I’ve become quite the Formula 1 fan over the last 18 months or so. I discovered Drive to Survive on Netflix and after making my way through the spectacle, the drama and the high performance culture of the series, I started watching races this year as well. My enthusiasm for the sport has only increased the more I’ve watched it.
And the events of the last couple of seasons are chock full of lessons for both the guys performing at the most elite level in the world, and those of us lesser mortals who are still trying to work our way up. Here are some that I’ve picked out from both the TV series and the actual events as they’ve unfolded this year.
Lesson 1: Don’t get too caught up wanting to be the main character
There’s been the idea over the last decade or so that you should be the main character in the movie that is your life. And if you don’t feel that way, if you just feel like a supporting character in everyone else’s, that you probably need to make a change. But there’s something to realise here: you can still be the main character in your own life while playing a supporting role.
Example: Daniel Ricciardo.
He left Red Bull Racing because he wasn’t happy being second string to Max Verstappen. From there, he spent 4 years in the wilderness, first with Renault and then with McLaren. He won a race and if memory serves, podiumed a couple of times as well, but his performance ended up bad enough that McLaren cut him and even paid out his contract.
All for him to end up back at Red Bull as number 3, and now at AlphaTauri.
Now he’s a competitive guy and wants to win races, but there’s something else to consider here: Ricciardio is the most marketable guy in F1 right now. The fans love him, his presence in the series has made him a superstar and he gets lots of press attention. Verstappen might be the dominant force in racing, but he doesn’t hold a candle to Ricciardo’s likability and marketability.
And because of all that and his driving ability, he may end up back at Red Bull as number 2, right where he was when he left because he felt unsatisfied with his position.
The moral of the story here? Don’t underestimate what you can achieve as the supporting act to someone else. Don’t turn a blind eye to where you can be the main character, just because it doesn’t feel as prestigious. The reality is that while Verstappen may be a superstar and number 1, he’s certainly no fan favourite, the press think he’s boring and he doesn’t bring much to the spectacle of F1.
Lesson 2: If you’re unlucky, then take charge
Poor Charles LeClerc. When he was signed to Ferrari a couple of years ago, the world was at his feet and he was going to be the rival of Verstappen. Fast forward to now, and Ferrari has been utterly hopeless in multiple aspects as a racing team, especially on strategy. And then it all culminated in the formation lap at Brazil, where he was starting 2nd on the grid, and he ran into the barriers due to a hydraulics failure, ending his race before he could even line up to start.
“I lost the hydraulics. Why the fuck am I so unlucky!?”
Unfortunately, he’s unlucky because Ferrari has been utterly shit. So what do you do when the people around you are letting you down? Do you continue as is and just hope that things turn around? No. You take charge and impose control, wherever and however you can. That’s what Charles did at the next race in Abu Dhabi where, instead of being at the mercy of team strategy, he dictated to them what he was going to do.
And boy, did the F1 world love to see it.
It didn’t quite pan out for him, but it was the first step and hopefully the start of him maturing and fulfilling his potential.
So if you’re still making your climb, finding people around you are fucking up and holding you back, begin exercising control wherever you can. Trust people only when they’ve proven themselves. Build the best team around you that you can.
Lesson 3: Ask the right questions when things go wrong
I was listening to the High Performance Podcast episode with Lando Norris where he talked about the post race debrief after some friction with his race engineer that contributed to him losing an advantage and being beaten by Hamilton. The main question he asked about his actions was not “did this affect the outcome?” but “what could I have done better?”
I address this in one of the modules of my course and it’s the core idea of Jocko Wilink’s Extreme Ownership. It doesn’t matter what the outcome of anything is, what matters is answering the question: what could I have done better or differently?
Because even if something isn’t your responsibility or fault, if you could’ve changed the outcome by doing something differently, why wouldn’t you take the lesson and do it next time?
Lesson 4: Lashing out at others makes you look like a jackass
There’s a great scene with the team principles having a meeting after they discovered a porpoising issue with their cars under the new regulations. Most of the teams had fixed theirs, but Mercedes was still suffering the issue. Their team principal, Toto Wolff, lashed out at all of them saying they were putting their drivers at risk and he’d hold them accountable.
Cue Christan Horner (Red Bull team principal): “If you’ve got a problem, then fix your fucking car.”
He was 100% correct, and Wolff was humiliated.
Wolff looked like a petulant child the way he lashed out emotionally. This is why control over your emotions is so important, because when we get emotional, we say things the wrong way, we look out of control and every single time, we alienate the people around us.
Lesson 5: Find your zone
Another episode of the High Performance Podcast I listened to was Alex Albon. When asked about the media scrutiny and how he handles the pressure, one of the things he said was that once he has his helmet on, he’s a different person and he doesn’t feel any of that.
This is an aspect of the alter ego effect that I talked about in my recent YouTube video. Being able to switch into a different version of yourself that has the exact qualities you need to excel at whatever you’re doing. It’s always nice to see that something you’ve arrived at independently on your own is backed up by the best of the best.
Lesson 6: You’ll never regret pushing yourself hard
This is one that’s become clear just seeing the sport as a whole, not from any one in particular. These guys - the drivers, the team principles, everyone involved, push themselves all the time. Always trying to get that extra drop of performance, always toeing that line of risk.
Lando Norris is only in his mid twenties, and at an age where everyone else was out getting drunk and partying, he was in a race car every weekend, pushing speeds exceeding 300km/h. Pushing himself until he made it to the big leagues of F1.
That’s true of every one of those drivers and their teams. Do you think they regret it in the slightest? Of course they don’t. The Western societal narrative at the moment is that you shouldn’t work too hard, you should spend more time enjoying and appreciating life, and practising self care.
But here’s the reality: you’ll never regret pushing yourself hard in something that you’re passionate about, and choosing to miss out on other things. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.