When we take our car in for a service or for body repairs it takes ages compared to what the Formula One mechanics have to do in much less time. There is a reason why these guys are the mechanics for their various teams as they are specialized in their fields and are some of the best. They are the ones behind the scenes that perform miracles as that is their job.
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Today in practice session 3 Lewis Hamilton went off the track and crashed into the tyre barrier wrecking his left front end. The mechanics had less than 2 hours to work on the car before qualifying started. What was impressive was the chief mechanic was watching the television feed and shouting instructions of what parts to pull to the rest of the team. There wasn't a second to lose and these guys were against the clock even though the car hadn't been retrieved yet.
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Finished and ready for racing in no time at all.
This is the list of things that needed to be done in under 2 hours and was more like 1 hour 40 minutes by the time the car arrived back into their pit workshop. Replace both front corners including suspension and wheel assemblies, the nose,barge boards and the floor. They then need to realign the car and cross their fingers that everything is 100 percent correct. The chassis wasn't damaged luckily so they were able to make it in time.
Normally a car after practice will then go through the final adjustments before qualifying such as ride heights, setting the wings for whatever down force they think they may need. These cars are so technologically advanced that some of the things they can can adjust whilst the car is driving around on the track.
Luckily for Hamilton they have one of the better cars so the team just needs to get the car out for the first qualifying session and if not 100 percent should get through into the top 15 and then they can adjust again making whatever adjustments having another 15 minute time window before the next qualifying session. It is not ideal, but it shows you what pressure the mechanics are under over a race weekend. It is normal for a team to work from 7 am to 10 pm making sure the car is set up correctly and achieving it's maximum potential.
Hamilton qualified third in the end and could have been a whole lot worse if the team didn't pull together. If he wins this weekend he knows who he needs to thank.
