Formula 1 avoided a disaster similar to the one that happened in MotoGP with the Argentine Grand Prix, where some teams could not receive their material on time and the organization was forced to compress the action on the track to just two days so that everyone could compete. .
The Grand Circus came close to repeating what happened just a week ago, but a last-minute rescue mission prevented some teams from missing out on the Australian Grand Prix.
Amid global shipping delays caused by rising costs and the impact of the Ukraine war , shipments of some sets that had already been shipped weeks ago were at risk of not arriving in Melbourne on time. .
A ship carrying material from three teams, originally scheduled to take 42 days, was delayed for more than a week, resulting in a very tight schedule for docking in Australia.
But faced with the risk of further delays, DHL , official partner of Formula 1, intervened last weekend and made the decision to remove the equipment from the ship in Singapore and fly it to Melbourne.
DHL’s Vice President of Motorsport Logistics, Paul Fowler , decided to personally travel to Singapore to oversee the rescue mission, knowing that any transport delays could affect the race at Albert Park.
With the planes diverted from Los Angeles and Vietnam, the cargo was removed from the vessel and loaded onto two Boeing 777s and a 767-300 , before being flown directly to Melbourne.
The delivery arrived in Australia on Monday morning, ensuring that all teams had their material in time before the third test of the 2022 season.
This is nothing new for Formula 1, as during the Bahrain tests, Haas missed the start of the tests due to a delay in the cargo carried by an aircraft.
In addition to travel delays, the teams are facing a huge increase in the cost of shipping, which has skyrocketed astronomically in the last two years as a result of the pandemic.
“Now there’s almost a bidding war,” Fowler said. “The tariffs from Europe to Asia, which were around 900 dollars (about 820 euros) per container, are currently around 20,000 dollars (more than 18,300 euros).”
In an attempt to save transport costs, the teams have several groups that are sent to selected races throughout the year, instead of taking a single set race to race.
Fowler added: “They all have five stuff teams, and that’s being expanded to six because of additional testing. So everything you see in the garages, in the pitlane, in the chairs that the mechanics sit in, It is shipped by sea.
