Unsung hero - Martin Pople.

With 16 races a year spread around the globe, a race team of 60 to organise and in excess of 20 tonnes of freight to get to the right place at the right time, the job of team co-ordinator is a key one for any F1 team. Within Lucky Strike BAR Honda it's a role filled by Martin Pople.

Pople, who has been with BAR since it's inception in 1998, began his career in Formula One in 1991, with the Benetton Formula One team. It may be a clich?, but as a self-confessed motorsport fanatic, his career break was a dream that came true.

He explains: "I had applied for some jobs at Benetton back in 1990 and the usual thing happened - I was put on file and didn't think I'd hear anymore about it. Then in February '91 someone from the team called and said they were looking for a truckie. So, I was driving Tesco trucks one week and Phoenix the next."

It must have been a surreal moment for Martin, who watched his first ever race at Brands Hatch in 1971. Now he was working for a top F1 team.

"I suppose I was, and still am, very lucky but I can't remember a thing about my first race other than being completely in awe of the whole thing! All of a sudden my hobby was my job, which I guess it still is now."

After five years with Benetton, Pople found himself heading to Arrows to fill the role of chief truckie.

"When I went to Arrows as chief truckie, I got the opportunity to design some of the trucks and equipment, which I really liked. I've continued to do that at BAR as well - looking at the trucks and the motorhomes, working out how to make them easy to use and functional and making sure they look good. It's a part of my job that I enjoy. When I got the call to join BAR, it was obviously a new team, so although I joined as the chief truckie, I also helped design various bits and pieces that the team needed for it's first races as well. After three years doing that I stepped up to the role as team co-ordinator and that's what I've been doing ever since."

What does the role of team co-ordinator involve? "I mainly deal with the garage set-up and how we design it. I also do a lot of work for the fly-away races, liaising with the circuits, organising the equipment and making sure it's all there with the truckies when they need it. Apart from that, it's anything from making sure that the mechanics have their overalls and the drivers have their race suits, to drawing maps for people when they get lost on the way to the circuit! Basically, I call myself the 'mother' of the team!"

In addition to the masses of organisational tasks required over a race weekend, Pople assumes the role of 'tyre spotter' when the cars are on track, looking to see what compounds all the other teams are running and reporting back to the team so that the engineers have an idea of what everyone else on the grid is doing.

Away from the track Poplr works back at Brackley HQ, preparing for the next race: "Actually I try to work two or three races in front, on anything from hire vehicles to equipment. We've got flyways coming up soon, so I am busy with those as well. What we do is continuous, so I working ahead all the time."

Given the stress, the pressure and the long hours, what is it about the job that Pople loves so much? "It's the fact that I never stand still and that there's always something to be done. At the moment for example, I'm looking at new designs for the motorhomes that won't come in for several years yet but that we need to start thinking about now. I'm also helping design some new mechanics pit helmets. Basically in my job you don't sit still. There's always something around the corner that you're looking to move forward. Things change presenting me with new challenges all the time. That's why I like it so much."