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The team which brings F1 to you

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After years spent in the sport, a Formula One weekend becomes something of a routine, although the story itself changes from week to week. But every once in a while members of the press are treated to a change from the norm, offered the chance to experience F1 in a slightly different way.

Such was the case in Austin on Friday, when Tata Communications gave me the chance to speak to Mehul Kapadia, managing director of their F1 business division, about the global comms firm's role in the sport, as telecommunications partner to both FOM and the Mercedes F1 team. Included in the treat was a rare-as-hens'-teeth chance to explore the top secret tent which houses all the technology used to take Formula One from the track and onto your screens.

It was an impressive facility indeed, and made all the more so by the simple fact of its portability - even a standard laptop takes something of a beating as it travels through 19 grands prix a season, let alone a full network services centre.

Tata Communications have been working with FOM to move F1's vast streams of data around the world since 2012, although the work done has evolved over the duration of the relationship as technology has improved and the sport's requirements become more clearly defined.

Originally the brief was to send reams of data from the track to FOM's UK bases in London and Biggin Hill, while also helping to service the formula1.com website, a more complex job than simply hosting when one takes into account the global reach of the site and the need for extreme scalability to cope with traffic spikes over a race weekend.

But three years into the relationship the focus has been changed. Now, Tata and FOM are working together to explore the realm of the possible - just what can modern connectivity to do improve the global F1 offering? With research and development key to the partnership, current projects involve improving broadcast transmission technology to improve cross-device delivery and ease of use, and the introduction of 4k data as and when it becomes globally practical.

Mehul Kapadia (right) plays a key role in F1's coverage © Getty Images

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The 4k data system, which enables broadcasters to offer considerably higher resolution images while also freeing up bandwidth for extra bells and whistles, was tested successfully at the Singapore Grand Prix. But Tata's hands are tied when it comes to introducing the concept at the moment - because consistency of service and delivery are paramount, Tata are currently restricted to offering a universal minimum that will work in every territory, and not tiered service that changes as F1 moves around the world.

While Tata waits for the world to catch up with its potential, they are not resting on their laurels. A key initiative at present is improving the remote working capabilities of FOM, meaning that more and more can be done back in the UK, with a smaller team working trackside. But rather than viewing remote working as an opportunity to reduce costs by cutting travel budgets, the focus is on doing - and delivering - more with the same amount of money. Details of future offerings are currently under wraps, but fan-focussed plans to put more of the sport on your screens is the name of the game.

Tata certainly practice what they preach when it comes to remote working. Despite servicing all of FOM's needs and providing connectivity and network solutions to Mercedes, the trackside team numbers a scant three people, who are supported by a further 15 back at base.

Between them, they keep an eye on all of the systems around the clock. Should a Mercedes server rack start overheating at 3am, a Tata team member will be woken up by an automated phone call and sent to fix the problem. Everything from network nodes to bandwidth usage is tracked in a system with close to zero tolerance for failures - while a normal home user can cope with the occasional bit of packet loss, peaks and troughs in connectivity during a grand prix would affect the world television feed and be starkly obvious to viewers at home.

Which puts Tata in a position that is unusual in the business world yet very familiar to those who follow the F1 circus: whatever preparations have been done in advance, reactivity is as vital as proactivity. If something does go wrong, it must be fixed in about as much time as it takes an F1 team to complete a standard pit stop.

Tata have had to learn to think like racers, not businessmen, to react at high speed, and to adapt to any and every challenge thrown at them while they transport their technology (and send the sport's data) around the world. For a global behemoth of a tech firm to learn how to behave like a racing team is no mean feat, but it is one Mehul Kapadia and colleagues have pulled off with aplomb.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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