A peep into the pit garage

Shiny white walls usher you in, and upon entry, you're met by giant carbon-fibre – yes, they use carbon-fibre practically everywhere they possibly can -- cupboard of sorts with ear phones hanging inside with name tags by their side.

A little further, and you can see Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton's car ripped apart with six well-trained mechanics running about doing their bit to set the car right, ahead of the second free-practice session.

Nothing about this pit 'garage' is what one would generally imagine a garage to be. Every single nut and bolt is placed in little boxes and are numbered quite cleverly and the hydrolic spanners are all neatly tucked into unassuming spaces all around.

The computers are up on the wall with people monitoring every nook and crany of both the cars, but the most unique thing has to be the fact that there is not a spec of dirt for as long as you can see.  Nothing near the car, nothing on the mechanics' clothes, nothing anywhere.

“Everything here is done with one thing in mind: getting it done in time,” said a McLaren official. “There is so much that needs to be done and we really can't afford to get anything wrong, and hence all this. It's as good as it can get. We at Vodafone are really bent on getting the best out of our cars, and that means everything needs to be in order here.”
Walking past rows and rows of material and some nonchalant mechanics enjoying their lunch, you end up at the tyre section, and that's when things get dizzy.

A series of tyres wrapped in a cover with red lettering are for Button and the yellow one is for Hamilton. These tyres -- six dry, five intermediate and two rain – are kept in order of priority and are kept under constant surveillance for change and temperature. The tyre covers can regulate the temperature on the tyre and hence a driver that requires a tyre change can get on track in quick time without really having to worry about warming them up.

Among the fancy equipment, there was one that really stole the show. The McLaren steering wheel, which has been a topic of discussion for a while for being so robotic, is a brilliant piece of equipment with everything a driver can possibly need.

All the wheel requires is a push of a button or a flip of a toggle. The switches are rather hard to operate but they are aimed at reducing the number of unintended instructions.
There is a button for DRS, KERS, water, pit lane speed limit, differential change and a whole lot more, while the twin clutch paddles and the gear paddles are at the back of the wheel.

Assuming that the McLaren pit lane was the only one built like this would be foolish, for every team in Formula One focuses on one thing -- attention to detail.