6 career lessons we can take from Formula 1

Anyone who knows me, know that I’ve become a bit of an F1 geek these last couple of years.

As I watched the second race of the season the other week, I started to reflect on the success factors in F1 and how similar they are to success factors in our professional lives.

These are 6 lessons we can take away from F1:

1.??????You can’t make it on your own. You need to plug in a range of expertise. Before I knew anything about F1, I thought the success was due to the brilliance of the driver. That is only partly true. The driver is nothing without his team – from the mechanics and the engineers, to the performance coach and the Team principles, they all play a crucial role to win the race. In the same way, you can’t be the expert in everything – you need other experts to help you win in life.

2.??????Building a successful career requires multiple components. In F1, to build a winning car you need to take multiple factors in to account. It’s not just to make it as fast as possible, but also think of weight limit, how to prevent overheating and safety measurements, just to mention a few. In your career, success is also due to many factors such as; how your supportive your manager is, how well you’re looking after your health and the global economy – it’s not just how hard you work.

3.??????You need to stay agile and adapt to new ground. In F1, the weather conditions have a huge impact on the strategy, especially the tire strategy. The teams need to stay on top of ever changing conditions and adjust appropriately. The same applies to our careers, you need to stay on top of the professional climate and adjust with the times - whether it’s learning new technology or change our marketing strategy, you need to change with the circumstances.

4.??????Sometimes holding back is required for long-term gain. “Slow and steady wins the race” is a common expression that may not make you think of F1. But the fact is that the drivers need to manage their tires to be able to win in the end. Patience is a virtue, even in car racing. Just like the drivers need to manage their tires, you need to manage your energy, time and money to succeed in the long run.

5.??????Sh*t happens that you can’t control, just accept it. I imagine that few things are as frustrating for a driver as when they are in the lead and someone else crashes. When the safety car pulls out in front of them and everyone in the race suddenly has the chance to catch up with them. In these situation, all they can do is to accept it and keep their cool. They will get another chance to pull away soon. Same applies to your career. There will always be situations you can’t control, like a world pandemic, or mass redundancies. All you can do is accept it, keep your cool and move forward.

6.??????Trust and communication is key. In F1, the driver is the only one who knows how the car feels and how it behaves, but your team behind the screens in the paddock has data that the driver does not have. Trusting each other and communicating between themselves is essential to be able to maximise their potential. This is also true in your professional life, if you don’t have trust in your team and if you don’t have transparent communication, you will struggle to succeed.

What lessons do you take away from sports you like??