos lap and they are relayed in order here. There are also GPS displays, timings screens, sector times, marshalling info, mini loops data and the FOM feed.
Everyone communicates with headsets and the windowless room is soundproofed, creating a disconcerting detachment from the ferocity of the 20 1.6-litre V6s outside. There is an air of controlled calm, with race director Charlie Whiting at the centre. Satisfied that the supervisory machine is purring along efficiently, he has time to speak to F1 Racing.
"The first race I did here in Brazil as race director was in 1997 and we had no cameras at all then," he says. "We had to go to the top floor of the tower and use binoculars. Now we have almost 40 cameras around the track."
Whiting can communicate with every team on the pitwall and listen to every driver - hearing with great clarity those who have the audacity to criticise his judgements, as Sebastian Vettel memorably did in Mexico in 2016.
"We're actually trialling a new system here today," continues Whiting. "The electronic marshal boards around the track flash blue to warn a driver that a faster car is approaching and this is automatically activated with their car number when another car is 1.2 seconds behind."
The only moment of the grand prix when Whiting isn't in position is during his rush from the gantry - where he oversees the race-start procedure - to race control. During that time his deputy, Laurent Mekies, is at the helm.
The inside line
Matteo Bonciani
Formula 1 head of communications and media delegate
A familiar face in the paddocks of the F1 world tour, Bonciani has the (un)enviable task of trying to keep the grand prix reporting media to heel
F1 Racing: What is your job?
Matteo Bonciani: Primarily I am responsible for all the journalists' accreditation and I co-ordinate all the team PR activities. That could even mean there are disciplinary aspects to the role [in the case of misreporting, for example], but primarily the aim of the current administration is to promote transparency and openness with the media.
F1R: How has your role evolved since you started in 2011?
MB: Enormously. At the beginning we had to deal with the prominent and important commercial rights holder [Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Management]. In addition we have tried to move the FIA away from being 'the bad boy' - very much with [FIA president] Jean Todt's support.
We have tried to adapt and provide a sort of service and improve the working conditions of the journalists, by working with the promoters, to apply certain FIA rules and guidelines - food and better internet connections, for example.
In the meantime, we've tried to be more open, with a more transparent and clear behaviour.
F1R: So what is the FIA's message?
MB: The FIA is the sport's regulator, the governing body - and we need to say so. I, and others, have tried to progressively open up more of an understanding of what the FIA does. It's no longer the era of journalists receiving declarations of FIA decisions via pieces of paper that land on a desk. The dynamic is much more interactive now - for instance, we arrange briefings for you with people such as the race director. Communications are much more open... Less political, I would say.
Laurent Mekies
F1 deputy race director & FIA safety director
The man who heads up the FIA's ongoing safety work - responsible most recently for overseeing research into cockpit protection devices
F1R: What is your job?
Laurent Mekies: Primarily, I look after the safety department of the FIA, which supports all of our championships from karting to F1, from a safety point of view. We try to deliver the best safety level possible for these categories with the help of each championship's stakeholders.
Our department in Geneva covers pretty much all aspects relating to safety - crash tests, equipment and so on.
F1R: So you know what's coming a long time before we see it in racing?
LM: Yes - typically we have about 15 research projects under way. You might have heard about biometric gloves? They will give our rescue team in the medical car live information about the vital signs of the drivers thanks to biometric sensors in the gloves. So the rescue team would know, for example, if an injured driver has stopped breathing.
F1R: And at a race weekend?
LM: I have a 'parallel hat' as deputy race director, whereby I support Charlie in his sporting functions - beginning with interactions with circuit staff to the running of the stations in race control.
F1R: What's a surprising aspect of your job?
LM: People might not know how many track inspections we do - three to four times a day. And there are many meetings with teams - for F2 as well as F1.
F1R: You're a busy man...
LM: We all prefer to be busy, don't we? That's why we're here. It's good busy!
Jo Bauer
FIA technical delegate
Keeping Formula 1 honest
F1 Racing: You've been described to us as 'The Law', but...
Jo Bauer: No, that's a big misunderstanding. We scrutineer the cars, of course, but if there is something not legal we report it to the stewards and they enforce the law. Initial scrutineering starts at 10am on Thursday and involves checking that all the safety items are there.
