F1 teams are workplaces
A lot of Formula 1 team-driver-fit discourse centers on this phrase “they haven’t given him the car” or “he can’t make sense of the car”, when in many examples, it’s not the car fit that’s the problem: it’s the team culture.
Alex Albon thrives in the new Williams, with James Vowles, who seems like a gentle but determined leader. They’ve created room for him to own his progress, grow with the team, and deliver something collectively. Compare to Red Bull (iykyk).
Lando, same, but McLaren. He’s grown with the team. It’s co-operative. It’s mutual support and trust. It’s co-dependence (in a good way). Pundits who wax about Lando moving to Red Bull like it’s a simple cut and paste job have forgotten that F1 drivers are human employees who need nurturing.
Hamilton at Ferrari is a little more 3D. Did he only get on well at Mercedes because of a dominant car? His chemistry with Toto, Bono, and the gang surely were a part. Now, yes he has to learn new people, new buttons, new strategy idiosyncracies, but he’s also in an Italian-led culture with a different engineer and it’s not what he’s used to. Change is hard! It’s not all driving!!
Perez was good at Red Bull until he wasn’t. Then something about the culture there put him into a doom spiral of more pressure, poorer results, rinse, repeat. See also Albon. Gasly. Lawson.
Yuki came into the season with a lot of confidence, like “Many have tried and I will succeed”, and for a minute I thought he was gonna get through the heat. I can now imagine that the heat is being turned up, the confidence melting somewhat, and we’ll see how long he can stand it. (But as an aside, I love Yuki’s journey from shouty gamer teen to slightly more composed adult and I really hope he makes it).
Formula 1 drivers probably have to use Teams/Slack/Zoom and Confluence/SharePoint/Whatever like the rest of us. They are employees with email, messages, and meetings. Their experience of all of these things colours the experience just as it does for today’s information worker.
They have management 1:1s. They probably have KPIs and personnel reviews and all-hands meetings.
“F1 drivers - they’re just like us!”
But truly, the things that make a good workplace must be more than the “vehicle” you’re given to drive. Culture is everything from people and praxis through tools, tech and teamwork.
A culture that’s good for one person might be toxic to another. I kind of touched on this in January when I noticed a colleague struggling in a workplace I find great… since I’ve also been that person struggling in an org that others seem to just love and own.
People are all different, it turns out. 🍫🧀