F1 freight going nowhere fast after Chinese GP

 F1 freight going nowhere fast after Chinese GP
Pitlane atmosphere, pitstop air guns, Formula 1 Testing, 27.02.2010 Barcelona, Spain / Copyright: Charniaux / xpb

F1's many tonnes of freight are going nowhere fast.

After the Chinese grand prix, the teams are packing up their cars and equipment and delivering it into the pitlane as per usual on a Sunday evening.

The gear will then be moved to the local international airport by Formula One Management, with the sport's freight managed by Alan Woollard.

He confirmed on Sunday that the equipment - enough to fill six 747 jets - is not likely to be making the return flight in a hurry due to the closed airports across Europe.

"Until the airports open we'll be staying here," he said. "Hopefully we'll get out of here by the end of the week."

Woollard admitted that if the delay goes on beyond that, the freight might be flown straight to Barcelona.

McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh had explained earlier that a delay of that sort might affect planned car developments for the Spanish grand prix.

"We are not so much worried about the people because we will find a way home, but we have got to get the cars back," he said.

Source: GMM

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 Anthony Anthony
Just ship the stuff to the nearest european country as theirs 3 weeks to the next race, thats plenty of time. Air friegt isn't the only option, no matter what the cost.
April 18, 2010 8:03 am
 mn07 mn07
How are the tonnes of freight transported from the circuit to the Chinese airport?? By TRUCKS so why don't they fly to somewhere the airport is open or (turkey) and then drive the trucks back to the factory. Yes i know from turkey to uk is 2-3 days but faster then waiting for till the end of the week.
April 18, 2010 12:55 pm
 mn07 mn07
edit:- How are the tonnes of freight transported from the circuit to the Chinese airport?? By TRUCKS so why don't they fly to somewhere the airport is open or (turkey) and then drive the trucks back to the factory. Yes i know from turkey to uk is 2-3 days but faster then waiting for till the end of the week.
April 18, 2010 1:03 pm
 astroturf777 astroturf777
i've been to turkey, when i crossed the border back into bulgaria we passed a line of trucks about 5km long all waiting to cross the border. they have road markets, toilet blocks, service stations etc. there because drivers can wait 3-4 days in the queue. better to fly it to a sea port (egypt or something) then ship it on private charter ferries on Mediterranean
April 18, 2010 5:54 pm
 sideskraper sideskraper
The more logical approach would be to fly to spain as their airports are open. F1 teams also wouldn't likely entrust their equipment on the road with anyone but their own people. Their trucks are in their bases and the drivers (who double as mechanics, pit crew, chefs, etc) are all also in China. The planes will get out of China in the next couple of days to the continent, but might then have to go overland to the UK destinations.
April 19, 2010 5:16 am
 astroturf777 astroturf777
anyone else get the 'outward flight' banner ad at the top of the page? 'air travel planning made easy'... the irony.
April 18, 2010 7:37 pm
 p2c p2c
Amazing to read such comments .. people here do not seem to know anything about customs and goods transportations...
April 19, 2010 3:08 am
 sideskraper sideskraper
Hahaha yeah, the thought of getting anything shipped in a container from the Port of Shanghai to a port in Europe and back into the hands of the teams/organisation is laughable. FOM and teams send containers of stuff (like cabling etc) to ports 2-3 races ahead of when it is actually required. These guys should google "Formula 1 Logistics", there are some great articles out there.
April 19, 2010 5:22 am
 sideskraper sideskraper
All this talk of flying to another place is moot as the major reason that has come to light for this problem flying home right now is that the aircraft that were booked to fly the cargo home are unable to take off from Europe to pick the stuff up! I'm sure charter operators will be the same as commercial operators and prioritise the order in which the contracts are fulfilled. (IE: those from last week will be fulfilled until eventually they get to F1 which would have been this morning). There might be a small hope of another charter client offering F1 their booking, but very few whole aircraft charter clients would be able to do that. The cargo airlines have individual customers worth tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars. Many of those would be desperate to get their cargo to their destinations. Cargo airlines wouldn't be willing to risk those contracts. Not to mention the potential delay in Cargo flight activities after the resumption of flying if ATC give priority to passenger flights.
April 19, 2010 7:25 am