The secret of success in Formula 1

Formula 1 is having a moment. Its global popularity is soaring off the back of a wildly successful Netflix docuseries, Drive to Survive, and the launch of glitzy races in Miami and Las Vegas. It is even drawing attention away from other sports. The most significant move of European football’s January transfer window was Lewis Hamilton’s announcement that he is off to Ferrari next year. A pivot towards entertainment has created a new generation of fans. But will it come at the expense of the racing itself?

The Formula, by Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg of the Wall Street Journal, immediately establishes that Formula 1 is all about rules. It is governed less by an administrative body than by its dense rule book that seeks to determine precisely what designers can and can’t do with their cars. Competitive advantage lies in finding a loophole within the rules. This, the authors argue, is much more consequential than hiring the best driver. The most skilled racer might be two-tenths of a second a lap faster than the rest of the grid; a loophole could be worth many times more.

Some loopholes are technological. In 1992, the Williams car of the British driver Nigel Mansell contained a paperback-sized computer that could make real-time adjustments to the suspension as the car sped round the track. Mansell won that year’s drivers’ championship, as did his successor, Alain Prost, in 1993. There was nothing in the rules about computers as no one had ever thought about them.

Others are strategic. In the late 1990s the tyre manufacturer Michelin announced it would re-enter Formula 1 to compete with the Japanese company Bridgestone, whose products had been criticised. All of the teams duly switched to Michelin except for Ferrari, which spied an opportunity. Ferrari co-opted Bridgestone to design tyres specifically for its drivers.