Last week I talked about the Ferrari pit stop & how great teams move fast together.
But here’s where most businesses go wrong next.
They see that level of performance & assume it comes from big moments.
Big decisions.
Big changes.
Big breakthroughs.
It doesn’t.
What actually drives that kind of speed sits much deeper… in the small things most people ignore.
WHAT FORMULA ONE CAN TEACH ENTREPRENEURS
Why Champions Obsess Over Tiny Improvements
One of the things that surprised me most while watching the Melbourne Grand Prix was how much attention the teams gave to the smallest details. From the outside, Formula One looks like a sport dominated by raw speed & dramatic overtakes. The cars are extraordinary machines & the drivers are clearly operating at the very edge of what is physically possible. Yet when you listen to the engineers & team principals talk about performance, they rarely focus on dramatic breakthroughs. Instead, they talk about tiny improvements.
A slightly different aerodynamic angle on a wing.
A small change in tyre pressure.
A fraction of a second saved during a pit stop.
Individually those changes sound almost insignificant. Saving a tenth of a second on a lap does not seem like much when you say it out loud. But Formula One races are long & those tiny advantages compound over time. Over fifty or sixty laps, the difference between a car that gains a tenth of a second per lap & one that does not can be several seconds by the end of the race.
That difference can determine whether a driver finishes on the podium or disappears into the midfield.
The teams have a phrase for this mindset. They talk about chasing marginal gains. Instead of looking for one dramatic improvement that transforms performance overnight, they focus on improving dozens of small things that collectively make the car faster.
The concept became famous in other sports as well, but Formula One has been applying it for decades.
Engineers analyse every component of the car to see where tiny advantages might be found. They examine airflow across the bodywork, study how tyres behave under different temperatures & measure how quickly mechanics perform pit stops. Each improvement may seem minor, but together they gradually move the car forward.
Over time those small changes become powerful.
Watching this process unfold reminds me of what happens inside growing businesses.
Entrepreneurs often look for the breakthrough moment that will transform their company. The new product that suddenly unlocks rapid growth. The marketing campaign that generates a wave of customers. The strategic decision that changes everything overnight.
Occasionally those moments happen.
But most successful companies grow through something far less dramatic.
They improve gradually.
Meetings become more effective. Communication between teams becomes clearer. The organisation begins tracking numbers that actually matter. Leaders spend less time reacting to problems & more time focusing on the priorities that move the business forward.
None of those changes feel revolutionary in isolation.
Yet over time the organisation becomes stronger, faster & more capable.
I often see leadership teams become frustrated because they are waiting for the big breakthrough. They believe growth requires one bold move that suddenly transforms the business. In reality, the businesses that scale consistently tend to focus on improving the system step by step.
They refine processes.
They strengthen accountability.
They clarify priorities.
Those small adjustments compound just like the improvements made to a Formula One car.
What fascinates me about Formula One is the discipline teams bring to this process. Engineers never assume the car is finished or that performance cannot be improved further. Even when a team wins a race, they immediately begin analysing where the next improvement might come from.
Victory does not signal the end of the work.
It signals the next opportunity to refine the machine.
Entrepreneurs who adopt a similar mindset often discover that progress becomes more predictable. Instead of waiting for dramatic breakthroughs, they build momentum through consistent improvement. Each quarter brings small adjustments that strengthen the organisation.
Over time those adjustments accumulate into something remarkable.
The business becomes more stable, more efficient & better prepared to handle growth.
Standing beside the track in Melbourne, watching those incredibly sophisticated cars race past, it was easy to assume that performance came from some kind of engineering magic. But the more you learn about Formula One, the more obvious the truth becomes.
Championship teams rarely rely on miracles.
They rely on improvement.
Again & again.
Written by Debra Chantry-Taylor, FBA Accredited Family Business Advisor, Certified EOS Implementer & Founder of Business Action.
Business Action is focused on helping Entrepreneurs lead better lives, through creating a better business. We have a small team of accredited family business advisors, EOS Implementers & Leadership coaches, as well as access to a huge range of advisors through our Trusted Partners Network.
