Behind the scenes of the “critical” 150-minute test facing F1 mechanics every race

Ahead of grand prix qualifying at every Formula 1 race, the mechanics across the grid must complete a task they just cannot get wrong.

This is to strip two cars down after each FP3 session or sprint race and build them back up again, while incorporating the final set-up adjustments and repairs required by their drivers and engineers.

On a typical non-sprint weekend, the whole process must be completed in just 150 minutes.

“It’s one of the most important things we do,” Matt Thompson, number one mechanic for Nico Hulkenberg at Haas tells Motorsport.

“It’s the last time you can actually work on a car. Once the car is in parc ferme, you can’t touch it, you can’t change anything…”

At the recent Mexican Grand Prix, we saw exactly how this process is conducted at Haas, as well as learning just how fraught it can be if the unexpected rears.

The countdown clock tells all

We arrive in the back of the Haas garage just in time for FP3 to conclude in Mexico City.

Lingering thoughts from the story we’ve just been filing on the news of the weekend – F1 driving standards in the wake of Max Verstappen’s cynical tactics deployed again at Austin the week before – will have to wait. There’s plenty to listen into on the Haas communications channels.

Neither VF-24 is in the garage at this stage – their still out on track at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in the hands of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen.

But the chequered flag has just fallen and as they return to the pits the order for “double stop” practice is issued by Haas team manager Peter Crolla, sat aside team principal Ayao Komatsu on the pitwall far in front of our vantage point.

Hulkenberg gets back first and is serviced with a rapid tyre swap before being pushed out of the way so Magnussen can also receive the treatment. Crolla and Komatsu cast intense eyes on proceedings.

The two cars are then quickly wheeled and back in “wheels and bodywork off” instructions are issued by Elliot Parkes, the number one mechanic for car 20 (Magnussen), and Thompson for car 27 (Hulkenberg). An additional call for a “T-Tray test today if possible” from Thompson pricks our ears given the furore over this part at Red Bull the previous week in Texas.

Elliot Parkes, Haas mechanic

Photo by: Haas F1 Team

“But it’s a routine thing that we always have to do,” he later…