For many fans around the world, Formula One racing is the turbocharged embodiment of cutting-edge engineering. But − from those employed in the design and building of the cars, to the pit crews and the drivers themselves – the whole enterprise is dependent on human effort.
As part of the UK's Year of Engineering, the Science Museum in London recently held an event titled The Science of Formula One. Addressing the attendees, James Allison, technical director for Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport spoke of how, a few days before, Lewis Hamilton had won his fifth world championship title.
Even though he had just achieved something only two other individuals had before him, Mr Hamilton was apparently “devastated” at his team’s poor performance and spent the following hours not celebrating, but debriefing with his colleagues and trying to understand what went wrong during the race.
While F1 teams and drivers are household names, the coaches in charge of the physical and psychological training of the drivers and their teams are largely unknown. The current leader in this market is Hintsa Performance, a coaching and digital wellbeing company, whose affiliated drivers have won 13 F1 world championships and achieved 96 per cent of the podium places over the past four seasons.
A few years ago, I joined the science board of Hintsa Performance, where we use personalised neuroinformatics to better understand the brain dynamics of high-performance sportspeople and workers.
The company was also at the museum event. There, it revealed that it starts working with drivers as young as 13 years old, helping them to optimise their lives for success with training that includes physical activity, nutrition, biomechanics, sleep and mental preparation.
F1 is a high-pressure environment. Drivers have to make split-second decisions while travelling at speeds in excess of 370kph, in a cramped cockpit, where the field of view is limited, G-force is extreme and the temperature can reach 50C. They can lose up to 3kg in a single race and have to communicate with their teammates while executing multiple of complex commands at any one time.
For an average worker, multitasking can reduce productivity by up to 40 per cent. A good F1 driver, forced to multitask in a race environment, can lose up to half a second per lap. Champions, however, can keep their decision-making, reaction and lap times relatively unaffected, thanks to exceptional skills, honed by hours of physiological, biomechanical, cognitive and emotional training.
As they approach the final race of their season in Abu Dhabi, F1 drivers will have spent on average 172 days away from home, flown at least 110,000 miles, and visited 21 countries where the Grand Prix takes place.
According to James Hewitt, chief innovation officer at Hintsa Performance: “The Formula One season is a feat of endurance. Stress and effort can be positive if they are managed within an acceptable range, with adequate time to bounce back and switch off.”
Many executives travel as much as the F1 drivers. They also have to manage significant amounts of stress and physical and mental fatigue. Earlier this year, we compared the cognitive performances of some of the top executives attending the World Economic Forum event in Davos to that of F1 drivers.
Unsurprisingly, the drivers have higher accuracy and alertness levels, but when it comes to speed of response, there is barely a difference. Fundamentally, the brains of top performers in sport and in business operate in similar ways. They also have another thing in common − their ability to select an optimal work-rest ratio, which often means learning how to say no to certain opportunities, in order to recover better, and prepare for the next bout of peak performance.
There is much to learn from the way professional athletes and high achievers manage their wellbeing and optimise their levels of focus and competitiveness over long periods. Sustainable high performance, in sport or the workplace, is only achievable if people manage their efforts in a rigorously scientific manner. Knowing exactly when to push on through, when to celebrate and when to rest can put us all on the right track for success.
Professor Olivier Oullier is the president of Emotiv, a neuroscientist and a DJ
Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
Jawan
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Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
LILO & STITCH
Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Rating: 4.5/5
MATCH INFO
RB Leipzig 2 (Klostermann 24', Schick 68')
Hertha Berlin 2 (Grujic 9', Piatek 82' pen)
Man of the match Matheus Cunha (Hertha Berlin
TWISTERS
Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Starring: Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Anthony Ramos
Rating: 2.5/5
Shubh Mangal Saavdhan
Directed by: RS Prasanna
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar
Naga
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
