F1 Practices and Platform Engineering: Why Slow and Steady Won’t Win You the Race

In the world of Formula 1 (F1), speed, precision, and agility are not just buzzwords — they’re a way of life. Every millisecond matters and the slightest delay or misstep can cost a driver the podium. In many ways, platform engineering shares these characteristics. As the backbone of modern digital infrastructure, platform engineers are responsible for enabling fast, efficient, and scalable software delivery. Like F1 teams, they must navigate complex systems, make real-time adjustments, and deliver optimal performance under pressure.

However, in both F1 and platform engineering, one truth stands out: slow and steady won’t win you the race.

The Speed-Focused Nature of F1

F1 teams operate in an high-energy time-critical environment. They optimise every detail: engine performance, aerodynamics, pit stops, and strategy are all carefully tuned for maximum efficiency. Teams aren’t just focused on being fast — they’re focused on being the fastest. They gather enormous amounts of data, analyse performance in real-time, and make split-second decisions to ensure they remain ahead of the competition.

Every decision made in the heat of the moment is based on data and the understanding that speed is essential to winning. Being “slow and steady” in F1 will leave you in the dust.

Platform Engineering: Speed Meets Precision

Platform engineering, much like F1, operates in a high-pressure, high-speed environment. The demand for continuous integration, continuous deployment (CI/CD), and fast iteration cycles means that platform teams need to design systems that are not only stable but also capable of supporting rapid changes and scaling without delay. In modern businesses, the ability to release software updates quickly and reliably is crucial to staying competitive.

Just like F1 engineers constantly adjust and optimise vehicles for each race, platform engineers must continuously improve infrastructure, deployment pipelines, and observability tools to keep everything running at top speed.

Why “Slow and Steady” Fails in Platform Engineering

In many industries, the adage “slow and steady wins the race” is often touted as a philosophy for success. However, in platform engineering, slow and steady leads to stagnation. Here’s why:

1. The Competitive Landscape
   Just like F1 teams that need to stay ahead of rivals, platform engineers must keep up with the fast-moving technological landscape. With rapid innovations in cloud computing, DevOps practices, and container orchestration (think Kubernetes), moving slowly is equivalent to falling behind. Those who aren’t constantly improving their platforms risk being overtaken by competitors with more agile, modern systems.
2. Real-Time Problem Solving
   In F1, unexpected issues like weather conditions, tyre degradation, or mechanical failures require immediate action. Similarly, platform engineers need to solve problems in real-time. Quick responses are essential, whether it’s handling unexpected traffic spikes, mitigating security vulnerabilities, or fixing failed deployments. Slow responses in either environment can lead to catastrophic results, whether that’s a car retiring from the race or an outage that costs a company millions in lost revenue.
3. The Need for Continuous Improvement
   In F1, every race offers new lessons, and teams adjust for the next one. Platform engineering operates under the same ethos of continuous improvement. Static systems that evolve slowly will eventually break under the weight of new demands. Continuous delivery pipelines, automated testing, and infrastructure as code are all ways platform engineers maintain the pace needed to deliver value quickly and consistently.
4. Optimising for Speed and Reliability
   In F1, the fastest car is not always the most reckless one; it’s the car that is optimised to perform at high speeds while maintaining control. Similarly, platform engineers optimise systems to handle high traffic, scale efficiently, and stay reliable under heavy workloads. Slow and steady might mean fewer risks, but it also means fewer opportunities to push the boundaries of what’s possible.

The Pit Stop Analogy: Speed with Precision

One of the most iconic moments in any F1 race is the pit stop. In under two seconds, a crew of highly skilled engineers swaps tyres, adjusts the car, and sends the driver back out. Every person knows their role, every move is calculated, and there’s no room for error. This high-speed precision mirrors the CI/CD pipelines of platform engineering. Just like F1 pit crews, platform engineers automate repetitive tasks, streamline processes, and ensure that systems are maintained efficiently and effectively.

A slow and steady pit stop would be disastrous in F1. Similarly, in platform engineering, if deploying a new feature or patch takes too long, it disrupts the entire flow of development and delivery. Engineers must create automated, seamless processes that deliver changes without unnecessary friction or downtime.

Final Lap: Continuous Evolution and Build vs Buy

F1 is a relentless sport, constantly evolving with new technologies, regulations, and challenges. Similarly, platform engineering never stays still. New cloud-native technologies, architectural patterns, and developer tools emerge continuously. For platform engineers, staying ahead means continuously optimising their internal developer platforms (IDPs) to handle rapid delivery without sacrificing quality or reliability. But the question remains — should they build these platforms from scratch or buy a pre-built solution to gain a competitive edge?

This decision mirrors the strategic choices F1 teams face in deciding whether to manufacture key components in-house or buy them from specialized suppliers. Those who rely solely on “slow and steady” custom builds may eventually be outpaced by competitors who buy specialized parts, allowing them to focus on fine-tuning performance. Conversely, buying everything off the shelf can limit a team’s ability to innovate and tailor solutions for specific needs.

The same applies to platform engineering. Building a custom IDP offers deep control and customisation but can slow down time-to-market and require ongoing maintenance. Buying a pre-built platform solution offers immediate speed and scalability but might not cater to every unique business need.

So, the final lap in the race for platform excellence is about striking the right balance. Platform engineers must weigh the trade-offs between building or buying an IDP, ensuring they make the right choice to keep their team agile, innovative, and ready to cross the finish line in the first place.

