March 2010 April 2010 May 2010 June 2010 July 2010
August 2010
September 2010 October 2010
November 2010
December 2010 January 2011 February 2011 March 2011 April 2011 May 2011 June 2011 July 2011 August 2011 September 2011 October 2011 November 2011 December 2011 January 2012 February 2012 March 2012 April 2012 May 2012 June 2012 July 2012 August 2012 September 2012 October 2012 November 2012 December 2012 January 2013 February 2013 March 2013 April 2013 May 2013 June 2013 July 2013 August 2013 September 2013 October 2013 November 2013 December 2013 January 2014 February 2014 March 2014 April 2014 May 2014 June 2014 July 2014 August 2014 September 2014 October 2014 November 2014 December 2014 January 2015 February 2015 March 2015 April 2015 May 2015 June 2015 July 2015 August 2015 September 2015 October 2015 November 2015 December 2015 January 2016 February 2016 March 2016 April 2016 May 2016 June 2016 July 2016 August 2016 September 2016 October 2016 November 2016 December 2016 January 2017 February 2017 March 2017 April 2017 May 2017 June 2017 July 2017 August 2017 September 2017 October 2017 November 2017 December 2017 January 2018 February 2018 March 2018 April 2018 May 2018 June 2018 July 2018 August 2018 September 2018 October 2018 November 2018 December 2018 January 2019 February 2019 March 2019 April 2019 May 2019 June 2019 July 2019 August 2019 September 2019 October 2019 November 2019 December 2019 January 2020 February 2020 March 2020 April 2020 May 2020 June 2020 July 2020 August 2020 September 2020 October 2020 November 2020 December 2020 January 2021 February 2021 March 2021 April 2021 May 2021 June 2021 July 2021 August 2021 September 2021 October 2021 November 2021 December 2021 January 2022 February 2022 March 2022 April 2022 May 2022 June 2022 July 2022 August 2022 September 2022 October 2022 November 2022 December 2022 January 2023 February 2023 March 2023 April 2023 May 2023 June 2023 July 2023 August 2023 September 2023 October 2023 November 2023 December 2023 January 2024 February 2024 March 2024 April 2024 May 2024 June 2024 July 2024 August 2024 September 2024 October 2024
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31
News Every Day |

F1 is like running a hospital, and other insights from Alpine Sporting Director Julian Rouse

At the United States Grand Prix SB Nation sat down with Julian Rouse, Alpine’s Sporting Director, to get his perspective on F1

It’s race day in Austin, and in the Alpine hospitality space, Harrison Ford is staring me right in the eyes.

Not the actual actor of course, but rather an image of Ford in one of his iconic roles, that of Indiana Jones. Ahead of the United States Grand Prix Alpine announced a collaboration with Bethesda Softworks and the minds behind the upcoming “Indiana Jones and the Great Circle,” a video game that allows you to step into the role of the legendary archeologist as he spans the globe in a new adventure.

That activation is one of many aspects of life in Formula 1 that Julian Rouse, the team’s Sporting Director, needs to balance throughout a race weekend. In this role Rouse handles communication with the FIA regarding regulations, oversees the pit crew and handles their performance, and works to help the work/life balance at Alpine.

But as I was speaking with Rouse ahead of the United States Grand Prix, I could not help but notice Ford’s eyes staring at me, from over Rouse’s shoulder as we talked. I asked him about how difficult it is to balance everything an F1 team deals with, referencing the Indiana Jones activation. That’s when Rouse compared an F1 team to something beyond my wildest imagination.

A hospital.

“For me, involved at a senior level in the organization of the whole company, in a way one of the most similar sort of industries probably is, hospitals and the medical industry, where you’ve got so many subparts and they’re all so different, but they’re all working towards the same thing,” began Rouse.

“You don’t always necessarily need each other. But also, you’ve got certain overarching, either governance or objectives that will dictate the journey for each department and, in the same way in a hospital where, well, you want to save lives.

“You know, if you put money into heart disease, it doesn’t benefit the cancer treatment area, but they’re all working towards the same thing to improve the metrics of that area, to work to the same budget.

“They have to collaborate, but they don’t always necessarily lead each other on a day-to-day basis. And then you’ve got so many small subparts in that.

“A big racing team, like in Formula One, is similar to that in that respect where you’ve got so many small subparts that are all working to the same end goal, but not necessarily always needing to be crossing paths,” described Rouse. “The marketing department and the aerodynamic department is a classic example of that where you’re working alongside each other all of the time, you’re trying to facilitate things to achieve the same goal, but not always necessarily on the same page.”

Rouse then outlined how the new cost cap regulations have created a challenge for teams to make all the pieces of the “jigsaw puzzle” fit together.

“One of the big things as well that’s really compounded that is the cost cap,” said Rouse. “Before, you know, cost gap came in if you were a big team, you could sort of easily mitigate some of those challenges just by spending more money. Whereas now, you’ve got clear choices to make, and going back to that hospital where you’ve got to pull one resource from somewhere and put it in something else.

