04/02/2013
NEWS STORY
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After just under six months with Scuderia Toro Rosso, James Key looks at the technical challenges facing the team in the short and long-term and explains his role at the factory and the race track.
"I joined the team in September 2012 and coming to a new team, one never really knows what to expect until you start interacting with the people directly. What I found exceeded my expectations: it is not really clear from the outside how the size of the team has grown significantly over the past years and the level of facilities has increased and improved accordingly. For example, the new carbon manufacturing facility just completed in Faenza is state-of-the-art and would be the envy of many, given the high standard to which it's been built and specified.
"Over in Bicester, UK, the wind tunnel and aerodynamic departments are also expanding and there has been a lot of work to do on this side of the operation. Needless to say the majority of car performance is derived from its aerodynamics and a lot of work has been put into placing a heavy emphasis on the importance of the aero development. A big part of this has been to improve communications between the aero group in the UK and the design and manufacturing in Italy.
"In addition we are trying to ensure maximum aero development time with a quick turnaround of design and manufacturing periods. That is fundamental to what we do: a front wing will take the same amount of time to design and build for a given cost, but it could be worth one tenth of a second or four tenths of a second. It's those four tenths that count, so if you squeeze the timing here in Faenza and allow more time on the development side, then ultimately it should result in a better performance in the longer term. Although there was already an awareness of that, it's been a case of pushing that idea a bit more, tightening the deadlines and stressing the fact we must give as much time as possible to aero.
"With the CFD department based in Faenza, trying to ensure that the communications are as slick as they can be is also an important priority. We have introduced some new directions within the aero and CFD groups in the last few months to further improve our focus on development and our approach to how we develop the TR8 will be somewhat different to last year's car.
"I have not had to change much in the short time I've been here in the other technical groups, as it is the time of year when there's a need to get the 2013 car as developed as possible before it hits the track, therefore a lot of emphasis at the moment has been on the CFD and Aero departments.
"When it comes to the areas which seem to be working fine with no major issues, I have by and large left them alone at this stage. Our car's reliability last year was very good and one of the strengths we have is the attention to detail applied in the design, R&D and Quality Control areas. Everyone is very thorough in their work on the cars and how they are turned around here in the factory. Trackside, we also have a solid group and I have to say the operation at the track runs very smoothly from what I have seen to date.
"Where I feel we are lacking is in our pure performance-based areas. Hence the hard push on the aero work and also on the vehicle dynamics and simulation side. We have made quite significant changes in that area and introduced a new Vehicle Performance department to the team.
"From my previous experience in F1, teams face the same challenge but work in different ways. As Technical Director, I think it's wise to tune the way you operate to match the existing strengths within a team and then get on with attacking the weaknesses, rather than change the entire team to match what you are used to, without first getting a proper overview of how it operates.
"Ultimately, the Technical Director is responsible for the performance of the car, therefore the decisions you take, whether they are technical, managerial, organisational or to do with budget, will all impact on the final product. I much prefer a technical approach, but you also have to step back and give the team the freedom they need to undertake their roles as best possible. In this respect, my role is a mix of detailed technical issues and the bigger picture and direction that the technical groups need to take.
"At races, time is tight over a race weekend and it is important that we are all working in the same direction at the track. You have to take whatever combination of parts and understanding you have on the day and make sure it all works as well as possible in the given set of circumstances. Someone has to have the global overview of where we are and what we have to do next and understand our weaknesses and priorities. A lot of that comes from being at the track, as well as being able to see the other cars and having a general overview of what is going on. Attending the races gives you a very good feeling for exactly where you are and that helps the decision-making process as to what we need to have covered by the next event as well as what could hit the track in maybe three months time. The engineers and drivers might come up against some negatives that are holding them up and my role is in deciding which one of those problems needs to be solved first and how.
"The major technical regulation change coming in 2014 is having an impact on us already and will do throughout the coming year. Every team faces this challenge, regardless of size, but it has a bigger impact on the smaller teams: we are looking at a completely different car so you cannot carry over many established designs or philosophies from 2013 to 2014. We will have to build up our knowledge of the new regulations and their implications significantly and apply it to the design of the 2014 car. It's a balance between being as competitive as possible this year, while being well prepared and competitive for 2014 and beyond, but that's the nature of the business and a great challenge."
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