Athletes competing at their home court win more often, but science suggests it does depend on the quality of the player. This makes sense when you realize that our brain’s stress response has a field day when we have to perform at home. Stress can stimulate performance, depending on whether it is framed as a […]
Marcia
The Dopamine Machine
The race was also memorable because of the emotional response of the entire Williams team after Nicholas Latifi and George Russell scored the team their first points in a long time. We heard George on the board radio saying ‘If you need to compromise my race to help Nicky, do it. Prioritise Nicky’. George is […]
Experience Bias
As a neuroscientist and diversity, inclusion & culture consultant, I have this (sometimes annoying) tendency to deconstruct situations. To always look at things from all perspectives, and pinpoint bias in reasoning and decision making. I saw a lot of that this weekend. More specifically, a category of biases that can be summarized as experience bias. […]
Boring Race, Exciting Weekend
And then there was Lewis. A lot of people expected him to call it a day after this season, but instead he signed a 2-year contract extension this weekend. That means he will continue his great work with Mercedes both on and off the track. The determination we’ve seen on track throughout his entire career […]
Stronger by Losing
As some of you know, I am fascinated by the dynamics of Formula 1 teams and have been studying team culture in F1 for quite a while now. Formula 1 teams operate on the absolute cutting edge of technology and human performance. Since the start of the hybrid F1 era, Mercedes has been the team […]
2020 F1 season review – a blogging collaboration with Andrew Cohen-Wray, mental performance coach for the McLaren F1 team
These protocols would put massive stresses on the teams as they created their own ‘bubbles’, meaning contact was at a minimum. With many back to back races on the fixtures team members would stay isolated at hotels between rounds, with some countries enforcing very strict rules. This would mean team members were unable to travel […]
F1 Drivers are Superheroes
1. When we look at the behaviors associated with resilience, then admitting being wrong is one of the most crucial behavioral factors. After yesterday’s race, drivers like Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and even Romain himself explicitly stated that they realize they had been critical of the HALO before its introduction, but have completely changed their […]
Threat versus Challenge
As I mention often: the brain can frame stress as a threat or a challenge. A threat perception leads to rigidity, impeding performance, while a challenge perception leads to resilience, allowing you to rise above and beyond expectations. Speaking of resilience and rising above & beyond: Lewis Hamilton. I consider myself a relatively neutral Formula […]
Resilience is Key
The next few races will be a true test of George’s character and mindset. I firmly believe though that he will come back stronger than ever. He has done an amazing job in the feeder series, and has outqualified every teammate he’s had in every GP in which he’s participated. Resilience is key in F1. […]
What a Driver
these: ‘Half-breed, kill yourself in your car.’‘I hope you run over your dad in the first pit stop, Hamilton.’ All my F1 analyses have been about the skills contributing to resilience, as that is the reason I started studying motor sports. If I had to pick one driver who embodies everything that I know about […]