When initial scrutineering is finished, I report to the stewards so that they can publish the entry list. After this we apply the scrutineering stickers. That's very old-fashioned, but the teams are very keen to get these, even though it's not really necessary any more. It's a relic from old times...
At 4pm every Thursday, we have the team managers' meeting. We discuss the previous race and sometimes we get asked technical questions.
The teams have to present a legal car and we make random spot checks during and after the sessions throughout the event. But it's impossible to check every car for legality every day - that would require each car to be stripped down every night.
F1R: What is the 'bridge of doom'?
JB: Ha! The scrutineering platform. It weighs the cars and makes basic dimensional checks. And we're always checking for compliance - constantly answering emails and having correspondence with the teams.
F1R: It must be a relentless process...
JB: It never stops. In the gap between the Brazilian and Abu Dhabi grands prix last year we did three crash tests. Formula 1 never rests.
Christian Bryll
Logistics event manager
Keeping the grand prix show on the road
F1 Racing: What's involved in managing the FIA's logistics?
Christian Bryll: It's really a wide spectrum - everything from ensuring we take everything we need to making sure our trucks are properly parked to setting up the temporary offices we have in race control.
So I prepare a kind of 'event guide' for each circuit, detailing everything we need to go to work - telephones, tables, chairs and so on.
There are also things like taking care of the credentials for the FIA - sending the request forms to each circuit, so they can let us know how many stickers and passes they will need. I take care of all the guest pass requests, too.
F1R: That sounds like an awful lot to keep an eye on...
CB: It is! And to give you an example... We have seven trucks in total and all our loose bits in containers. When it comes to organising the fly-away events, we have sea freight and air freight to consider.
Months in advance we have to prepare the sea freight - equipment for Australia in March is prepared for shipping from our logistics centre in France the previous November. For us the new season begins a long time before the current one finishes.
F1R: How do you get into a job like yours?
CB: I worked for 12 years for German broadcaster RTL on their F1 shows. I was their production engineer and that involved a lot of technical stuff and freight movement.
I've spent quite a lot of time in Formula 1 and had a chance to see it from so many different angles - from the outside and now from the inside.
Colin Haywood
Race control systems manager
Heads up track marshalling - both electronic and physical
F1 Racing: How would you explain your job?
Colin Haywood: I operate the GPS marshalling system, which covers all the cars across all the series on an F1 race weekend.
F1R: That sounds tricky...
CH: It involves the 20 light panels around the track and I oversee those functions, in terms of receiving signals from the marshals, then sending signals to those light panels. So, things like the deployment of the safety car or virtual safety car, that's what I do - under Charlie's instruction.
F1R: So you have to watch what's going on very closely?
CH: Yes, I'm watching the cars go round a map on the screen and following the cars on the CCTV in race control - making sure they actually are where they're shown on the map. And being aware of any incidents that might crop up. If a marshal puts a yellow flag out on the circuit, obviously cars have got to slow down.
F1R: Marshals have their own button system, don't they?
CH: There are separate marshals: flag marshals, plus up to 20 light panel operators, who are responsible solely for the light panels.
F1R: And do they act on your instructions?
CH: No, they're independent, but working with their post chiefs.
F1R: And you throw the 'blue flag' don't you?
CH: It's an automated system but I monitor it as the cars are being lapped. At [a gap of] 1.2 seconds, the system will send a blue flag to the car. The drivers have cockpit lights and since we've gone from 1s to 1.2s, the drivers have been very good.
Charlie Whiting
FIA director of F1
The man with his finger on the button - in every sense. Without his say-so, F1 is no-go
F1 Racing: We know your job title - but as race director, what are the main challenges you face?
Charlie Whiting: I'm responsible for all decisions regarding the running of events and the compliance of the circuit with the requirements of the licences. So, for instance, circuit safety. And starting the race.
I'm ultimately responsible for the technical department as well.
F1R: How do you manage the various demands?
CW: Safety at a track is generally dealt with before we arrive. There's a pre-event inspection and any follow-up work is normally dealt with by email. Generally you don't get any nasty surprises.
On the technical side Jo gets on with his job - I don't tell him what to do. But if anything unusual happens, he reports that to me and we decide what action to take.
