Stake F1 Team’s head of logistics, Bernhard Demmer, on how F1 squads clear out their garages after a race
INTERVIEW OLEG KARPOV PICTURE ANDY HONE
F1 UNCOVERED
“Moving a Formula 1 team’s equipment around the world is no simple task. We are, I would say, still a relatively small team compared with some of our rivals, and we move just under 60 tonnes of freight. It’s split between air and sea freight, and I think all the teams are on the same level at the moment, with six kits of sea freight travelling around the world in close co-operation with DHL.
“All the heavy items, such as garage walls, overhead systems, hospitality furniture, are available six times and shipped around the world by sea freight. It arrives a week before the event and is then shipped to the next destination, which could be back home or another race in another part of the world, which may be weeks or months away.
“What you see here is the packing process after a grand prix. This picture was taken a couple of hours after the chequered flag in Bahrain and the process is already well under way – actually it began during the race.
“This particular sea freight kit is going to be sent back home after the event, and the same goes for the second one that went to Jeddah. These two will be used for the European races, so they will be back in time for the start of the European season.”
1 “You can see we’ve already removed some of the back panelling. Some of it is still there, like here on the right, behind garage number 30, which was our main entrance. But we had walling all along the way and also behind garage 29. That was taken down during the race to allow easy access once the race was over, and put into the crates you can see here.
“In front of that, you can see other sea freight crates and cases that carry things like the Tensabarriers, lifting devices for the gearbox and engine department – so anything that’s kind of in the way in the garage goes into the boxes early on. We have a dedicated setup crew which isn’t involved in the race and they begin packing up almost immediately after the start.
“The general procedure is that we pack all the sea freight behind the garage and the air freight in front, in the pitlane and on the start-finish straight. The air freight packing is usually done within five or six hours of the end of the race. So in Bahrain, everything would have been done by 2am. Cars, parts, IT, pitlane and pitstop equipment, pitwall – all of that goes