Build vs Buy: Internal Developer Platforms in the Race for Speed

As platform engineering teams strive to maintain the pace and precision of an F1 pit crew, they face a critical decision: should they build an internal developer platform (IDP) from scratch, or should they buy an off-the-shelf solution? Just like a Formula 1 team evaluates whether to manufacture parts in-house or purchase them from specialised suppliers, platform engineers must assess whether building their own platform or investing in a pre-built solution will get them across the finish line faster.

The choice between building or buying an internal developer platform has significant implications on speed, agility, and long-term scalability. Here’s how to think about it through the lens of the F1 analogy, and why making the right choice can make or break your platform engineering team’s performance.

The Case for Building: Tailored to Perfection

In F1, every team designs their car based on the unique strengths and strategies of their driver and crew. For some organisations, building an internal developer platform from scratch offers similar advantages. By designing your own platform, you can customise it to meet the exact needs of your engineering teams and infrastructure. This gives you complete control over how your platform evolves, from the integration of specialised tools to the scalability of your deployment processes.

Why build?

1. Customization and Control: When you build, you have complete freedom to design a platform that fits your organisation’s specific needs. You can integrate custom workflows, build specialised tools, and modify the platform over time without being constrained by a vendor’s roadmap.
2. Optimised for Specific Use Cases: Like an F1 team tuning their car for specific tracks, a homegrown IDP can be tailored for your business needs, whether it’s high-complexity microservices, low-latency systems, or stringent compliance requirements.
3. Strategic Differentiation: If your platform is a competitive differentiator (e.g., you need a unique infrastructure that supports cutting-edge products), building it in-house can provide unique value that off-the-shelf solutions can’t match.

However, building comes with its own set of risks. In an F1 race, if a team spends too much time developing a custom part, they may lose valuable practice time or delay race-day readiness. Similarly, building a custom IDP can lead to delays, significant costs, and increased maintenance burden, especially as your organisation scales.

The Case for Buying: Accelerating to the Finish Line

In F1, teams often buy parts that are not their core competency — tyres, for example, are provided by a specialised manufacturer. In platform engineering, buying an internal developer platform means leveraging solutions that are battle-tested, scalable, and supported by a dedicated vendor. By opting for a pre-built platform, teams can focus on what they do best: delivering value to end-users and customers rather than building infrastructure from the ground up.

Why buy?

1. Faster Time to Market: Pre-built IDP solutions are like ready-made race cars. They allow platform engineers to hit the ground running, enabling faster adoption and quicker value delivery. In today’s competitive landscape, time-to-market is critical, and a purchased platform can dramatically shorten development cycles.
2. Lower Maintenance Overhead: Maintaining a custom-built platform can be like constantly tuning an F1 car — time-consuming and costly. A purchased IDP allows platform teams to offload infrastructure management, bug fixes, and updates to a vendor, freeing them to focus on higher-value tasks like improving developer workflows and optimising resource allocation.
3. Proven Reliability: Established vendors often have large teams dedicated to ensuring the reliability and scalability of their platforms. Much like F1 teams trust specialised suppliers for critical components, platform engineers can rely on vendors for stable, tested solutions, ensuring they’re not reinventing the wheel.
4. Scaling with Ease: As organizations grow, scaling a custom-built platform can become increasingly complex. Purchased platforms often come with built-in scaling features and comprehensive support to handle increased demand, much like an F1 team using a reliable supplier for high-performance parts when they need to push the limits.

Striking the Balance: Hybrid Approaches

For many platform engineering teams, the best approach is often a hybrid one — much like how F1 teams balance in-house development and purchased components. They may start with a bought solution that covers their core needs and then customise or extend it where necessary, combining the best of both worlds. By doing this, platform engineers can benefit from the speed and reliability of an off-the-shelf solution while still tailoring specific parts of the platform to meet their unique requirements.

SkyU: A Solution to Accelerate Your Platform Engineering

This is something me and my team has been working on for quite a while with speed and performance in mind. If you’re considering the buy option for an internal developer platform, SkyU is a powerful solution designed to meet the demands of modern platform engineering. SkyU is built to help teams streamline their development processes, enabling faster software delivery while maintaining the stability and scalability needed to compete in today’s fast-paced environment.

With SkyU, platform engineering teams can:

• Accelerate time to market: SkyU’s pre-built platform ensures you can get started quickly, reducing the friction and delays associated with building an IDP from scratch.
• Optimise developer productivity: By providing streamlined workflows and automation tools, SkyU helps your engineering teams focus on innovation rather than infrastructure management.
• Scale with confidence: As your organisation grows, SkyU’s platform scales effortlessly, ensuring that your internal systems are always ready to handle increasing demands.
• Reduce operational overhead: SkyU offers continuous updates and support, allowing platform engineers to focus on delivering value rather than worrying about maintaining the platform itself.

Choosing SkyU as your internal developer platform lets you bypass the complexities and time constraints of building a custom platform, while still providing the flexibility, reliability, and speed needed to keep your teams at the front of the race.

In the world of F1, the winner isn’t the one who drives the safest, but the one who drives the fastest while making the fewest mistakes. In platform engineering, the same holds true: speed, agility, and continuous improvement are the keys to success.

So, buckle up — slow and steady won’t win this race.