Applying the Science of Team Science to Formula 1

Once again, it’s time for the annual International Science of Team Science Conference!

At the conference this week we’ve talked a lot about academic teams and science research teams, but I also want to reflect on how I think about the science of team science in non-academic contexts. For those who aren’t familiar, the National Cancer Institute’s Collaboration and Team Science: A Field Guide describes team science as “as a collaborative and often cross-disciplinary approach to scientific inquiry that draws researchers who otherwise work independently or as coinvestigators on smaller-scale projects into collaborative centers and groups.” Those who study the science of team science studies these teams, their processes and outcomes, and the types of interventions that may be helpful.

As an avid Formula 1 (F1) fan and a team science/science of team science researcher, I spend a lot of time during race weekends thinking about the ways that the science of team science can be applied to F1 and the types of team science interventions that might improve team performance. F1 teams are multiteam systems, where teams of engineers, mechanics, and strategists (among others) work together towards a common goal or goals. These teams themselves can also be multi- or interdisciplinary, bringing together individual with different expertise. Depending on a team, goals could include the Constructors' Championship, the Drivers’ Championship, winning a race, a podium finish, or even just finishing in the points. Forming a successful F1 team capable of achieving any of these goals requires multidisciplinary leadership, as well as functional communication, collaboration, and team processes.

While not a perfect tool for every situation, the 10-step collaboration plan developed by Hall, Crowston, and Vogel works as an introduction to the wide variety of aspects a team must consider when collaborating towards a common goal, including: rationale for team approach and configuration, collaboration readiness, technological readiness, team functioning, team communication & coordination, leadership/management/administration, conflict prevention and management, training, quality improvement activities, and budget & resource allocation.

I’m not going to cover all ten aspects in this post, instead I’ll focus on team communication & coordination and team functioning, which are the areas plaguing most of the teams this season.  I do want to note that as fans, we see very little of the behind-the-scenes work at these teams, which can make commenting on these areas somewhat speculative. What I discuss below relies on messaging that comes from teams, observations during races and interviews, and historical data. 

Team Communication & Coordination
As mentioned above, F1 teams are multiteam systems that require an immense amount of interteam leadership and communication. During a race, however, the majority of communication takes place between a driver and their race engineer (with occasional input from a team strategist and team principal as well). The race engineer is in charge of relaying the information from strategists to the drivers. This requires rapid synthesis of communication from different disciplines by members at the track and at the home base of the team that then is delivered to a driver in quick, understandable messages.  

Last weekend during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, we saw the importance of team communication and the damage that poor communication can play. Nicolas Latifi’s race engineer instructed him to “stay out” during a red flag when Latifi should have come down the pitlane. This miscommunication resulted in a 30 second penalty for Latifi, as well as three points on his super license.  

It is critical that F1 drivers and their race engineers are able to communicate at a frequency that is comfortable for both the driver and engineer and that they use terms that are understood by both. Adding a challenge to team communication is the fact that F1 team radio communications are available to all teams during a race, so your competitors are able to hear your in-race communications. This makes the development of an agreed-upon common language, including code phrases, all the more important.  

In terms of coordination, the use of team orders can be contentious if not discussed and agreed upon prior to a race. Team orders, where a team can tell a driver to let the team’s other driver pass or to hold position, are a longstanding area of controversy in F1. The fact that these have moved from legal to illegal and back to legal again has not helped this. The “Valtteri, it’s James,” radio call from James Vowels (Mercedes Chief Strategist) to Valtteri Bottas during the 2018 Russian Grand Prix, which led to Bottas ceding his place in the race to Lewis Hamilton, is one of the more blatant examples from the recent F1 era. However, team orders persist even as recently as this year during the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, where team orders from McLaren instructed Daniel Riccciardo to let Lando Norris pass for position. If teams are not addressing the use of team orders in their communication and coordination plan, they are setting themselves up for another area of concern: conflict management.  

