Cookie Consent by Free Privacy Policy website Mental training at Formula Medicine: BMW works drivers have been benefitting from progressive training philosophy for many years
may 22, 2020 - BMW Motorsport

Mental training at Formula Medicine: BMW works drivers have been benefitting from progressive training philosophy for many years

Munich. Mental strength is playing an increasingly important role in motorsport. It’s not enough to simply drive fast if you want to be a world-class racing driver. Being able to deliver a top performance under pressure, in unpredictable situations or over a long period is what makes a champion. Dr. Riccardo Ceccarelli has set new standards with Formula Medicine when it comes to mental training. BMW Motorsport has collaborated intensively with Ceccarelli for many years now. The BMW works drivers and the BMW Junior Team benefit from his progressive training philosophy.

 

Video: The BMW Junior Team in mental training: https://b.mw/Mental_Training.

 

Tuscany has been a favourite destination for the BMW works drivers for years. However, it isn’t primarily the sea, wine or good food that draws them to the coastal town of Viareggio (ITA), it is the Formula Medicine training location. Up until the current COVID-19 crisis hit, Dr. Riccardo Ceccarelli and his team were the most popular port of call for some of the best racing drivers in the world, as well as many young athletes when they wanted to work on their physical and psychological strength – and will be once again after the crisis is over, because, be it medical examinations, fitness training or mental training, Formula Medicine offers a holistic programme.

 

The main focus is on mental training. “It is totally different to what was available previously,” says Ceccarelli, explaining: “Our philosophy states that mental training is only there to optimise the performance of the brain. Many people only turn to a mental trainer when they have a problem that they want to solve. Our mental training is aimed at healthy top athletes and top racing drivers, who aren’t having any issues and just want to further optimise their brain’s performance. It is a totally different approach.”

 

As the starting point for this new approach, Ceccarelli, who dreamed of becoming a professional racing driver in his youth and started working as a doctor in Formula 1 in 1989, followed the typical processes in motorsport. “In over 30 years in racing, I learned from engineers that objective data and its analysis are what is most important,” says Ceccarelli. “We transferred that to our mental training. We developed our own hardware and software that we can use to measure brain performance objectively. During the analysis, a driver can identify their strengths and weaknesses directly from the data, like looking in a mirror.”