F1R: Have these aspects got any easier as tracks have got more sophisticated?
CW: As with everything in F1 especially, it's become more sophisticated and the standards are much higher than they were even 20 years ago. There have been massive advances through our own research.
Much more proper testing is done in order to try to find out the best solutions. That takes time because these things are invariably expensive. It's a gradual process.
F1R: Do you still get a buzz from standing at the pitwall?
CW: Very much so, yes.
F1R: Even after 40 years in F1?
CW: Yeah, I still love it.
The headmaster's office
Race director Charlie Whiting and key lieutenants meet for a briefing every morning of a grand prix weekend. This is what they talk about
It's 8.30am, Saturday morning at Interlagos. FIA race director Charlie Whiting is sitting at his desk in a spacious office. Windows on two sides offer a panorama of the twisting Autodromo Carlos Pace - Interlagos, home of the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Filing into his office are the 20 or so white-shirted FIA crew - those collectively responsible for running the grand prix. Opposite Whiting is deputy race director (and former Toro Rosso chief engineer) Laurent Mekies. Technical delegate Jo Bauer stands with his back to the wall, while sitting amongst the team are FIA stalwarts such as Kris De Groot (responsible for tyre usage) and John Marson (power units).
This is a rare glimpse into the inner sanctum of a grand prix, and Whiting acknowledges it as such: "We have to be on our best behaviour this morning," he smiles. "We're being watched."
First, an update on yesterday from Bauer: "We had no major incidents. There were power unit problems for Toro Rosso. The scavenge pump failed on Brendon Hartley's engine, while [Pierre] Gasly had a brand new MGU-H which failed."
A brief discussion follows about a conspiracy theory doing the rounds; it relates to the Renault works team now being just five points behind Renault-supplied Toro Rosso in the constructors' championship. For some in the media, the rash of Toro Rosso engine failures in recent races suggests foul play. Wiser heads point out that correlation doesn't equal causation.
Whiting interrupts the chatter by focusing on the change in the regulations governing work allowed on cars when the race is suspended: "Last year, it was confusing for everyone," he says. "Can we get an update on the weather today?" It'll come at 9am, he's told.
Then he adds: "Haas broke the curfew last night." To which Bauer replies: "I haven't heard anything..." But then Whiting: "I got an email from [team manager] Peter [Crolla] this morning." Business is routine and succinct.
Talk follows about deflection tests due to take place in scrutineering after qualifying; Whiting mentions Mercedes' new floor, due to run on Valtteri Bottas's car on Sunday. Despite having wrapped up both titles, Mercedes is still pushing development, ready for next year's campaign.
"Incredible the lengths they go to," says Whiting, directing his comment as much to himself as anyone else.
Finally, medical car driver Alan van der Merwe is directed to look out towards Turns 5 and 11. "There's a shortcut, Alan," says Whiting. "You can save 30 seconds if you need to."
With that, van der Merwe compares notes with safety car driver Bernd Maylander and the meeting comes to a natural conclusion.
The FIA's all-seeing eye
Every millisecond of on-track Formula 1 activity is recorded
Chris Bentley sits alone in the tower above the pits at every grand prix. Nothing escapes the attention of the FIA's eye in the sky. Presiding over a plethora of computers (each with a colour-coded mouse) and monitors, he records everything. Every driver's every turn of the wheel is captured and stored securely on 80TB 'Storage Area Network' servers.
We visit the man responsible for all the FIA's IT systems during practice two on Friday afternoon in Brazil and he gives us a glimpse into the breadth of data he is managing.
It ranges from the marshalling system (which displays the electronic boards and coloured LEDs in the drivers' cockpits) to weather data, monitoring the position of every car via GPS, collecting the images from all the CCTV cameras trackside and in the pits, as well the FOM 'world feed', plus tyre and scrutineering data.
If a scrutineer spots damage to a car, he can take a photograph which is instantly sent to FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer for his observation, but is then wiped from the scrutineer's own screen to prevent sensitive images being observed by rival teams.
Bentley's IT system enables each team on the pitwall to follow their cars around the track with automated CCTV cameras, so they don't have to rely on the pictures FOM is broadcasting to keep an eye on their drivers. To ensure total accuracy, the cars are tracked using a combination of GPS, radio loops and direct telemetry measuring wheel speed.
