Team:
On a Grand Prix weekend, the race team is around 100-strong, with 70 staff from WilliamsF1, 20 from BMW and another ten or so responsible for tasks such as catering.
The test team for two cars fielded in a GP event averages 60 people (40 from WilliamsF1, up to 15 from BMW, plus five catering staff).
WilliamsF1 takes around 25 tonnes of material to each Grand Prix, including spare parts, tools, wheels and pit equipment. In addition there are at least three chassis and, for exceptional circumstances, the team is even equipped to assemble a fourth racing car. For European races, the freight is distributed between two transporters and two trucks which remain in the paddock, as well as a motorhome.
BMW packs up around six tonnes of equipment for a Grand Prix event. This included six engines as well as tools and spare parts. BMW has one transporter, a truck for the technicians and a motorhome.
The team uses 16 large HP computers at the track along with 26 HP notebooks and 100 radio sets with headphones.
500 meters of data cables and 300 meters of electric wiring are hooked up for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team at each race.
A team consumes up to 1,200 liters of fuel per GP weekend, between 60 and 80 liters of engine oil, and up to 30 liters of gear oil.
At a hot race, counting set-up and dismantling, the team and its guests consume some 3,300 liters of mineral water and soft drinks.
In 2005, eleven sets of tires will be available for each car over the entire race weekend.
Chassis:
250,000 working hours are needed for the design of the chassis.
A further 250,000 hours are required for its manufacture.
It takes two days to build an FW27 from a bare chassis to a fully rolling car.
Approximately 4,500 drawings have been generated by WilliamsF1 in the initial design of the FW27, with a further 4,000 expected for developments during the season.
WilliamsF1 produces around 200,000 individual components each year.
Cars are re-built between every Grand Prix. This involves fully stripping down and servicing the fuel system, hydraulics, steering, gearbox and electrical systems. In addition to this all the composite and metallic parts are inspected and crack checked for damage.
The FW27 car is the lightest car produced to date by WilliamsF1 at the Grove factory. Even with the restriction on regulations, the ballast level has increased over that carried in 2004. When ballasted up to meet the FIA weight limit, the FW27 weighs 600 kg.
The top speed of the FW27 is expected to be approximately 375 kph. It will only see this speed at Monza in Italy. The lowest top speed the FW27 will reach is 290 kph at Monte Carlo, where gearbox ratios are specially selected for the tight and twisty street circuit.
Although Formula One regulations continue to restrict aerodynamic development, the FW27 generates enough downforce to drive upside down through the tunnel at Monaco.
The FW27 has a six speed gearbox that will change gear 2,800 times during a Grand Prix (In Monaco this figure rises to 3,100). Running at temperatures up to 150 °C requires advanced materials technology to withstand the heat and loads.
FW27 control systems include hydraulically assisted power steering, electro-hydraulic gear change, differential and clutch as well as the electro-hydraulic throttles and trumpets on the engine.
The FW27 has a sophisticated traction control system that enables the driver to apply the throttle earlier than normal as the electronics on the car can control the tire slip faster than the driver. It differs from the systems used in road cars where the primary task is to induce understeer to make a road car stable and easy to drive.
Carbon brake discs and pads are used on the FW27 that generate surface temperatures in excess of 1000 ºC during braking events up to 5g of longitudinal deceleration. The FW27 can generate lateral accelerations up to 5g during cornering.
Engine:
More than 200 engines left the BMW Formula One factory in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003. Though the number dropped in 2004 following the new regulations, the total still came close to 200 units.
The BMW engine consists of approximately 5,000 individual parts, including 1,000 different ones.
It takes around 100 working hours to assemble the BMW engine.
More than 1,000 CAD drawings were produced for the BMW P84 engine for the 2004 season.
The BMW P84 engine weighed around 90 kilograms.
With the P83 engine, BMW achieved results in 2003 never before recorded by a Formula One V10 power unit. The P83 had an output of more than 900 bhp and a peak engine speed of 19,200 revolutions a minute. For the races, the speed was limited to 19,000 rpm. Although the regulations for 2004 doubled the distance, engines had to last an entire weekend, these values were again achieved by the P84.
In 2004, all BMW F1 engines underwent revision at intervals of 800 kilometers.
In the P8 4, maximum piston acceleration was 10,000 g. Peak piston speed was 40 meters per second, or to put it another way, zero to 100 km/h took 0.3 thousandths of a second. The conrod was subjected to forces approaching three tonnes. In more graphic terms, this is equivalent to two BMW 5 Series road cars being hung onto the conrod and removed again 300 times a second. A Formula One titanium conrod weighs 295 grams. By comparison, a steel conrod from a three-liter BMW production engine is larger and weighs in at 545 grams.
At 19,000 rpm, 316.7 revolutions and 1,583.3 ignitions take place each second in the BMW F1 engine. 9,500 engine speed measurements are made, the pistons cover a distance of 25 meters, and 550 liters of air are drawn in.
The exhaust reaches temperatures of up to 950 °C, and in the pneumatic system the air temperature rises to a maximum of 250 °C.
At an average race distance of 300 kilometers., the BMW engine experiences around eight million ignitions per Grand Prix (800,000 ignition processes per cylinder).
When the car returns to the pits during practice or qualifying, oil samples are taken and subjected to a spectrometer analysis in the pit garage. The metallic traces in the oil provide important information on the condition of the engine.
The ultra-high-speed 130R turn at Suzuka is the greatest challenge to the oil system with its lateral load of 6 g.
Only in the Loews hairpin in Monaco does the engine speed in first gear drop below 5,000 rpm.
In 2004, engines endured the greatest full-throttle load in Monza, at 69 per cent per lap. It was there too that the highest speed ever achieved in Formula One was recorded, notably 369.9 km/h (Antonio Pizzonia in the WilliamsF1 BMW FW26 during the race).
Driver:
A Formula One driver burns approximately 600 kilocalories per Grand Prix and loses on average two kilograms in weight.
The average temperature in the cockpit is 50 °C.
Drivers’ heart rates reach peaks of 190 beats per minute during the race.
Vehicle:
A Formula One car can accelerate from standstill to 200 km/h and back again in under seven seconds.
The 0 to 100 km/h sprint is achieved in around 2.5 seconds by a Formula One racer.
Acceleration from zero to 200 km/h takes less than five seconds in an F1 car, which is equivalent to 140 meters
Full braking from 200 km/h brings an F1 to a standstill in 55 meters, a process that takes 1.9 seconds. Deceleration forces during this can amount to 5g. A driver with a body weight of 75 kilograms is pressed into his seat harness with a force of 375 kilograms.
Formula One tires reach temperatures of around 100 °C.