Well before tedious “it’s race week” social media posts cross drivers’ and teams’ minds, a construction crew arrives at a grand prix circuit to erect the Event Technical Centre tent. Five days are required to build this 375-square-metre temporary media headquarters but when ready, it will transmit 500 terabytes of data per race - 50 times that sent by the Hubble Space Telescope in a year.
With nine days to go, some 36 miles of cabling are laid at the circuit and 38 antennas installed in preparation for beaming up to 120 concurrent videos from track to TV. Four days later, 28 ultra high-definition cameras are unpacked to be mounted in barriers and on kerbs, 147 microphones are placed and 30 timing loops are hooked up around the lap.
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The result is the F1 world feed: every angle of every major incident, each tug of the gearshift paddle matched to the corresponding engine audio and an embarrassment of riches when it comes to timing data and graphic overlays.
Given the scale of the operation that is required to meet the needs of 74 broadcasters around the world, a 130-strong F1 TV production crew is sent to each race. They are supported by 170 remote colleagues, who file into the refurbished Media & Technology Centre at the famous Biggin Hill base. With F1 consolidating its main UK operation in London, the Kent hub is now dedicated to serving a global audience of 1.5 billion.
The centrepiece at Biggin Hill is the main TV gallery room - kitted out with 415 multi-view monitors to provide thousands of screens’ worth of information. It’s box-fresh for this season, with the builders having set to work at 0600 the Monday after the 2022 Abu Dhabi GP finale to then have it completed on the eve of this year’s Bahrain opener.
For those staffing the gallery room during a race weekend, they must filter between up to 60 voices speaking simultaneously in their headset to ensure the pre and post-race show production and live broadcasts are as slick as can be. They’re quick to pick out the dulcet tones of Dean Locke, who joined in 1997 and has been serving as the director of broadcast and media for the last five years.
The main show directors are similarly experienced. This gives them a sound judgement of when to cut to a more discrete wide shot and then if it’s appropriate to start splicing in replays when all involved are declared safe after a fiery Romain Grosjean shunt or Zhou Guanyu rollover.
Source: Autosport