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Mark Gallagher, a Formula 1 legend, boasts over 30 years of experience in this high-performance sport. He has transitioned into an author, broadcaster, and industry analyst, maintaining his involvement with top drivers and teams.
Since 1994, Mark has played a pivotal role in introducing leading technology companies to Formula 1, making significant contributions to the sport's digital transformation. His insights offer valuable lessons in achieving success in Formula 1.
Mark's management career in Formula 1 is particularly noteworthy due to his tenure of over ten years on the management board of Jordan Grand Prix. He successfully managed the Cosworth engine business and played a crucial role in establishing Red Bull Racing's commercial arm, which ultimately led to their four-time World Championship success.
Additionally, Mark has actively participated in the FIA's technical working groups, addressing challenges such as environmental sustainability and safety. His expertise spans across the commercial and operational aspects of Formula 1 teams, encompassing regulatory, business, and technological considerations.
More than any other sport, Formula One has embraced a data-driven business culture, particularly as regards its near obsession with marginal gains and continuous improvement. Starting in the late 1980s, teams began to develop the ability to gather, process, store, and utilise information streams in order to better manage risk, optimise performance and guarantee outcomes. Data acquisition and analytics are now a cornerstone technology, enabling drivers, trackside engineers, and headquarters staff to determine precisely how the car and driver are behaving, diagnose issues, resolve problems, and speed up decision-making. As information flows seamlessly around the globe, linking cars, teams, and factories, data security is essential, and robust systems ensure protection from multiple threats. The use of simulators has transformed driver training, enabling systems to be learned, tested, and developed in a virtual environment before real-world deployment. With the advent of additive manufacturing, machine learning, and AI across Formula One, the sport’s use of Big Data to transform all aspects of its operations is set to accelerate further.
Formula One has a 2030 carbon neutral strategy for the cars, teams, events and World Championship operations. It is abandoning all fossil fuel use by the end of 2024 and already uses AI in manufacturing and race strategy. Formula 1 has been using petrol-electric hybrid engines since 2014, including the most energy-efficient engines ever produced, and is innovating a range of environmentally sustainable green technologies which will decarbonise the industry and provide wider relevance to transport. It has a very strong story to share about profound change in relation to abandoning fossil fuels and eliminating emissions.
In the high-stakes world of Formula One, designing and operating a vehicle that meets the rigorous safety, reliability, and performance standards requires unparalleled teamwork. With deadlines set by the Grand Prix calendar, the pressure is immense. Success hinges on the seamless collaboration of over a thousand staff members, from engineers in R&D to the pit crews executing precision stops in mere seconds. True teamwork is fostered by a culture of accountability, responsibility, and open communication, ensuring the team is aligned and adaptable to the ever-evolving technological landscape and competitive dynamics. Learn how to embrace the teamwork principles of F1 in your own team: not just excellence but continuous innovation and adaptability.
Safety is a first order priority in Formula One and the last 25 years have seen a profound change to the way in which the sport manages risk. Between 1950 and 1994 there were over 40 driver fatalities at events; there has been one since. This has been made possible by creating clear priorities as regards safety, mandated by the sport’s leadership and shared by the individual teams and race promoters. Process safety has played a key part in this transformation, whilst a data-driven approach to understanding incidents and accidents, backed up by extensive research and development, has created cars capable of withstanding high-energy impacts, and fully protecting their occupants. The safety and risk management story goes far beyond the racing itself, the employees and contractors of the teams benefitting from best practices shared between the industry’s HSE management. Furthermore, the sport’s governing body, the FIA, transfers knowledge gained from motor sport into promoting road safety around the world through its Action for Road Safety Campaign, employing the United Nations Safe Systems Approach and is a founding partner of the European New Car Approval Programme (euroncap) which has transformed vehicle safety.
Business models break, new ones develop, technology evolves, regulations are revised and customers alter buying habits. Every industry is witnessing change, and Formula One is no different; as a multi-billion dollar sport, it has seen unprecedented change in the last 20 years. The number of events has grown, shifting from its heartland of Europe to a truly global calendar, which sees 65% of events in long-haul destinations. The media landscape is changing out of all recognition; gone are the audiences made up of families watching television together; instead, global sports are having to develop products to appeal to all ages and demographics across multiple digital media platforms.
