F1 Racing - UK (2020-01)

IGNITION

JANUARY 2020

What areth esecretsto runnin ga record-

breakingFormula1t eam?

Strongleadership, retainingyour bestpeople,

providingastructureinw hich theycan flourish,

creatinga workingcultur edevoidof egosopeople

can innovatewithoutfearoffailure, building

redundancyintothesystem sonodepartmentis

unsustainably over-stretched.

Thelistgoeson.Andinaworldso unstableasF1,

thisisno teasy work –andtakestime.

Mercedes hasbecome thebestbecauseitleaves

nostone unturned inpursuitofperfection. Yes,vast

budgetiscrucial,butasTo toWolffexplains(p50),

success isaboutpeoplefirst and foremost–getting

the most out ofthem, butalso helpingthemto get

the most from themselves.Happy workers arehard

workers,andrewardinggood workersmake sthem

happy,andwanttowork harder...

This approach tothehuman elementof the

organisationissimilartohowthe team tackles

developmentofthecar. We’retalkingabout

‘marginalgains’,puttinghundredsofpieces

together intheperfectorder andoptimisingeach

ofthem.Wolffdescribesthisas a“goodanalo gy”

ofwhathe’stryingtoachieveasteam leader.

Itwas fascinatingto spendtimeinterviewing

Totoabouthis workoverthe pa stsevenyears,

as wededicatethisissueto celebratingthe

incrediblerecentachievements ofMercedes inF1,

andrevealingsomeof thesecretstothatsuccess.

WealsospokewithLewisHamiltonandValtteri

Bottas,and went ona specialtour ofMercedes’

Brixworthenginefacility, whichhasbeenkeyto this

amazingrun.Of course,therearemanyhundreds

ofotherswho aren’t featured,butwhowereall

vitaltothis landmarkachievement.Withoutthem,

Mercedeswoul dneverrealisethesemarginalgains

soconsistentlyandexpertly,yearafteryear.

There isanargumenttosaythisMercedesteam

isnow the bestFormula1haseverseen,having

nowsurpassedJeanTodt/RossBrawn/RoryByrne/

MichaelSchumacher-eraFerraribytakingsix

consecutivetitle doubles.AndrewBenson weighs

thedebateon page32.

HadSchumachernotbroken his legin1999 it’s

likelyMercedes wouldhaveneededanother season

tobeatthat mightybenchmark.Evenwith Ferrari

resurgentin thesecondhalfof2019,andRed Bull

Hondaon therise,itwo uld be brav eto betagainst

Mercedesmaki ngit sevenandsevenin2020.

AsStuartCodling’sstory about the2019 car

thatnever racedshows,Mercedeskeepsfinding

new waystostayaheadofthe game.The way

theop positionarerepeatedly pummelledis

frustrating for fans who wanttoseeepic fights ,

butit’sa marvelnonetheless. Between thismighty

team andHamilton’sincredibledriving,weare

witnessinghistory inthemaking.

Hard work keeps Mercedes on top

ANDREW BENSON

When he's not helping

in the BBC Radio 5 Live

commentary box,

Benson isgetting intel

from the paddock.Read

his view on Merc on p

PATSYMONDS

In Austin, Pat wason

hand as F1 and theFIA

unveiled their 2021 rules.

This month he beginsto

explain how they came

toge ther, seepage 24

PAUL RIPKE

For the pastfew

years Ripke hasbeen

embedded with the

Mercedesteam. His

montage of engine HQ

Brixworth is on p

SCOTTMITCHELL

Having recently left

the UKfor a new life in

snowySweden, Scott

continuesto beat the

F1 trail. His Alex Albon

insight is on page 82

Contributors

Ben

Anderson

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principals

Drivers Pit crew Subscriptions

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Ben Anderson

President,

Motorsport

Network

James Allen

ThankstoTim Bampton, Morgan Caron, Lisa diCorato, Silvia HofferFrangipane, Jacques Heckstall-Smith, Victoria Lloyd, BradleyLord, MartynPass,

AnthonyPeacock,Paul Ripke, Rodrigo Sanchez, Charlotte Sefton, Rachel Sheffi eld,Felix Siggemann, Sjoerd van Wijk, Rosa HerreroVenegas

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