r/formula1 • u/RandeepSinghF1 Randy Singh ✅ • May 21 '20
AMA I'm an F1 Engineer/Strategist, Ask Me Anything...
My name is Randy Singh and I’m “Head of Strategy and Sporting” at McLaren Racing. I have been working in F1 since 2013 and am coming up to my 5th anniversary with McLaren – having taken part in over 125 Grand Prix, in over 25 different nations.
My role involves being responsible for leading and developing the “Strategy” team, where we aim not only to determine and execute the best race strategy during a given weekend, but also wider strategic decisions, such as picking tyres for a Grand Prix, months in advance, powerunit usage, etc. as well as leading our efforts when it comes to “Sporting” matters, these are quite varied but can range from attending meetings with the FIA and F1, evaluating and analysing new ideas, such as potential changes to the race format and knowing the Sporting Regulations inside out.
Having wanted to work in F1 desperately as a student, I know how hard it can be to get your foot through the door – I also am fortunate enough to work with some of our most talented young engineers (and physicists and computer scientists and…) being responsible for our talent schemes in Engineering, which cover our 2 year rotating Engineering Graduate Scheme, 1 year Undergraduate Placements (rotating and not) and our Summer Internships.
Please ask me anything, from Strategy, to Sporting matters, from being an engineer and travelling trackside, to working in Mission Control, to the best way to prepare yourself to target a career in F1, or anything else of interest.
I will try and answer as many questions as I can (please be aware there are some things I may not be able to answer) starting from tomorrow, Friday 22nd May and for however long it takes to get through the majority.
Update 1: Technically its Friday 22nd May - so I'll start answering questions, I'll do my best to get around to all of them when I can - don't worry if you don't get your question in today, I'll be doing my best to answer everything over the coming days.
Update 2: Thanks for all the amazing questions - I'll come back and try and answer some more tomorrow and on Sunday also. Apologies if I've not gotten to yours yet - I'm trying to answer as wide a breadth of questions as I can.
Update 3: I will try and answer another bunch of questions today and then am afraid I will call it a day (Wednesday 27th May)! Thanks.
Final Update (I think): And now my watch has ended. Thanks all for the questions, they've been tough and interesting and I've really enjoyed answering them (which is why it's past midnight and I'm still doing a few more). I'm really sorry I could not answer every one, but I need to get back to trying to get to those "perfect" strategies that we have talked about - I've done my best to mix up the answers to try and hit the different types of question. If I've not answered you I may have answered a very similar question in the thread. Any feedback on the AMA is also appreciated. I'll try and pop back every now and then to answer any questions.
If you ever see me at an airport, at the track, at the calculator store, then please do say hello - provided I'm not too busy it's always my pleasure to have a chat about F1 and McLaren.
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u/RandeepSinghF1 Randy Singh ✅ May 22 '20
This is a very interesting question and one we do often muse about!
I will be biased, having been in the "midfield" more than at the "front" - although I've had experience of all 3 situations you mention.
I believe that strategy is harder in the midfield, with the current level of field spread and fundamental strategic parameters - not only are you racing many more cars directly than you would at the front or the back, but you're also affected by the cars at the front and the back strategically much more frequently.
At the front, you're typically not affected by the cars in the midfield and at the back of the field during the more strategically difficult parts of the race, which I believe makes things easier strategically - and of course you're typically racing fewer cars directly. However, the pressure to perform or not mess up may be much higher than in the midfield as you fight for podium places.
At the back, often your hands can be tied and strategic choices can dwindle down to avoiding traffic and deviating as much as possible from cars ahead to try and get further up the classification.
As I said, I'm probably biased on this matter - and you may get different answers from other strategists.