"We synchronise the GPS, all the onboards, our four pitlane cameras, the audio from every car, timing and positioning to end up with a complete picture of what's going on - everywhere around the track - at any one time," says Bentley. "If there's a yellow-flag zone, then we can instantly look into the data of every car travelling through that part of the track."
At last year's Belgian GP, Kimi Raikkonen was penalised after he passed through a yellow-flag zone and failed to ease off the throttle. Using the technology that Bentley controls, the stewards could see Raikkonen's transgression in his car's telemetry. Guilty as charged, your honour.
As well as recording everything, Bentley can replay or access footage from previous grands prix in an instant by tapping into a vast archive of data. He says this has become invaluable for the stewards when it comes to making decisions: "We can show every single incident from the past two years where a driver has left the track and gained an advantage - and been awarded a two-second time penalty."
Bentley is also responsible for typing up every stewards' decision and electronically distributing all the documents to the wider world, be that team managers or media. He might sit alone, but he's connected to virtually every single person working at a grand prix.
On board the medical car
We take a back seat for a few laps of Interlagos with the FIA's rescue team
It's just a Sunday morning drive with an old friend - except the car is a four-litre twin-turbo Mercedes-AMG C63S and the man behind the wheel is 2003 British Formula 3 champion Alan van der Merwe. And the location is Brazil's fiendishly sinuous Interlagos circuit.
Even at 8.30am the Sao Paulo sun is baking the asphalt. Ahead of us is Bernd Maylander's safety car, which van der Merwe chases around the 2.67-mile lap, regularly unleashing the brutal 550bhp under his right foot. As a final preparation to ensure the track is in perfect working order for the afternoon's Brazilian GP, the two machines are conducting a test of all the circuit's electronic equipment: GPS, timing and marshal boards.
Very quickly, we are dipping, rising, sweeping right and left with the rear end sliding, beautifully controlled by 'Swerve' as he tucks the nose into each apex. It's a joy to watch a professional driver ply his trade.
In the front passenger seat is medical rescue co-ordinator Dr Ian Roberts, and in the boot all the kit required for an immediate medical intervention. It's a heavy but fast car, and could be the difference between life and death for a driver involved in a serious shunt.
Data capture
Electronic control units scrutinise the drivers' tiniest inputs
As power unit technology has become more sophisticated, so the FIA has had to police opportunities for any 'unfair advantage' more closely. When driver aids were banned in 2008, for example, FIA techs had to ensure no artificial wheelspin management had been electronically engineered in. The standard Electronic Control Units (ECUs) enabled this to happen.
In a garage space alongside the safety and medical cars, the FIA's Andy Leitch receives real-time fuel use and fuel-flow data from sensors on every car.
Olivier Hulot, the FIA's head of F1 electronics, says: "We receive live data from all 20 cars and when something appears that is abnormal, we investigate it. Before every race we work with the teams and give them specific circuit information, such as DRS calibrations or delta times for a virtual safety car. If a driver then fails to adhere to that speed profile, we can see he's been too fast and we'll notify race control and can supply evidence if the stewards need to penalise that driver. This can all be done in real time."
ECUs record between 1.5 and 2GB of data during a race. Additionally, the scrutineering data recorder (SDR) gathers information that monitors deceleration forces in an impact and transmits that to the medical car. It also records images from a cockpit-mounted high-speed camera looking at the driver, which monitors their head movement during an accident.
Inside race control
The operations centre of a grand prix is surreally calm
In the nerve centre of a grand prix you can hear a pin drop. Four rows of desks lined with FIA personnel, medical delegates and local track supervisors face a wall featuring 43 screens. A camera is positioned at every corner of the Interlagos lap and they are relayed in order here. There are also GPS displays, timings screens, sector times, marshalling info, mini loops data and the FOM feed.
Everyone communicates with headsets and the windowless room is soundproofed, creating a disconcerting detachment from the ferocity of the 20 1.6-litre V6s outside. There is an air of controlled calm, with race director Charlie Whiting at the centre. Satisfied that the supervisory machine is purring along efficiently, he has time to speak to F1 Racing.
