Lewis Hamilton’s innovative F1 training programme will change the sport, says robert matthews |
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Lewis Hamilton's victory at yesterday's Canadian Grand Prix adds yet another superlative to his unparalleled F1 career. Already the first driver to get podium finishes in all his races, and the youngest to lead the drivers' championship, he is now the first and youngest to combine those with an outright win.
But Hamilton's success is more than a collection of stats. It marks the dawn of a new era in F1, where raw driving talent is turbo-charged by the appliance of science.
For decades, racing teams have lavished state-of-the-art technology on the performance of the car, and then put their trust in a tiny cadre of humans they hope will drive the result to victory. McLaren has changed all that with its training of its 22-year old wunderkind.
Hamilton has undergone an unprecedented |
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| McLaren’s training applied insights from neuroscience and psychology |
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regime at McLaren's Woking headquarters, masterminded by Dr Kerry Spackman, a New Zealand-born neuroscientist hired by McLaren to turn their exceptionally talented English driver into a race-winning machine.
A major part of Spackman's approach is the intensive use of computer simulators, which expose Hamilton to every twist, turn and eventuality of a race until dealing with them is utterly instinctive. Nothing very radical there, of course: Nasa did precisely the same with its astronauts more than 40 years ago. But Spackman goes much further, applying insights from neuroscience and psychology to uncover the foibles of Hamilton's technique and mindset, and bring them under control. The result is a driver who combines the standard skill-set of focus and controlled aggression with relentless consistency.
Some will lament this clinical approach to a sport once dominated by God-given talents like Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. Too bad: where McLaren has led, the rest have no choice but to follow. 
FIRST POSTED JUNE 11, 2007
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