The Art of War...scratch that; The Art of Fast War

As you might know, war in any sports, not just F1, is built outside of the activity; at least it starts there. Why? you might ask? “so not to look like a bunch of wankers!" at least that is what Guenther would say. But seriously, most of your time should be spent sharpening your swords, if you’ve got a war ahead. If not, well you end up loosing, and fast. Any wise competitor should know that.

In a sport like F1, each season, at least 20 races are held in different locations like Abu Dhabi in the middle east and now Las Vegas in the southwestern part of the U.S.A. You might think oh well, all that needs worrying about is the state of the cars and the drivers welfare. Yes, those are vital, infact, indispensable to being competitive in a race. However, there are multiple moving parts here and there that if not properly taken care of, might mean failure. A simple example is: If a competitor, lets say Ferrari, happen to have a better supply chain management and damage control, than a competitor, that alone can mean their cars arrive on time, they get enough time to test, and get sufficient time to fix anything that needs fixing. If the competitor fails in doing all of those, they are already a foot behind, especially when competing in a different climate from the preceding race. These things tend to happen often. So how do you fight this? you have to have the right guys everywhere! Nothing can be delayed, nothing should arrive earlier than needed or later. Now you have the to hire the right people on time, or a competitor grabs them; yes, do not think only drivers get scouted.

Another example, at the racing event this time, is when there is a penalty called against a team whose team principal believes was unjustified or gave an unfair advantage to a competitor or both. One of the FIA rules demands you go make your case to the authorities within 30 minutes of the race being over. Now if some staff from any side, gives you some assurance that it is okay to make your case within 45 minutes; for whatever reason; you might still get heard. And maybe the verdict goes in your favor. But be rest assured that the competitor(s) who gets impacted by that verdict will get wind of that seemingly harmless violation and they will definitely use that to get the verdict annulled. Do things within the specified time, simple. Things like this happen every season, if a team does not compete or war wisely, that might mean loosing a podium and likely a couple million bucks! no team wants that, especially in a sport that is very expensive to run.

Time is of the essence on and off the track, in and out of season, in and out the paddock.