"The first race I did here in Brazil as race director was in 1997 and we had no cameras at all then," he says. "We had to go to the top floor of the tower and use binoculars. Now we have almost 40 cameras around the track."
Whiting can communicate with every team on the pitwall and listen to every driver - hearing with great clarity those who have the audacity to criticise his judgements, as Sebastian Vettel memorably did in Mexico in 2016.
"We're actually trialling a new system here today," continues Whiting. "The electronic marshal boards around the track flash blue to warn a driver that a faster car is approaching and this is automatically activated with their car number when another car is 1.2 seconds behind."
The only moment of the grand prix when Whiting isn't in position is during his rush from the gantry - where he oversees the race-start procedure - to race control. During that time his deputy, Laurent Mekies, is at the helm.
The inside line
Matteo Bonciani
Formula 1 head of communications and media delegate
A familiar face in the paddocks of the F1 world tour, Bonciani has the (un)enviable task of trying to keep the grand prix reporting media to heel
F1 Racing: What is your job?
Matteo Bonciani: Primarily I am responsible for all the journalists' accreditation and I co-ordinate all the team PR activities. That could even mean there are disciplinary aspects to the role [in the case of misreporting, for example], but primarily the aim of the current administration is to promote transparency and openness with the media.
F1R: How has your role evolved since you started in 2011?
MB: Enormously. At the beginning we had to deal with the prominent and important commercial rights holder [Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Management]. In addition we have tried to move the FIA away from being 'the bad boy' - very much with [FIA president] Jean Todt's support.
We have tried to adapt and provide a sort of service and improve the working conditions of the journalists, by working with the promoters, to apply certain FIA rules and guidelines - food and better internet connections, for example.
In the meantime, we've tried to be more open, with a more transparent and clear behaviour.
F1R: So what is the FIA's message?
MB: The FIA is the sport's regulator, the governing body - and we need to say so. I, and others, have tried to progressively open up more of an understanding of what the FIA does. It's no longer the era of journalists receiving declarations of FIA decisions via pieces of paper that land on a desk. The dynamic is much more interactive now - for instance, we arrange briefings for you with people such as the race director. Communications are much more open... Less political, I would say.
Laurent Mekies
F1 deputy race director & FIA safety director
The man who heads up the FIA's ongoing safety work - responsible most recently for overseeing research into cockpit protection devices
F1R: What is your job?
Laurent Mekies: Primarily, I look after the safety department of the FIA, which supports all of our championships from karting to F1, from a safety point of view. We try to deliver the best safety level possible for these categories with the help of each championship's stakeholders.
Our department in Geneva covers pretty much all aspects relating to safety - crash tests, equipment and so on.
F1R: So you know what's coming a long time before we see it in racing?
LM: Yes - typically we have about 15 research projects under way. You might have heard about biometric gloves? They will give our rescue team in the medical car live information about the vital signs of the drivers thanks to biometric sensors in the gloves. So the rescue team would know, for example, if an injured driver has stopped breathing.
F1R: And at a race weekend?
LM: I have a 'parallel hat' as deputy race director, whereby I support Charlie in his sporting functions - beginning with interactions with circuit staff to the running of the stations in race control.
F1R: What's a surprising aspect of your job?
LM: People might not know how many track inspections we do - three to four times a day. And there are many meetings with teams - for F2 as well as F1.
F1R: You're a busy man...
LM: We all prefer to be busy, don't we? That's why we're here. It's good busy!
Jo Bauer
FIA technical delegate
Keeping Formula 1 honest
F1 Racing: You've been described to us as 'The Law', but...
Jo Bauer: No, that's a big misunderstanding. We scrutineer the cars, of course, but if there is something not legal we report it to the stewards and they enforce the law. Initial scrutineering starts at 10am on Thursday and involves checking that all the safety items are there.
When initial scrutineering is finished, I report to the stewards so that they can publish the entry list. After this we apply the scrutineering stickers. That's very old-fashioned, but the teams are very keen to get these, even though it's not really necessary any more. It's a relic from old times...
At 4pm every Thursday, we have the team managers' meeting. We discuss the previous race and sometimes we get asked technical questions.
The teams have to present a legal car and we make random spot checks during and after the sessions throughout the event. But it's impossible to check every car for legality every day - that would require each car to be stripped down every night.