“But putting it somewhere else might have an indirect benefit, but it’s not clear what the direct benefit might be for the other departments or the organization, and that you know, that jigsaw puzzle, and those pieces are very challenging to sort of fit together. Which is another fascinating complexity to the to the sport and and and and the business side of things as well.”

F1: A sport and a technological puzzle

Another fascinating complexity to Formula 1? The fact that it is as much a race to be won as it is an engineering problem to be solved. F1 contains a vast array of rules, regulations, and technical directives, and every few years the sport simply shakes up the board and starts anew, as it will in 2026 when a fresh set of technical regulations goes into effect.

In Rouse’s role as Alpine’s Sporting Director, it is his job to liaise between the team and the sport’s governing body, the FIA. That includes handling and overseeing what happens throughout a race weekend.

“There’s a lot going on in the background with all of that sort of stuff. It looks like a reasonably steady ship most of the time, but I can assure you it’s not,” described Rouse.

For example, a huge point of discussion in Austin was the “front bib adjuster” on Red Bull’s RB20, a component that dominated the conversation ahead of the United States Grand Prix. Rouse outlined how situations like Red Bull’s front bib outline how there is constant communication between the teams and the FIA regarding the technical regulations.

“There was a change technical directive change this weekend for something that Red Bull were doing on what they call the front tray, because they were just pushing the limits of the rules,” said Rouse.

“I don’t think they technically broke the rules, but they found a loophole that was sort of probably a bit unsporting. And so [the FIA has] restricted it. And they’ve worked through a process to alleviate the problem and make it more of a fair playing field again.

“And that was quite a big, big topic in the press this week that’s an ongoing thing all day on many different items.”

Rouse then outlined how F1 is both a sport and a massive technological platform for innovation. A platform where manufacturers can push the limits of what is technologically possible, while teams stretch the “grey areas” of what is allowed under the rules.

“It’s still a sport, but it’s a huge technological platform, and trying to marry together the progressive thinking that you have and love, with what you need in a sporting environment, and putting that together with the very sort of binary, process driven environment you need from a technological point of view, they don’t really go hand in hand,” began Rouse.

“They’re very sort of polar opposite ends of the spectrum, and quite honestly, a lot of the people that are involved in it are also, in terms of the way they think and the way they approach things, are quite often very different ends of the scale.

“And trying to bring all of that together is a big challenge.”

In Rouse’s view, the teams that are successful in F1 are the teams that can best strike the balance between freedom, creativity, and adhering to the appropriate technological processes that the rules require.

“I think the teams that are good are the ones that get that balance right and have the creativity and freedom within that, but are still adhering to all of the technological processes that you need in the automotive industry or the airline industry to make sure that everything is refined and robust as possible.

“Although we’re pushing the limits all the time, you still have a huge amount of quality and safety requirements to adhere to as well. We sometimes forget that we’re building a piece of equipment that goes 320 kilometers an hour, you know, just meters away from barriers.

“Balancing all of that is the big challenge. And when that works well and you complement the creativity with the robustness and the consistency, that’s when things really start to work for a team.”

The work/life balance in Formula 1

As the roundtable discussion wound down, Rouse talked about the difficulties in finding a work/life balance in Formula 1. With 24 race weekends throughout a current F1 season, tasking teams with crisscrossing the globe from Melbourne to Las Vegas and everywhere in between, it can be a grind.

This is why Rouses believes it is important to sometimes take a step back and realize what life in F1 provides.

“You thrive off the fulfillment that this provides. It’s also really important to remind people of all of the amazing life experiences that we’re doing along the way,” began Rouse. “It’s challenging, yes. But we go to some amazing places. We get to meet some amazing people, and you learn some amazing skills, and getting people to remain humble and recognize that on a regular basis, it sort of reenergizes people, and allows you to keep going, and then you become at peace also with the sacrifices that you make.

Rouse then outlined how he and Alpine put structures in place for the entire team, planning activities for the entire traveling organization, to give them opportunities for some incredible experiences while on the road.

“Yeah, we put a lot of structure for the people that are traveling. So, in Mexico, for example, on Thursday night we play football in Mexico City in the stadium itself, with [Visa Cash App RB F1 Team]. Pierre Gasly will come along. Yuki Tsunoda will play. Probably 30 people from our team will come.

“We hired a brand new padel court downtown, 30 of the staff went and did a tournament on Thursday night [in Austin].”

This week Alpine, and the rest of the F1 grid, is in Brazil for the final race of a triple-header that has brought the team from Austin to Mexico City, and finally to São Paulo. As you might expect, Rouse and ALpine have items on the agenda for this week as well.

“And then we go to Brazil and we go to one of the famous Ascari restaurants. The whole team will go and we’ll pay for the evening meal.

“So we’re trying to create some decompression, and taking advantage of specific cultural things in each country so that people feel like there’s a reason and a fulfilment to go that helps to drive that motivation as well.”

The challenges of an F1 Sprint Race week

Alpine and the rest of the F1 grid are back at it Friday, for the penultimate F1 Sprint Race of the season. The United States Grand Prix in Austin was another F1 Sprint Race weekend, and Rouse outlined how those weeks pose an extra layer of challenges for teams.

