The Intelligent Work Management Platform
Learn how the McLaren Formula 1 Team finds its edge
Less time planning, more time pushing limits
"With Smartsheet, we’ve cut planning and preparation time for wind tunnel projects by 70%. What used to slow us down now flows seamlessly, freeing our team to focus on performance where it counts most."
Spencer Ford
Director, Machining and Additive Manufacturing
McLaren Formula 1 Team
Smartsheet Professional Services team helped condense multiple systems into a single platform.
achieved by the McLaren Formula 1 Team in the first 18 races of 2025, including seven 1-2 finishes.
parts tracked in Smartsheet from ideation to delivery.
data points computed per race weekend.
Smartsheet AI tools empower teams to do more
The Smartsheet Intelligent Work Management platform delivers adaptability and enterprise-grade tools to support work across industries. Save time by harnessing your sheet data to craft compelling ad copy, analyze sentiment, translate text, summarize task status, and more.
-
5 signs your project lacks a critical path
The McLaren Formula 1 Team avoids delays by knowing exactly where their risks lie. Can you say the same?
Here are five red flags:
- Multiple owners for the same milestone
- Tasks frequently completed out of order
- Dependencies not mapped or visible
- Deadlines shifting without impact analysis
- No single source of truth for timeline changes
→ Learn how tracking a project's critical path can flag these issues before they cost you velocity.
-
Are you planning for parallel workstreams?
The McLaren Formula 1 Team didn’t move step by step — they advanced in parallel. Use this quick checklist to assess if your planning is built for concurrency:
- Have you identified which tasks are time-gated vs. those you can run in parallel?
- Are dependencies mapped across functions (not just within them)?
- Are teams empowered to start on “good enough” inputs?
- Do approvals happen asynchronously or in batch?
→ Scoring ¾ or higher? You're ready for high-cadence planning.
The perfect line through a project
Spencer’s team uses Smartsheet Gantt view and tracks the project's critical path to coordinate wind tunnel testing, sequencing tasks, dependencies, and milestones. This reduces bottlenecks and enables concurrent workstreams, allowing parallel prep and finalization of engineering elements.
* Product screens are for illustrative purposes only and do not contain actual McLaren images.
-
Get the right work to the right people — right now
The McLaren Formula 1 Team didn’t just schedule people — they aligned talent to critical moments. Run your team through this checkpoint:
⬜ Are high-skill roles scheduled at moments of peak impact?
⬜ Is resource availability visible alongside project deadlines?
⬜ Are roles allocated based on dependencies, not department lines?
⬜ Are time-off calendars integrated into project timelines?
⬜ Is capacity planning tied to project forecasting?→ If not, you may be burning time — and talent — without realizing it.
-
3 modes of modern resource management
The McLaren Formula 1 Team ran a hybrid model of precision staffing. Which of these best fits your team?
- Reactive: Resourcing based on who’s available
- Tactical: Assignments made via function or department
- Strategic: Resources aligned to critical path milestones and forecasted need
→ Many enterprise teams live in Mode 2. The fastest ones operate in Mode 3. Smartsheet makes the leap from tactical to strategic simple — with centralized views and workload heatmaps.
Get the right work to the right people — right now
McLaren Racing didn’t just schedule people — they aligned talent to critical moments. Run your team through this checkpoint:
⬜ Are high-skill roles scheduled at moments of peak impact?
⬜ Is resource availability visible alongside project deadlines?
⬜ Are roles allocated based on dependencies, not department lines?
⬜ Are time-off calendars integrated into project timelines?
⬜ Is capacity planning tied to project forecasting?
→ If not, you may be burning time — and talent — without realizing it.
Racing the clock with precision
In a world where wind tunnel time is capped at just two shifts a day, every hour — and every person — counts. The McLaren Formula 1 Team relied on Resource Management by Smartsheet to gain visibility into team availability and schedules, ensuring the right engineers, model builders, and testing priorities were aligned in real time. This kept the wind tunnel running at full capacity and minimized downtime between tests.
3 modes of modern resource management
McLaren Racing ran a hybrid model of precision staffing. Which of these best fits your team?
- Reactive: Resourcing based on who’s available
- Tactical: Assignments made via function or department
- Strategic: Resources aligned to critical path milestones and forecasted need
→ Many enterprise teams live in Mode 2. The fastest ones operate in Mode 3. Smartsheet makes the leap from tactical to strategic simple — with centralized views and workload heatmaps.
60,000 projects? No sweat.
Manage multiple portfolios — each made up of massive, complex projects — with ease. Automate and standardize governance without sacrificing quality.
-
Clarity in every lane
Where does your organization fall?
Siloed: Info is shared manually, if at all
Shared Access: Everyone sees everything
Role-Based Views: Visibility is customized by function
- Dynamic Flow: Real-time, need-to-know access by role and phase
→ By tailoring access and visibility without duplicating work, Dynamic View enabled real-time collaboration across roles and locations—keeping every stakeholder aligned, secure, and moving at speed.
Bring relevant information to the right people at the right time.
-
Efficiency without manual work
The McLaren Formula 1 Team automated everything that could slow them down. Here's how to spot manual drag in your own workflow:
⬜ Do task owners have to follow up manually for approvals?
⬜ Are status updates still handled via email or Slack messages?
⬜ Is reporting a weekly fire drill?
⬜ Do stakeholders often ask “where are we with this?”
⬜ Do you update multiple tools just to keep people informed?→ If not, you may be burning time — and talent — without realizing it.
-
Automation at full throttle
In a high-stakes, time-sensitive setting, fast communication is critical. With Smartsheet automation, The McLaren Formula 1 Team set up conditional logic to send alerts and updates the moment test packages were approved or correlation data arrived from CFD results. This removed the need for manual follow-ups and kept approvals moving quickly.
Which product view solves which problem?
- Sequencing complex tasks → Gantt
- Task ownership and status → Board
- Bulk uploads → Table
- Executive reporting → Dashboard
- Cross-team visibility → Timeline
→ Your project isn’t one-dimensional. Your planning tools shouldn’t be either.
-
The ROI of interoperability
A 2025 Accenture study found that enterprises with poor system integration spend 31% more time making decisions — and report 22% higher rates of project friction.
Meanwhile, Forrester’s TEI study of Smartsheet found project delivery accelerated implementation by 50%.
→ McLaren didn’t just unify systems—they unified how teams think, act, and respond using the same real-time source of truth.
-
Tiers of enterprise interoperability
There’s a difference between connected systems and integrated strategy. The McLaren Formula 1 Team reached Tier 3. Where are you?
Manual Imports – updating across systems via manual copy-pasting or one-time file uploads
Cross-System Data Syncing - keep data in sync across your business systems with automated imports and bi-directional connectivity
Cross-Platform Process Automation – automating complex business processes across systems using APIs and workflow automation tools
→ Tier 3 enables true AI
When data talks, teams accelerate
McLaren Racing leveraged Smartsheet Data Shuttle to automate critical aerodynamic and simulation data flow, eliminating manual uploads and reducing decision-making latency. This accelerated feedback loops and maintained alignment across engineering, operations, and leadership.