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It would be interesting to see a similar study on motorsport drivers. You would be able to measure athletic performance more accurately because you're measured

It would be interesting to see a similar study on motorsport drivers. You would be able to measure athletic performance more accurately because you're measured against a stopwatch. There are also fewer external factors than basketball as drivers simply go around the track as fast as they can without external obstacles (in qualifying rather than racing stages). Unlike basketball, their athletic performance is less influenced by reacting to what the other team is doing. There are a range of time zones changes and non-changes. From three consecutive races in UTC+2 (Belgium, Netherlands, Italy in F1 this year) to large changes (Australia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia). The sample size can go beyond the 20 F1 drivers by including junior leagues (F2/F3) as well as MotoGP and other tournaments. Some F1 teams, like McLaren, are already doing some interesting work outside of car performance which could have benefits outside of motorsport.[1] See MindMaze for work in neuroscience. Separately, it would also be interesting to test non-drivers like pit stop crew and race strategists. Like drivers, their performance (albeit less/not athletic) can be measured against a stopwatch. [1] https://www.mclaren.com/racing/partners/mindmaze/ https://www.mclaren.com/racing/partners/mindmaze/

ErikVandeWater 6y ago
I feel like it isn't necessary to study athletes while competing. Just study athletes under controlled circumstances. I'm sure teams of all sports would be interested in seeing the results, and by extension, willing to fund the studies (esp. universities with strong athletic programs).
- BlackVanilla 6y ago
  Sure, it's not necessary, but it is convenient. Athletes train in the off-season, so teams and sportspeople alike would not want their training disrupted knowing that it would probably negatively impact their performace next season when it really matters. May as well measure while sportspeople are travelling between time zones, rather than having a scary coach shouting "give me thirty, kid" at 3am.
Pyramus 6y ago
I spoke to someone from McLaren not too long ago and if I remember correctly they plan their whole logistics such that the driver at the time of the race is in an optimal point in their circadian rhythm. McLaren (and others) realised some years ago that considerable gains could also be had from improving human performance.
- BlackVanilla 6y ago
  Do you know if they do this for their non-drivers? Imagine if they did this with strategists, pit-stop crew etc.? I bet it's not just athletic performance which is impacted, but cognitive performance too. If you or your friend at McLaren have any insight about F1, please do email me (address is in my profile), I'm considering a career in it! My email is: hnblackvanilla@gmail.com
  - InitialLastName 6y ago
    In Singapore, where the race is held at local nighttime but at a normal time for Europe, everybody (other than, IIRC, some of the media/marketing folks) stays on UK time. I've heard some strange stories about trying to find dinner at 4AM.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - Pyramus 6y ago
    I don't know if they do but they are definitely aware of it. With performance I meant both athletic and cognitive performance. I would even say the link between circadian rhythm and cognitive performance is much more obvious than with physical performance. E.g. car accidents peak at the circadian low, alertness moves in parallel with the circadian rhythm etc. I don't know anyone in particular from the racing team I'm afraid. Being the fantastic engineers that they are, they did a lot of work around optimising human performance (they were very secretive with specifics, this was one of the few concrete examples). At the time they had a team that tried to package some of this know-how into products/services and bring to market. I was working in employee health which was one of their target areas.
bborud 6y ago
At the very least F1 is a very quantified sport since the cars have a ton of more or less high sample rate data channels that you can use to describe the environment of the driver. For the driver they will at least have heart rate, respiration and body temperature throughout the race. In addition they have vast treasure troves of historical data to compare against.
cheezerman 6y ago
Check out Peter Attia's podcast interviewing Luke Bennett, a performance doctor in F1. He goes into sleep and performance. https://peterattiamd.com/lukebennett/ https://peterattiamd.com/lukebennett/

ErikVandeWater 6y ago

I feel like it isn't necessary to study athletes while competing. Just study athletes under controlled circumstances. I'm sure teams of all sports would be interested in seeing the results, and by extension, willing to fund the studies (esp. universities with strong athletic programs).

BlackVanilla 6y ago
Sure, it's not necessary, but it is convenient. Athletes train in the off-season, so teams and sportspeople alike would not want their training disrupted knowing that it would probably negatively impact their performace next season when it really matters. May as well measure while sportspeople are travelling between time zones, rather than having a scary coach shouting "give me thirty, kid" at 3am.

Pyramus 6y ago

I spoke to someone from McLaren not too long ago and if I remember correctly they plan their whole logistics such that the driver at the time of the race is in an optimal point in their circadian rhythm. McLaren (and others) realised some years ago that considerable gains could also be had from improving human performance.

BlackVanilla 6y ago
Do you know if they do this for their non-drivers? Imagine if they did this with strategists, pit-stop crew etc.? I bet it's not just athletic performance which is impacted, but cognitive performance too. If you or your friend at McLaren have any insight about F1, please do email me (address is in my profile), I'm considering a career in it! My email is: hnblackvanilla@gmail.com
- InitialLastName 6y ago
  In Singapore, where the race is held at local nighttime but at a normal time for Europe, everybody (other than, IIRC, some of the media/marketing folks) stays on UK time. I've heard some strange stories about trying to find dinner at 4AM.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- Pyramus 6y ago
  I don't know if they do but they are definitely aware of it. With performance I meant both athletic and cognitive performance. I would even say the link between circadian rhythm and cognitive performance is much more obvious than with physical performance. E.g. car accidents peak at the circadian low, alertness moves in parallel with the circadian rhythm etc. I don't know anyone in particular from the racing team I'm afraid. Being the fantastic engineers that they are, they did a lot of work around optimising human performance (they were very secretive with specifics, this was one of the few concrete examples). At the time they had a team that tried to package some of this know-how into products/services and bring to market. I was working in employee health which was one of their target areas.

bborud 6y ago

At the very least F1 is a very quantified sport since the cars have a ton of more or less high sample rate data channels that you can use to describe the environment of the driver. For the driver they will at least have heart rate, respiration and body temperature throughout the race. In addition they have vast treasure troves of historical data to compare against.

cheezerman 6y ago

Check out Peter Attia's podcast interviewing Luke Bennett, a performance doctor in F1. He goes into sleep and performance. https://peterattiamd.com/lukebennett/ https://peterattiamd.com/lukebennett/