“It is a really big challenge because you just have less trial and error.

“So you always tend to see these race weekends with a sprint where it’s not uncommon to see sort of polar opposites from Friday to Saturday in qualifying, and also because some teams will typically be stronger on the harder compounds,” said Rouse.

“We have to qualify on the medium in the sprint, and that a tire that doesn’t suit us as well as the soft, for example.

“And so we knew we were always going to be stronger in the main qualifying when we have the freedom to run the soft compound compared to the sprint,” described Rouse in Austin.

“So it means the pendulum swings a lot more during these weekends, which is challenging for us.

“But, I think it’s really good for the fans. It makes it a lot more interesting, you know?”

The fans will get to see Alpine, and the rest of the grid, tackle those challenges this week in São Paulo.

ATP

Хачанов победил де Минора и вышел в финал турнира ATP в Вене

You need the eyes of a movie hero to spot the 5 horror villains lurking near the crime scene in under 90 secs

Lindsay Hubbard's Baby Shower Details Revealed, Including Which 'Summer House' Co-Stars Attend

Bay Area high school football: Weekend scoreboard, how Top 25 fared

Revealed: SC Freedom Caucus leader had numerous electronics seized by federal officers

Ria.city






Read also

Cheaper pints, surprise wage boost & fuel duty freeze in Budget – but £40BILLION tax blitz will pay for it

Eurofighter Typhoon 'Shot Down' An F-22 Raptor Stealth Fighter

Chicago mayor’s response to shooting in Jewish community sparks backlash

News, articles, comments, with a minute-by-minute update, now on Today24.pro

News Every Day

Lindsay Hubbard's Baby Shower Details Revealed, Including Which 'Summer House' Co-Stars Attend

Today24.pro — latest news 24/7. You can add your news instantly now — here


News Every Day

Lindsay Hubbard's Baby Shower Details Revealed, Including Which 'Summer House' Co-Stars Attend



Sports today


Новости тенниса
WTA

Елена Рыбакина провела первую тренировку на Итоговом турнире WTA



Спорт в России и мире
Москва

Наталья Бочкарева призвала россиян заняться спортом



All sports news today





Sports in Russia today

Москва

Вышел шестой подкаст онлайн-лектория «Иннагрика» о технологиях генетики в современном животноводстве


Новости России

Game News

Рецензия на игра Metaphor: ReFantazio


Russian.city


Здоровье

Московские онкоурологи сохранили пациентке почку, пораженную ангиомиолипомой


Губернаторы России
Эммануэль Макрон

Телеканал ТНТ объявляет дату премьеры сериала об эйджизме в личных отношениях «Макрон» с Алексеем Лукиным и Мариной Александровой


В Мытищах состоялась отчетно-выборная конференция профсоюза жизнеобеспечения

РЭО определил регионы с нехваткой контейнеров для ТКО

С белого листа: каким будет начало ноября в Центральной России

В Мытищах состоялась отчетно-выборная конференция профсоюза жизнеобеспечения


Любимые хиты от Александра Розенбаума в Санкт-Петербурге

Пугачева без парика показала гладкое лицо на свежем снимке

"Инстасамка нужна Шнурову сильнее…". Экс-солистка группы "Ленинград" оценила новость о сотрудничестве скандальных персонажей шоубиза

«Ленинград» нуждается в Инстасамке: Вокс объяснила необычный выбор Шнурова


Познер о включении Шараповой в Зал славы: «Представители тенниса умнее и дальновиднее своих коллег по другим видам спорта»

Рахимова обыграла Приданкину и вышла в 1/4 финала турнира WTA в Цзюцзяне

Елена Рыбакина вылетела на Итоговый турнир WTA

Россиянка Шнайдер с победы стартовала на турнире WTA в Гонконге



Лидером по наличию мусорных контейнеров стала Амурская область

В Москве и Московской области жилищные условия за счет материнского капитала улучшили свыше 537,8 тысячи семей

Отделение СФР предоставило 11 жителям региона с нарушениями зрения собак-поводырей

Объемы продаж цветных бриллиантов в России выросли на 43%: лидируют Краснодар, Казань и Воронеж


Где в Казани обслужить автомобиль Chery?

«Грузовичкоф» на круглом столе РБК Петербург

Кимура Куруми и Александр Абашеев дебютируют в балете «Жизель»

Актер «Кадетства» Головин накопил сотню штрафов: топ «звездных» нарушителей ПДД


Строительство нового здания полиции в Кашире близится к завершению

«Его портреты не висят только в туалете»: родственники адептов «целителя» Коновалова рассказали о последствиях «сеансов»

В Музее русского быта "По Сусекам" проходит выставка "Сундук"

В России поставили цель увеличить продолжительность жизни до 80 лет



Путин в России и мире






Персональные новости Russian.city
Коммерсантъ

Склад, усталые игрушки // Группа «Росмэн» расширила площади под свою продукцию



News Every Day

Inside the dark world of randy sex pest dolphins who terrorise swimmers & try to ROMP with humans




Friends of Today24

Музыкальные новости

Персональные новости