F1 Miami Grand Prix: With U.S. Interest at All-Time High, Formula 1's Broadcast and Media Team Puts Pedal to the Metal Layout differences from track to track increase the challenges By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor Friday, May 5, 2023 - 2:38 pm
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As the popularity of Formula 1 has skyrocketed in the U.S. over the past two years, thanks at least partly to Netflix's Drive To Survive docuseries, so have ratings for ESPN's live coverage of races.
The high-octane F1 action returns to the States this weekend for the second edition of the Miami Grand Prix. As it has since 2018, ESPN will broadcast primarily Sky Sports' coverage. As is the case for the entire 23-race calendar this year, F1's broadcast and media team will be in charge of capturing the sights and sounds from one of the world's most distinctive tracks.
Photo: Brandon Brieger/F1 Miami GP
We have definitely found Miami to be a very unique circuit, says F1 Director, Broadcast and Media, Dean Locke. It is vast in size and provides a lot of infrastructure. Also, unlike a lot of tracks - like Abu Dhabi, [with] that phenomenal part where they go through the hotel and large portions of the track [that are less eventful] - Miami has interesting elements all the way around the track. Whether it's huge grandstands or beaches or boats in the water, there are unique parts of that track all the way through. I think that caught us a little bit wanting last year because it's a camera-hungry circuit. We've added a lot this year to ensure we have everything covered.
F1 Goes Remote: Biggin Hill Facility Plays Key Role for Miami GP During the offseason, Locke and his team significantly upgraded the F1 Media and Technology Centre at Biggin Hill, just outside London. This season, the facility serves as the remote-production hub for all 23 races, which will be produced in 4K HDR. In addition, the facility features a new AR-based studio for use by the F1 TV team. All production/integration of the world feed and additional content for rightsholders, as well as the F1 TV streaming services, is completed at Biggin Hill.
The Media and Technology Centre at Biggin Hill has very much grown and is actually bigger than our onsite presence now, says Locke. It was a very big project: we started at 6 a.m. after Abu Dhabi [the final race of the 2022 season] and finished it a week before testing for [the 2023 opener] in Bahrain, but it's fully operational and has become a great place to work.
Onsite in Miami: Event Technical Centre at the Core As it does at all 23 races, F1's broadcast and media team deploys what it calls an Event Technical Centre onsite to acquire all camera feeds, audio, and data feeds, which are sent to Biggin Hill via two redundant 10-Gbps fiber paths. According to Locke, a slightly larger team than usual is onsite in Miami since it is a larger event on the F1 slate. A subswitched linecut is produced onsite and sent to Biggin Hill, where the main director, producer, and the bulk of the production crew are based.
F1's Event Technical Centre is deployed onsite and acquires content, data, and feeds, which are sent to Biggin Hill.
We focus on acquisition onsite, and then all curation is done back at our Media and Technology Centre, says Locke. We do a submix for the track cameras onsite for two main reasons. First, the director works very closely with a cameraman, so it helps to be onsite. Second, we are a 4K HDR broadcaster; this reduces our bandwidth requirement so we don't have to send all the camera feeds back [individually]. We can send that as a submix and then send the rest of the camera channels in HD.
He adds that this onsite setup also provides a disaster-recovery solution in case connectivity to Biggin Hill is lost.
Should we lose our fiber link, Locke explains, we can still produce a satellite feed [of the broadcast] using our onsite capabilities, and, hopefully, the viewers wouldn't notice too much difference. We can still produce world-class product from site should we have any major incidents.
A Very Unique Circuit': Covering the Miami International Autodrome To cover the 19-turn, 3.4-mile Miami International Autodrome circuit built in the complex of Hard Rock Stadium, Locke and company have deployed 28 track cameras, six RF handhelds, three pit-wall cameras, a helicopter, a cable camera, roughly 10 specialty cameras, and a variety of roaming ENG and press-conference cameras. In addition, this season, it is mandatory for all drivers to potentially carry a helmet camera, with six to eight live during a race weekend.
Photo: Peter McMahon/F1 Miami GP
Access was a bit tricky last year [in terms of] getting around into the circuit, says Locke, but we have been working very closely with the Miami team there to improve that this year. Between year one and year two, we found a lot of solutions to those issues. We're hoping to bring the fans even closer and, with them, the uniqueness of that stadium and that track. We also have upgraded the audio solution this year, so you get the real feeling of the cars are going past.
F1's broadcast and media team has to rethink its entire camera map at every event, given the wildly diverse track layouts. For example, Locke describes how - at tracks in Melbourne (Australia GP), Baku (Azerbaijan GP), and Jeddah (Saudi Arabia GP) - cars get extremely close to the walls, and cameras can be built right into the concrete walls around curves. At the Bahrain GP or the British GP in Silverstone, on the other hand, the walls are much farther away from the cars.
Miami is interesting because it's a mix of both, notes Locke. You have some wider parts to the track with big runoff areas, but then you also have some twisty sections very close to the road. It is one
