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As McLaren pushed their F1 cars out onto the grid for last Sunday’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone, a team of 12 analysts sat down at their computer screens, preparing themselves for two hours of detailed technological analysis and reaction to the unscripted chaos thrown their way. .

Except, they weren’t present with the rest of the team. Instead, they were based at the McLaren Technology Centre, around 80 miles away in Woking.

And on the same day when a record crowd of 140,000 piled through the Silverstone gates, Mirror Sport was given access to explore the Formula One team site and watch the action unfold from the team’s unique perspective.

At first glance, there are similarities in the design to what a typical James Bond villain’s lair would look like, with an impressively large lake fronting the 500,000 square foot building, huge glass windows and a steel exterior. But once inside, it becomes clear that this latest £300 million facility has hidden gems that make it a special place for any F1 fan.

Some 30 minutes before the lights go out at Silverstone, we are led into the room known as ‘Mission Control’ by McLaren. Such a term might only be suitable to describe one of NASA’s centers in Nevada that track their spacecraft, but McLaren’s technologically advanced installation is similarly out of this world.

Behind a heavy steel door is a soundproof room with reflective glass on one side and transparent on the other. And that allows those in the compact booth to observe without distraction the dozen or so McLaren engineers sitting at the new whiteboards, each person enthralled by the content on their futuristic computer screens.

Graphs showing colorful patterns about aerodynamics, a mock design of the car’s composition and the circuit are spread across the huge 150 inch display in front of them. Within that, there are 12 small screens that show live streams of the race, specific camera views of the McLaren drivers and all the data related to keeping the car running in the race.

It may seem like overkill, but this huge screen allows the team to monitor everything – and it shows the best margins that can prove to be the difference between winning and losing.

With the majority of the team at Silverstone on race day, it might be misleading to suggest that the mood inside the building will always feel calm and quiet. On a typical weekday, an estimated 1,000 workers scour around and do their daily tasks. But in this room, there is an air of silence and deadness — and they have to be, given that drivers at the end of their radios are racing at speeds of almost 190mph.

Have you ever wondered how teams almost always know exactly when to tell their drivers to pit? There is a dedicated clock, which is linked to the driver’s position on the track and calculates how long the team should wait before giving the message “box, box”. As Norris zoomed past the pool entrance, he reset the clock and began counting down again to 90 seconds. There is another curious detail where the circuit is not a clock, but a simple spherical shape with dots representing the 20 cars – apparently engineers “don’t like corners”.

There is an air of excitement after the first lap Lando Norris, who qualified sixth in a wet session on Saturday, challenged Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez on the first lap for fifth place and his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo climbed from 14th to 10th.

But a huge midfield shunt involving Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu and Mercedes star George Russell forced a red flag, with the former miraculously walking away largely unscathed despite being inside the car when he went over a 6 foot barrier. Two other cars are forced to retire from the race after suffering damage, and while emotions run high, McLaren has work to do on the restart.

As the race restarts after a 45-minute delay to clear the wreckage, Norris and Ricciardo experience different fortunes. The former climbs to fifth place, but Ricciardo finds it difficult to make the same progress as before and stays out of the points.

Norris asks what he can do to pick up the pace, with Hamilton brushing him off. The answer may be depressing for the fans but also realistic, with McLaren acknowledging that their battle is with the driver behind him, Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, not Hamilton. But there is hope when Red Bull suffer a double whammy, with damage to the front wing of Sergio Perez’s RB18 and a puncture for Max Verstappen, giving McLaren a boost with Norris rising to fourth.

The 23-year-old performs brilliantly while maintaining his position and decent lap times and it’s surprising, if absolutely brilliant, to hear the authentic radio beep as he speaks to the team. Norris asks for an update on whether to fade and the team opts to extend his stint on the medium tyre, while Ricciardo blithely accepts that his pace is not good enough to make his way in to the points after being put on the softs.

That is, of course, until the safety car arrived on Lap 40 after Esteban Ocon suffered a hydraulic pressure failure. Norris pits, but comes out behind Alonso in P6, while Perez’s luck turns around as he gets a free stop. The mood is a little damp, with our McLaren representative trying desperately to stay positive, saying “come on Lando” under his breath, but to no avail.

Norris comes home sixth, while Ricciardo, disappointingly, only manages to finish 13th of the 14 cars left on track after failing to catch Nicholas Latifi late in the race. A quick look up at the ‘cam driver’ can be seen and Norris waving charmingly to the British crowd in his home race on his car’s solo feed, while Ricciardo can’t wait to get out of the cockpit.

And after more than two hours of solid concentration, those at Mission Control relax their shoulders and breathe a sigh of relief, detaching their eyes from the screen they’ve been glued to throughout the race. Their work was done, but there is no rest for the wicked, with another race in Austria to come in a week’s time.

After watching them secure another average result, F1 fans may wonder if the glory days of the 1980s and early 2000s will ever return to McLaren. But when you see the white and red livery of Ayrton Senna’s McLaren MP44, sparkling in the sunlight in the showroom, it’s hard not to feel nostalgic.

Likewise, the length of the corridor dedicated to their success is staggering. At last count, there were over 650 jewels locked inside the glass cabinets that fill the corridor on the ground floor. We are told they keep them next to the dining hall to encourage staff “to go back to work in the right frame of mind after eating”.

This theme of success and a winning mentality is reflected throughout the building, with fascinating insights from the team’s own encyclopedia, Oliver, into how former CEO Ron Dennis made changes to ensure McLaren’s luxury base as perfect as could be.

One anecdote focused on how he was left so unimpressed with having half a tile left on the floor of the manufacturer’s manufacturing plant that he ordered an entire review of the building’s dimensions to change them. Similarly, some of the structural steel poles that reinforce the balcony areas were considered “too thick” in the design process and were reduced accordingly, in accordance with Dennis’ wishes.

These are small details, but some that draw attention to an important aspect of what it is like to be immersed in the world of McLaren, where the best cannot be discussed. But this is not a case of showmanship or bragging; it is a simple reminder of the history this racing giant has created.

Of course, F1’s more recent years have been more challenging for the team, especially when they were powered by Honda between 2015 and 2017 and finished ninth in the constructors’ standings twice in three seasons. But things have improved enormously under the direction of Zack Brown, a jovial and likeable American chief executive, and team principal Andreas Seidl, a German who is much more calm and composed.

And with Norris, there is a real belief within the team that he will be world champion one day after committing himself until at least 2025. The future is bleaker for Ricciardo with just one more season guaranteed, even if the Australian – not his younger colleague – can claim to have won the only race McLaren have managed in the last decade .

But take one look at this magnificent build, the dedicated team members behind it at Mission Control and the talented drivers on track, and it’s impossible to think they won’t be adding more trophies to their growing collection in the future.

In February this year, Gopuff – a leader in instant delivery – was announced as the Official Instant Delivery Partner of the McLaren Formula 1 Team. The multi-year deal comes as Gopuff continues its rapid global expansion and brings together one of the fastest supplying teams with one of the most successful teams in motorsport.

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