Fernando stopped his F10 in the pit lane, millimetre perfect on the specified mark. The whole team of men worked in silence for just over three seconds.

+0.35: car lifted up by the two jack men

+0.70: wheels with the soft tyres come off

+1.40: wheels with the hard tyres in position

+2.30: first wheel locked on and arm up to confirm

+2.60: second wheel locked on

+2.70: third wheel locked on

+2.90: fourth wheel locked on

+3.40: car on the ground and green light

3.40 seconds later Fernando was off. The wheels were changed and the car was refuelled – things that take most garages about a week and a half to do! So what makes this sort of performance possible? How does this kind of team work and what can we learn from it?

Three things:
1. Awareness of the win
Each of the team is totally focussed on the goal. In this case: speed. It is crucial that the driver always stops at the exact same preordained spot, otherwise valuable tenths of seconds are lost. That must be fairly hard to do when you’ve been travelling at such high speed! But it is important to slow down and assess what you need in order to carry on.
In order to gain tenths of a second, much thought goes into the equipment used in this delicate operation. During the car’s design phase, the team work in conjunction with the engineers to look at the details that could make the job of carrying out a pit stop easier, thus gaining crucial tenths in the context of the race as a whole. Fine tuning means constant evaluation.

2. Awareness of the need to practice being a team
“There are two secrets, if we can call them that: training and constant practice,” said one of the Ferrari team. “From the start of this year, we have done over 1300 pit stop practices, at the track and at the factory.”

Over 1300 rehearsals!
That is a lot of wheel changes! The team is described as a “machine” in how they work. I checked out a video on youtube and it is incredible to see them in action. There is no room for glory seekers or lone rangers here!

3. Awareness of the role we play
Apart from the sixteen personnel involved in a standard pit stop, there are eight other people ready for action when the car comes into the pits: one man on a side jack, in case the nose needs to be changed, two ready to change the angle of the flap on the front wing, one on the starter, in case the engine stalls and four on another set of wheels, in case of a “double” stop, when the two drivers pit one after the other. The crew is chosen from a pool of around thirty, who all have other duties both at the factory and when they are at the track: it is a whole squad of professionals.

Each role within the team requires its own physical and mental characteristics. For example, the guys on the jacks must be pretty strong, given that every time, they have to lift a car that weighs around seven hundred kilos. Agility, staying cool and quick reflexes are the key requirements for those doing the wheel changing, especially the wheel gun men, as their job requires technical skills that are far from simple.

Who is on your team?
Who is your pit stop crew?
If you are struggling with the race ahead it may be because you don’t have the right people along side you who are focussed on the win with you.
It may also be because you have tried to do something and it didn’t go well, so you gave up. Learn from Ferrari and practice it another 1299 times and see if its still wrong!
Be aware of the role you play. Know your strengths and your weaknesses. Don’t try and operate out of your skill zone. Ask God what you are good at and hone those skills and talents.
Don’t focus so much on what you don’t have that you forget what you do have! Look at those God has put around you and celebrate their differences and ask how you can be an encouragement to them and vice versa. Don’t wish your life away wishing you were thinner, faster, cleverer, talented in another area or more beautiful than you are.
You are a child of the living God, the God that rose Jesus from the dead!
There is nothing that you can’t achieve if you are in the right team at the right time.

Even if you face a seemingly impossible thing (like changing four tyres and filling a car with petrol in just over three seconds,) it can be done!