Carlos Sainz, and my departmental female football team
On near-successes, hardwork + preparation, and car racing.
Hi guys! I hope you’re doing great. I’m doing quite alright. And most importantly, I’m generally grateful Alhamdulilah.
Recently, I have been a bit obsessed with Formula 1. How I suddenly picked an interest in the car racing sport baffles my mum till tomorrow. I was watching the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix the other day, and how Carlos Sainz —a driver who had just moved to McLaren from Red Bull— won his first podium position in his career.
Let me give you a quick rundown of what Formula 1 is about, before we get into it. Formula 1 is an international form of motor racing, whose races are called Grands Prix. They have series of races (or Grand Prix) held at different venues in a year, with the racers competing for points as well as pole and podium positions (top three racers who get on the ‘podium’ get the podium position, and the 1st driver to finish the race gets the pole position).
A lot of things determines a driver’s success in these Grand Prix, and in Formula 1 (or any car racing sport) anything can happen in a split second. The unpredictability of the F1 sport is partly what makes it an incredible sport. E.g, a driver very close to the pole position could suddenly get a damaged tire, and repairs at the pit stop may take him back to the 8th position, r a driver could get a 5 secs penalty, etc etc. In F1, 1 sec feels like 1 hour, which is not surprising as the average pit stop is about 2-3 secs.
**A pit stop is where F1 car stops during a race for a quick maintenance, change of tyres, mechanical repairs or adjustments and many other actions necessary during the race. The fastest pit stop recorded was 1.80 seconds in 2023 by the McLaren Team. Simply put, they jacked the car, changed the entire 4 tyres, possibly did other car maintenance, all in less than 2 secs. Now, that is some crazy speed! and the very thing that drew me to F1.
Now, let’s get back to Carlos Sainz pulling off his first podium in his career.
In November 2019, during the Brazilian Grand Prix, Alex Albon a Red Bull driver who was at the P3 podium position at the last minute of the race had just taken a hit influenced by Lewis Hamilton’s take over. With his car damaged, Albon got out of the race leaving Lewis Hamilton in P3 and Carlos Sainz in P4. At the end of the race, the F1 team went into close doors and decided to give Hamilton a 5 secs penalty, which automatically made Carlos Sainz get the P3 position, the first podium in his career.
As I reflected on Sainz’s win, I thought back at the time in my third year in school when our female football team got the easiest silver medal in history. It was the faculty sports games, and the other team didn’t care enough to show up, so they got a walk over. While this may have been the easiest silver medal in the history of silver medals, if we did not wear our boots to show up to the field, we wouldn’t have ‘positioned’ ourselves to get the medal in the first place.
If we closely observe Carlos Sainz and my department female football team, one thing rings through both scenarios —preparation & hardwork. Now, of course it is absurd to compare Sainz’s hours of practice and level of preparation to my team’s simple decision to pick up their boots grudgingly to show up for the match, but it still stands their preparation put them in a spot just close enough for success.
These near-success concept is very familiar, we see them play out everyday around us. For example,
Shade got a 70 A in a course because the lecturer decided to add 5 marks across board
Or, Tayo got a 4.50 first class because the Head of Department decided to push his 4.49 to a 4.50 CGPA
Or, Mark got the slot for the job because someone turned down the job offer for a better one.
Or, as in Sainz’s situation, he took advantage of Hamilton’s 5-secs penalty and landed himself a P3.
.
What these concepts drive home is that even near-success requires preparation + hardwork.
If Shade had a 60 B, adding 5 marks across board still won’t get her to a 70 A
Or, if Mark didn’t do well enough in the job interview in the first place, he wouldn't have been considered when there was suddenly an open spot in the company.
Or, if Carlos Sainz wasn't in P4, he wouldn’t have moved on to P3 position with Hamilton’s penalty.
…
As I reflect on the popular saying that tells us we need a huge amount of hardwork + preparation to get a shot at success, I have realized that even more, we also need a huge amount of hardwork + preparation to be better positioned for near-success.
You may argue that the circumstances surrounding these wins may be (last minute) luck, but it is important to remember that some hardwork + preparation was put into getting there in the first place. So, while some people may reluctantly celebrate these wins —as I almost did as in the case of Sainz, or our easy football silver medal— it doesn’t invalidate the fact that hard work made it happen in the first place. That is to say, near-success or not, I hope we never hesitate to celebrate successes, as our hardwork and preparation earned it.
I write about my learnings on personal growth, life, lessons, and experiences. I haven’t written since forever and now I’m not sure how to keep the train moving, but feel free to stick around while I figure it out. Please share if you enjoyed reading it!
See you around,
Risqat.
Ouu, this was really good! I totally agree, there’s always some form of hard work behind that 'near success'.