The race start at 2pm no matter what and software development teams from different F1 teams
compete against the time and against each other to deliver features that give the best possible competitive advantage to their F1 team.
They often deliver
mission critical software, where serious bugs can affect the result of the race, in extreme conditions the
safety of the driver, and during the last races of the season bugs and defects can
jeopardize championship victory.
Meanwhile software engineers are
fully responsible of the outcome of their work, how the software will operate on the track and of the consequences of software bugs. At the same time they have to deal with
emergencies that can arise because unpredictable events, rapid changes and the complexity of the environment they operate in.
In short they constantly search the maximum possible speed (
give gas) in every situation (
shift gears) while ensuring a sustainable pace and the required level of quality (
brake).
How software development teams deal with high levels of pressure and emergencies in F1 ?
Read the answer here