One of the most mind-boggling things about Formula 1 is the logistics of the so-called “circus.” It is one of few sports where a temporary village is unpacked from wagons and shipping containers within hours, and after its use ceases a few days later, it is repacked and sent off to the next destination and repeated.
It’s a monumentally complex, yet impressive logistical puzzle that has been refined to be as slick as possible. Watching the pitlane after the post-race celebrations have concluded is like watching an ant colony at work. Everyone has a specific job when the track is closed and the team-branded wagons are packed up with everything from the cars and parts, tyres, tools, furniture, through to the paddock and hospitality units including the kitchen and catering operation — which is something to behold.
All 10 teams have their own catering department, which in total feed more than 1,000 people in the paddock across a race weekend. Each team caters for around 100 people including staff and guests, and sometimes up to 200 for busier races and bigger teams like Red Bull and Mercedes.
Nutrition is at the heart of teams’ culinary operations. Like a car, fuelling well enables good performances, and the type of food available in F1 has slowly evolved throughout the years as people grew more health conscious, the job became more demanding as the calendar expanded, and people spent more time away from home.
Increasingly, maintaining fitness and health and having good food options while travelling 24 weekends a year is becoming a necessity. One source said that in the old days, you might find staff sat in the bar together after work, whereas nowadays you’re more likely to find them doing a workout together — it’s not uncommon to see people running laps of the track once the day’s operation is over.
For team management, “leading by example” was a phrase used around managing health and wellbeing as well as fatigue. Management is catered for in the same way as everyone else.
“I think this applies not only to looking after yourself but in any kind of things you do for the team and with the team,” Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack said of leading by example. “You cannot expect anyone to come at 7:30 a.m. if you come at 9:30 a.m. … If you are not leading by example, you cannot ask your people to do things if you don’t do them yourself.”
Similarly, managing fatigue is one key issue that teams like McLaren have poured resources into in recent years.
“With 24 races and in general, the demand of F1 managing fatigue is a very important part of F1 business,” McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said. “This is not only because of performance or wellbeing but even health because you need to look at this very holistically.
“[It is] the reason why pretty much all teams invest in … doctors trackside, physiotherapy and even the mental health, which is a topic that definitely McLaren have been very supportive of in general. Investment in health, wellbeing and performance — if you are not well rested, you’re not going to do a good job when you are trackside.”
Nutrition is one pillar that the team can manage effectively, and catering is configured to the team’s own requirements. The overall aim is to provide balanced meals with high nutritional value to ensure everyone is fuelled efficiently for their working day.
Each kitchen sources, prepares, cooks and serves food for their staff twice daily, and three times on a Friday — with it being the longest day at the circuit for team staff. The catering teams manage everything from writing the menus to sourcing locally, managing allergies and dietary requirements, providing high-quality, healthy and nutritionally dense food along with what people want to eat, and making it look appetising when it is served all from a minuscule kitchen in a motorhome that runs from a generator most of the time.
“Our aim, and what our company stands for, is providing the best variety and healthy options of food with a lot of [nutrients] and meeting all requirements from the team and different departments,” Mercedes hospitality manager Tanja Untermoser said to ESPN. “We cater for everybody: mechanics, engineering, marketing, management, and the drivers have a separate nutrition plan that we take into consideration for us to meet all the requirements.”
The requirements are extremely widespread. Mechanics might not want to eat what drivers must eat, and some may want sweet treats as they would at home, so teams provide that too. The key to finding the balance is eating normal everyday food but sourcing quality produce and using few ingredients.
Aston Martin have steak and chips every Saturday, but on another day, they might have chicken and chorizo or chickpea stew, salmon and rice or pasta, and a salad bar. A cooked breakfast throughout all teams may still involve some British staples of bacon, eggs and hash browns, but it’s hardly a greasy spoon.
Mercedes has two menus throughout the year, an à la carte for guests and partners that changes daily, and a buffet for the team. The menus are creative and uniquely tailored; for example, some offerings may be quick to eat for a busy team of mechanics mid-morning, rather than a sit-down meal, while others will suit the climate of the race.
“We have one head chef who is creating the menus in advance based on all the comments and feedback and improvements; what the team liked, together with a nutritionist from Mercedes,” Untermoser said. “He makes a first draft for the whole year and sends it over and we go through it bit by bit. One third of the season is planned and it changes after that.”
Sourcing food can be a problem at some races.
Teams have a purchase department that essentially does the shopping in advance, working with local knowledge and translators to source what they need. It’s tricky in countries like China and Japan, where not only the language barrier is difficult but some of the products are extremely problematic to get hold of.
Although the task is difficult in some parts of the world, the benefit of F1 returning year after year to the same places means the process is relatively smooth and relationships with external partners are well established. Difficulty arises when a new race is added to the calendar and the process starts again from zero.
“We cater all 24 races and it’s different if we are in Azerbaijan and Italy, so overall the European races are easier to purchase things and get the product, but we can say that we ensure that every race has the highest standard and highest quality that we deliver,” Untermoser said. “If there was on the menu before, say veal, but it’s not high quality, then we would replace it with a good-quality chicken or beef.”
Generally, teams aim to have as little food waste as possible. Anything that can be used again, like pasta and rice, is. But there is the added difficulty of customs and some countries not allowing certain foods to be brought in, which means catering teams can arrive at a race with few supplies and must ensure in advance they’ve either used up or redirected their current stock.
Europe is one of the most consistent places for sourcing, and some team members can have home comforts like coffee roasted in east London. At the European circuits, The Gentlemen Baristas, a London-based coffee roaster, works with Aston Martin in providing and serving hot drinks in the team’s hospitality unit.
Other drinks on offer at Aston Martin and Mercedes are fizzy zero-sugar cans, or homemade like raspberry lemonade, which was available on the day Mercedes invited ESPN for lunch to sample their food firsthand.
F1’s pursuit of marginal gains is no different with nutrition. At Mercedes in particular, Untermoser explained how everything is homemade, even the muesli and granola.
“We are really proud that we cook with as little fat as possible, so we always try to replace butter with olive oil. For example, we make potato mousseline; sometimes we make it lactose free using alternatives, and the muesli and the granola in the morning is made by ourselves only with honey or maple syrup,” Untermoser said. “Everything is homemade, so that’s the good thing: that everything in your hands is what’s in it.”
The attention to detail is striking. Even down to the layout and presentation, the edible flowers on top of the salads, as well as fresh-cut flowers in vases on the tables — even the bread is homemade.
The magnitude of the output from so few people in a small kitchen is another reminder that good strategy, planning and perfect execution is not just reserved for the on-track action in Formula 1.