By Tim Ferguson, 16 April 2009 14:06
NEWS
...the team found it wasn't receiving data from the cars for about 20 seconds per lap. Vodafone provided masts and repeater amplifiers to make sure the team could receive data for the whole way round.
"Running the race weekend requires high quality advanced engineering solutions and very good, very rapid provision of data," Neale said.
"[Vodafone is] very much on the team. They do much more than bankroll us - they're a key part of our technology," he added.
McLaren Racing has worked with SAP for 11 years and currently uses the automotive version of the company's Business All-in-One ERP at engine supplier and sister company, Mercedes High Performance Engines.
The team has also recently started to work with Lenovo to rebuild the computers - or "battle stations" - which engineers use in the pit garage to keep tabs on various systems in the cars.
Lenovo also provides desktop computers for the design and aerodynamics operations as well as the laptops required to actually start the car.
Other IT-related work that took place in the run-up to the 2009 season included rebuilding garage network infrastructure to make it more resilient and upgrading the racing simulator used by the drivers to learn circuits.
As for the future of the IT in Formula One, Neale predicts a move towards greater use of simulation technologies.
"I think long term, as we look to reduce costs in Formula One, the empirical testing on a circuit is going to be gradually replaced by tools that are more towards simulation."
"So I think that the simulation and modelling environment is going to become increasingly more important. It has been for the last 10 years and I only see it getting more than that in the next 10 years, so simulation is where the future's at," he concluded.
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