Chasing speed, trophies, and podium finishes, the world of F1 is all about what you can do, and how fast you can do it. But an often overlooked aspect of this sport happens behind the scenes of the racetrack—during the days, weeks and months leading up to races. Each driver has to have the mental strength to handle the pressures on race day. F1 Academy driver of Haas F1 Team, Courtney Crone, shares what she does off the track that creates the atmosphere a driver needs going into big races.
Creating the Laps Before They Happen
Before every race, drivers need to have a calm and steady mind so that they can tackle every corner and every stretch with the utmost intention. For Crone, she says that her mental training starts the days and weeks before a race. Leading into the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia this past weekend, Crone did a lot of mental training at home with reaction time systems and speaking with her mental performance coach. Much of what she does leading up to races is “trying to figure out the right mindset to be in going into the weekend because it changes from weekend to weekend.”
Qualifying is arguably the most important and mentally challenging part of race weekend. Crone does a lot of visualization, especially before qualifying rounds. “Thinking of that perfect lap before the race. It's just running through all the scenarios that may or may not happen in front of you, especially at the start,” Crone told us. Seeing success before the laps start is just as much a part of the battle in racing.
Overcoming Road Blocks
In any sport, challenges will arise, but it’s how we prepare for those challenges and react to them that shows our true mental strength. “Turning maybe not such good opportunities into positive ones has been work, but I just keep telling myself over the weekend - it's not life or death,” Crone says. “As long as I go out there and know that I pushed 100% given any factors that happen in the race or qualifying. If I don't feel like I pushed myself to 100% that's when I'll be disappointed.”
During the Jeddah Corniche Circuit race 1, challenges arose for Crone as she was involved in an incident with a fellow driver that ultimately led to her retirement in race 1. But with her mental strength and resilience, Crone was able to clinch a 12th place finish in race 2, giving her the confidence boost she needed leading into round 3 of the F1 Academy season in Miami, Florida.
“As long as I go out there and know that I pushed 100% given any factors that happen in the race or qualifying. If I don't feel like I pushed myself to 100% that's when I'll be disappointed.”
It’s easy to beat yourself up if things don’t go as planned, but Crone reminds us that you just need to “figure out what you can do better and not get yourself too wrapped up into thinking it's the end of the world when everything doesn't go your way.” A progressive, growth mindset can be a superpower when challenges eventually arise.
Staying Calm Under Pressure
Through experience under pressure, athletes can adapt and respond better to pressure. When Crone watches races, her adrenaline is up and she’s at the edge of her seat, questioning how drivers can deal with the pressure. But when she gets behind the wheel she says, “you don't even feel the pressure. You're just driving at your best and everything else kind of melts away around you.”
There is much to be said about acclimating yourself to high-stakes situations, like driving at 200+ miles per hour while taking sharp turns and battles with other drivers. “I think when you're in a racing situation, I think either you're either born with it or you're not,” Crone says about what goes through her head in these moments. “It's kinda hard to learn that mental state. I'm just so focused on what's happening around me at the moment that I never have a thought on how to handle it. I am just doing the best I can in my car.” It’s the mental resilience that it takes to perform under pressure that makes this side of racing so impressive.
Turning Doubt into Drive
Racing is not a woman’s or man’s sport in nature, but sometimes, women in this field are overlooked as the fierce competitors that they are. The pressure of racing gets amplified when you are a woman racing in a male-dominated sport. Crone knows this feeling all too well. “We get more eyeballs on us, but I think it's up to the driver whether you wanna take that pressure and use it as something good and I guess that kind of speaks to the mental side of it. It's how you view the eyes on you and expectations, as it's a good opportunity to use it to perform at your best,” Crone says.
The world of motorsports is evergrowing, especially for women. With all of this growing interest, Crone says that it’s important to remember how many different opportunities motorsport has to offer. “There's not just driving, not just engineering. There's the media side, there's the hospitality side, there's so many things you can do within motorsports,” Crone adds. “If it's your passion, there's not just one or two ways of going about it. The more women we can get into racing, I think it will be great for the sport.”
Women in motorsport are driving the future for those to come, and forging their way with mental fortitude. The power of the mind is just as important as performance behind the wheel, and we saw that as Crone attacked round 2 of the season with mental strength, even after facing a minor setback. No matter what sport we play, never underestimate the strength of our minds.