F1R: What is the 'bridge of doom'?
JB: Ha! The scrutineering platform. It weighs the cars and makes basic dimensional checks. And we're always checking for compliance - constantly answering emails and having correspondence with the teams.
F1R: It must be a relentless process...
JB: It never stops. In the gap between the Brazilian and Abu Dhabi grands prix last year we did three crash tests. Formula 1 never rests.
Christian Bryll
Logistics event manager
Keeping the grand prix show on the road
F1 Racing: What's involved in managing the FIA's logistics?
Christian Bryll: It's really a wide spectrum - everything from ensuring we take everything we need to making sure our trucks are properly parked to setting up the temporary offices we have in race control.
So I prepare a kind of 'event guide' for each circuit, detailing everything we need to go to work - telephones, tables, chairs and so on.
There are also things like taking care of the credentials for the FIA - sending the request forms to each circuit, so they can let us know how many stickers and passes they will need. I take care of all the guest pass requests, too.
F1R: That sounds like an awful lot to keep an eye on...
CB: It is! And to give you an example... We have seven trucks in total and all our loose bits in containers. When it comes to organising the fly-away events, we have sea freight and air freight to consider.
Months in advance we have to prepare the sea freight - equipment for Australia in March is prepared for shipping from our logistics centre in France the previous November. For us the new season begins a long time before the current one finishes.
F1R: How do you get into a job like yours?
CB: I worked for 12 years for German broadcaster RTL on their F1 shows. I was their production engineer and that involved a lot of technical stuff and freight movement.
I've spent quite a lot of time in Formula 1 and had a chance to see it from so many different angles - from the outside and now from the inside.
Colin Haywood
Race control systems manager
Heads up track marshalling - both electronic and physical
F1 Racing: How would you explain your job?
Colin Haywood: I operate the GPS marshalling system, which covers all the cars across all the series on an F1 race weekend.
F1R: That sounds tricky...
CH: It involves the 20 light panels around the track and I oversee those functions, in terms of receiving signals from the marshals, then sending signals to those light panels. So, things like the deployment of the safety car or virtual safety car, that's what I do - under Charlie's instruction.
F1R: So you have to watch what's going on very closely?
CH: Yes, I'm watching the cars go round a map on the screen and following the cars on the CCTV in race control - making sure they actually are where they're shown on the map. And being aware of any incidents that might crop up. If a marshal puts a yellow flag out on the circuit, obviously cars have got to slow down.
F1R: Marshals have their own button system, don't they?
CH: There are separate marshals: flag marshals, plus up to 20 light panel operators, who are responsible solely for the light panels.
F1R: And do they act on your instructions?
CH: No, they're independent, but working with their post chiefs.
F1R: And you throw the 'blue flag' don't you?
CH: It's an automated system but I monitor it as the cars are being lapped. At [a gap of] 1.2 seconds, the system will send a blue flag to the car. The drivers have cockpit lights and since we've gone from 1s to 1.2s, the drivers have been very good.
Charlie Whiting
FIA director of F1
The man with his finger on the button - in every sense. Without his say-so, F1 is no-go
F1 Racing: We know your job title - but as race director, what are the main challenges you face?
Charlie Whiting: I'm responsible for all decisions regarding the running of events and the compliance of the circuit with the requirements of the licences. So, for instance, circuit safety. And starting the race.
I'm ultimately responsible for the technical department as well.
F1R: How do you manage the various demands?
CW: Safety at a track is generally dealt with before we arrive. There's a pre-event inspection and any follow-up work is normally dealt with by email. Generally you don't get any nasty surprises.
On the technical side Jo gets on with his job - I don't tell him what to do. But if anything unusual happens, he reports that to me and we decide what action to take.
F1R: Have these aspects got any easier as tracks have got more sophisticated?
CW: As with everything in F1 especially, it's become more sophisticated and the standards are much higher than they were even 20 years ago. There have been massive advances through our own research.
Much more proper testing is done in order to try to find out the best solutions. That takes time because these things are invariably expensive. It's a gradual process.
F1R: Do you still get a buzz from standing at the pitwall?
CW: Very much so, yes.
F1R: Even after 40 years in F1?
CW: Yeah, I still love it.