If you have not known yet, I am the resident Formula 1 (F1) nut in the office. I talk about F1 all the time, maybe to the point of annoyance. I had the privilege of attending the F1 Singapore GP in 2019 courtesy of Acronis and loved every second of being there. Sure, to some, F1 is nothing more than just watching cars going around a piece of specialised and closed road for an hour and a half.
To me, F1 is more than just that. It is the epitome of competition. It is the pinnacle of automotive racing, a sort of playground for the best of the best in the sport. It is also the pinnacle of modern automotive technology. The F1 world has contributed plenty of its innovation to the road going vehicles that we see today.
There are other things as well. The understanding of Carbon Fibre constructions and driver safety is the reason hospitals have specific cradles for new-born babies that are lightweight, safe, and super comfortable for the younglings. So, F1 tech has reached out to more than just modern automotive industry.
We are all saddened by the news that the Japan Olympics this year has been postponed to 2021 at the earliest. I was very sad when they announced that F1 in Australia has to be cancelled, when China voluntarily cancels their own hosting for this year’s F1 GP, and when F1 also announced that they are not going to be racing in Bahrain, and Vietnam in 2020. All this, in the name of combatting COVID-19. One of the McLaren staffs was confirmed as a case in Australia and that kicked started the whole chains of events until today.
As of yesterday, some good news shone from the world of F1. They are not completely shutting down their factories and labs. Instead they are re-purposing them, at least seven of them in the United Kingdom (UK) are. These seven F1 outfits are all based in the UK as well, which is sort of why they are re-purposing their factories and labs to something they call Project Pitlane and #VentilatorChallengeUK consortium.
#VentilatorChallengeUK Consortium
By now, you would have read plenty about the global pandemic that is COVID-19. By now, you would also learn to recognise the symptoms of contracting the virus as well. By now, you would have learnt that patients will have trouble breathing.
This calls for breathing aid apparatus for the patients treated for COVID-19. In UK, where cases have exceeded 22,000 individuals and death tolls hitting the 1,500s, the need of such devices is becoming a desperation. They need more than 20,000 ventilation equipment at this point.
The VentilatorChallengeUK consortium is the UK government’s call out to the private sectors to supply the health industry in the region with breathing aid equipment. It is an open tender for companies to design, build, and quickly manufacture a breathing aid apparatus for patients in the UK, for now. To that, the F1 world has answered the call with Project Pitlane.
Project Pitlane
The description from F1’s own website is very brief actually. It is sort of a call to arms for the F1 teams to contribute in this global pandemic, or rather to fight this pandemic. The project is basically a challenge to the F1 teams to reverse engineer, redesign, and produce any devices or anything that could help in scaling the production of UK’s VentilatorChallengeUK. It could reach out more than that in a later date though.
To that extent, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, BWT Racing Point F1 Team, Hass F1 Team, McLaren F1 Team, Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, Renault DP World F1 Team, and ROKiT Williams Racing has answered the call and pledged to Project Pitlane.
In Italy, Ferrari has done their own part in the battle of COVID-19 too. They have donated EU€ 10 million (MYR 47.4 million) to the cause to buy ventilators and to provide a fleet of cars to transport and distribute food and medical supplies. Imagine a Ferrari F12 ambulance on their patient run, or even a Ferrari F12 fleet sending emergency medical supplies from one hospital to another. That would have been a great sight. Only in Italy though, at this point.
Mercedes-AMG x UCLH CPAP
While they are not the first or only team to respond to Project Pitlane. The UK based Mercedes High-Performance Powertrains (HPP) department in Brixworth, or their engine producing department is the first to make something out of it, so far. They have partnered with the University College of London and its Hospital unit (UCLH) to finally get their Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) breathing aid approved for production for UK hospitals. Mercedes-Benz won their 6th world title last year and is technically chasing their record-breaking 7th this season.
The rapid challenge that is the F1 racing helped Mercedes-AMG powertrain department to quickly reverse engineer and produce the breathing aid with UCLH from first meeting to the factory floors within 100 hours. They have been working on the CPAP apparatus since 18th of March 2020 apparently. Currently, there will be 100 units of the CPAP equipment produced by the Brixton based outfit for clinical trials across UK.
If you understand medical equipment production. Products like the CPAP that Mercedes-AMG HPP and UCLH has developed or reverse engineered could take years to develop. They have done in in a matter of days. It is not just a testament of how much the world has progressed today, it is a testament to what F1 type production process could do for other industries.
It also is also a prove of how many brilliant people are involved in getting a car circling a piece of specialised road as quickly as possible. Then again, the factory in Brixworth costs Mercedes-Benz quite a lot of money. It has been producing F1 engines since 1983 and has been producing several championship winning power units in various cars over the years.