Full throttle - how TeamViewer and Mercedes F1 are taking comms to the next level

Formula 1 is famously a sport where fractions of a second can be the difference between victory and second place, where a slight miscalculation can push you to the edge of a career-ending accident, and making the right call at the right time is vital.

Communication is clearly a vital part of the sport, whose 10 teams strive to have clear and communicable connections between their headquarters and whichever of the 23 globe-trotting locations the sport has visited in 2023 alone.

TechRadar Pro headed to Monza, the historic heart of Italian motorsport, to hear how Merecedes F1, one of the sport's most decorated and iconic teams, is working with TeamViewer to ensure it is always at the forefront of every race.

Every second counts

"As a company, we're always driven by trying to find improvements," Pete Turner, CCO TeamViewer, says, "transforming society and transforming things at work is what we're all about."

The company, headquartered in Germany, boasts 2.5 billion installs around the world, including hundreds of millions of free users, and 630,000 SMB and enterprise customers, but is understandably keen to highlight its partnership with Mercedes F1.

"Marginal gains" has become a common theme in many sports following its initial popularity with the Team Sky professional cycling team helmed by Sir Dave Brailsford, but in Formula 1, it really can make an effect across the board for Mercedes F1.

The team, which had been a TeamViewer customer before signing an official partnership, wanted to improve its lines of communication when away at a race weekend, as well as looking to reduce the risk of any downtime due to IT issues - annoying when working in a corporate office, but potentially hugely costly when at a Formula 1 race.

With only 60 technical team members permitted trackside on race weekends, Mercedes F1's use of  TeamViewer software allows the team to establish a reliable and robust remote connection between the small trackside crew and their teammates back at Mercedes F1 HQ in Brackley, UK. In a sport that is increasingly examining its carbon footprint, the use of such software also means less people need to travel to each racetrack, cutting down on travel emmissions from the team and third-party organizations.

The Mercedes F1 driver pairing of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton also get a close-up encounter with TeamViewer during testing and qualifying, as the team uses TeamViewer Tensor for its dropdown data feed, providing the drivers with accurate, real-time data in order to spot which specific areas of the track they could improve in.

Using such remote connectivity tools also allows the team to carry out testing out of hours, as well as running multiple tests simultaneously in its labs, boosting efficiency and test speed, meaning the next big upgrade is never too far away.

So in a sport where every second counts, Mercedes F1 can keep pushing for that extra gain, confident that TeamViewer will be there to provide a reliable and secure connection wherever needed.