F1: AT&T and Williams' new data transfer system - a fly-by-wire racing team

When F1 teams agreed to limit the number of crew that travelled to tracks to reduce costs, the agreement did not say how many people could work back at base. What, the teams wondered, if they could connect the data from the cars back to the factory and have it analysed in real-time by a team there in addition to the small number allowed in the pits?

The data produced by the cars is vast: some 30GB during a race weekend.

There are challenges: getting the data from the car to the pit-wall is now pretty much settled - teams no longer rely on a "burst" as the car goes past the team but have a constant stream showing exactly what is happening.

The effect of this is clear from the pit-to-car radio messages: drivers think there is a problem; engineers calmly say that there is no problem with the data. Translation: "shut up, drive the bloody car and stop listening for rattles. We'll tell you if something is going to fall off."

With dozens of sensors monitoring everything from tyre pressure (remember that four wheels are replaced in under four seconds in a typical pit stop this season and sensors still work) to the tiniest of engine and gearbox functions.

The Williams team is improving by leaps and bounds this season, in part due to the radical design of their car which, due to testing restrictions, started the season by doing its growing up in public. But it is also due to the fact that every clink and rattle is pored over back in Grove, Oxfordshire.

And, with the "away team" moving around the world constantly, some of them not getting home for as much as six months at a time, engineers back at base need to make sure that they have access to data that will help them develop components that will give even a minute improvement - and having that data available even while the race is running gains invaluable time. It also explains why, to the confusion of some fans, a car that was seemingly dead in the pits will be sent out to do a few laps: if a change in settings has been identified as a possible culprit for a problem, it can be tested even before the race in which the problem developed is over.

All teams have something similar: this weekend, Williams has something special. As the team sets up in Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix, the team has taken delivery of a new generation of communications tech from name sponsor AT&T.

Using a Virtual Private Network for security, data is collected from the car, encrypted, whizzed to Grove through AT&T's WAN Acceleration Service, decrypted, analysed by computer programs and humans and a response returned by the reverse route.

Think how good that would be with your usual office broadband. AT&T's tech boosts that speed by as much as 25 times as most people use.

While some might say "ah, but, there's always 100mb data transmission" the answer is that yes, there is. But it's not available outside major cities and certainly not in the pits of a motor racing circuit. And although satellite comms are common, they generally run at surprisingly low speeds: fine for talking, not so good for data. Your TV works despite the satellite downlink, not because of it.

Chris Taylor, IT Manager at Williams F1, says "In 2010, we increased the quantity and type of data we transferred across the AT&T VPN service by around 50% to 27GB. Using the VPN and AT&T WAN Acceleration Service today, we generate 30GB of data per event, which comes from 140 sensors on the car monitoring temperatures, pressures, speed, wheel position and loading. We can transfer files back to headquarters up to 25 times faster than traditional broadband and ISDN lines."

Alex Burns, CEO of Williams F1 explains: "Having additional data transferred real time means we can have more staff evaluating this at our headquarters over a race weekend and we can apply greater resource to any problem without them actually being at the track. This strategy also allows us to optimise car development from one race to the next as we can evaluatecomponents quicker and bring them onto the car at a faster rate than previously."

What that translates into is that if an improvement can be identified on Friday morning, if it's software or settings driven, it can be in place by Friday afternoon. And if it suggests that a component that has been electively left in Grove would perform better than the one fitted to the car, it can be on the car, in most parts of the world, by Saturday morning.

Several years ago, sitting in Heathrow Airport, this author watched a team of Arrows mechanics running through the concourse with aerodynamics parts (including full, one-piece front, wings) wrapped in bubble wrap because the parts were late in production.

When that happens now with a Williams mechanic, it's more likely to be because someone has re-engineered a component as a result of early practice sessions.

Talk about drive by wire? It's almost running a team by wire - and that's why Patrick Head is rarely seen at races these days. He's got his head in a computer in Oxfordshire seeing the same data at the same time as he would see it if he were sitting under a canopy on the pit wall.