Team Functioning
According to Hall, Vogel, & Crowston, team functioning takes into consideration how teams bring together their unique characteristics and how they think about achieving their key processes.  

Team functioning can be impacted when adding additional members to a team. At McLaren, Daniel Ricciardo has been struggling with his move from Renault (now Alpine) while younger teammate Lando Norris (currently in his third year driving for McLaren) hasn’t finished lower than eighth in a race this season. Pundits question if this is the end of Ricciardo’s career and if moving to McLaren was the right move, while McLaren have publicly supported Daniel’s time getting up to speed and have incentivized Daniel to podium (which, it should be pointed out, they have not done for Norris). Last year, many fans were excited for the pairing of Norris and Ricciardo at McLaren, but so far, they have rarely appeared together and the “meme-squad” many were anticipating has not come to fruition. The combination of Ricciardo and Norris’ performances, their treatment by the media and fans, their unique strengths and the need to have both in the points in order to ensure team success point to McLaren’s need to focus on process. Using the team science framework would help McLaren improve perception & teamwork off the track and performance on the track. As a Toolbox Dialogue Initiative researcher, I think a TDI workshop focused on surfacing views, values, and assumptions through philosophically-guided discussion between the drivers and the leadership could kickstart that process discussion. I’ve been bold enough in the past to email CEO Zak Brown, so email me back Zak and let’s talk about how to do this together!

Over at Red Bull, concerns about their team dynamics have persisted for years. Many perceive Max Verstappen to be the favored driver at Red Bull, with the second seat being “cursed.” In the past four years, four different drivers have occupied this seat, with the pressure and scrutiny of being in this seat being potential contributing factors to these short-term tenures. As a science of team science researcher, I’d love to be embedded in the Red Bull day-to-day operations to see how the team dynamics here actually play out. Here’s a team where investigating additional pieces of the collaboration plan, such the leadership style as it plays out with Red Bull Advisor Dr. Helmut Marko and Team Principal Christian Horner, may influence a second driver’s team functioning (as well as psychological safety).

Back to Williams, the change in leadership announced on Wednesday is also the perfect time to think about team functioning and spend time focusing on process. As current CEO Jost Capito moves into a hybrid Team Principal/Team CEO role and current Team Principal Simon Roberts departs, communication and role responsibilities within the team will change, Williams has an opportunity to rethink their structure, process, and organization. While disruptive, Williams could hold a series of open internal conversations, trainings, and leadership discussions which could yield a stronger organization during this season. However, as Russell’s future is also up in the air, Williams may need to have several iterations of these discussions if they bring on a new driver for the 2022 season.

Finally, a word about Mercedes. If this was any other year, I might not mention them, but this year, the cracks are showing. Mercedes seems to be going through an interesting period where they need to revisit many parts of a collaboration plan, including leadership, communication, conflict management, and potentially budget after that Bottas/Russell incident at Imola. For example, Toto Wolff’s “no blame” culture is falling by the wayside this season, Bottas’ performance and demeanor comes across as a combination of demotivated/demoralized/unincentivized, and even Lewis Hamilton has started to blame the team in public comment after Monaco. Even if this is, as rumors suggest, Bottas’ last year with the team before Russell steps in, an immediate focus on process and communication might help Mercedes stop publicly detonating and making costly mistakes.

Concluding Thoughts
F1 teams would benefit from the inclusion of science of team science, specifically an attention to process, communication, and collaboration. Preparing now to spend the offseason focusing on process and coming into 2022 pre-season testing with communication, conflict management, and leadership sorted out could make the difference in achieving goals for many of these teams.

Hopefully this blog post spurs my fellow science of team science/team science members to think about the applications of our work beyond the lab and beyond academia. Please let me know if you’d be interested in seeing these ideas developed into additional blog posts! Also, to any F1 team members reading this, I’d love to chat with you about team science/science of team science or work with you on collaboration planning and team functioning! Please contact me!