F1 Strategy: Ross Brawn with Adam Parr (Book)

[ChrisDanger]

A book on F1 strategy, written by Adam Parr and Ross Brawn, will be released in early November. Should be very interesting.

Total Competition is the most compelling, comprehensive and revealing insight into what it takes to get to the top in Formula One that has ever been published. Across four decades, Ross Brawn was one of the most innovative and successful technical directors and then team principals in Formula One. Leading Benetton, Ferrari, Honda, Brawn and Mercedes, he worked with drivers such as Michael Schumacher, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton to make them world champions. Now, in this fascinating book written with Adam Parr (who was CEO and then chairman of Williams for five years), he looks back over his career and methods to assess how he did it, and where occasionally he got things wrong.

Total Competition is a definitive portrait of modern motorsport. In the book, Brawn and Parr explore the unique pressures of Formula One, their battles with Bernie Ecclestone, and the cut-throat world they inhabited, where coming second is never good enough. Just as Sir Alex Ferguson used his experiences as a football manager to write Leading, this book will appeal not only to the millions of Formula One fans who want to understand how Brawn operated, it will also provide many lessons in how to achieve your business goals.

Motorsport article detailing Parr's experience in strategy and what inspired him to create the book, as well as Brawn's thoughts on the process.

[zac510]

This looks great! Already looking forward to reading it.
I don't suppose it will be full of juicy stories some will be expecting, but I'm interested in the theory on strategy all the same.

[markc]

pre-ordered Nice one Mr Danger!

[bill shoe]

Fantastic. This book could be for technical management what RCVD is for vehicle engineering itself.

[PlatinumZealot]

How much for this book?

[ChrisDanger]

How much for this book?

The list price in the publisher link (admittedly somewhat hidden) in the quote in the OP puts it at $15.

[zac510]

Anyone else reading the book yet? I got it on Friday, I'm about 1/2 way through it.

I'm surprised that there are far more stories on events in F1 than I expected. From the title/blurb I was hoping for more strategy discussion (as bill shoe suggested). It is there, but it is woven into the context of many F1 war stories and yarns from the last couple of decades. That said the stories are all very enjoyable and I'm picking up a low of extra details and differing observations of big events in Ross's career.

Overall if you are at all intersted in F1 and strategy at a level higher than merely what goes on on Sunday then you really have no excuse not to read this book.

There are also a few good words for Sam Michael too which ought to have the F1 forums steaming in rage

[ChrisDanger]

I've read about 1/3rd of the book. I'm slightly torn though. The content is very interesting, but the Q&A "raw" format gives it a very loose structure so it tends to jump around a lot, and sometimes the explanations are not as clear as they would be if they were deliberately written down and not just transcribed. Although this takes away from the enjoyment I think the book is still a must-read for anyone with more than a passing interest in F1.

There was a programme on BBC Radio 5 with Ross Brawn on Thursday where the book was discussed. The podcast is available here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04f1xx2

[nevill3]

..........

There was a programme on BBC Radio 5 with Ross Brawn on Thursday where the book was discussed. The podcast is available here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04f1xx2

Thank you for this link I didn't even know this show had been broadcast, I am listening to this now

[scrudriver]

Read through the full book. The raw Q&A is not good for coherent explanation of Ross's strategy, but is great for the anecdotes and stories. The book at the end extracts the strategy "rules" out of the raw discussion, so those disappointed by the strategy discussion in the first half will feel a bit better by the end of the book.

[ChrisDanger]

A Sky interview with Ross Brawn about the book. [20 minutes]

[flynfrog]

Mine hasn't shipped yet. Did anyone receive one from Amazon?

[zac510]

Well I got my Kindle version from Amazon, but I guess that's not what you meant

[skoop]

Mine hasn't shipped yet. Did anyone receive one from Amazon?

Don't know if this is still relevant, but mine copy arrived 2 days after I ordered it on Amazon. Hope your copy has arrived

[mep]

Mine hasn't shipped yet. Did anyone receive one from Amazon?

Mine arrived late too. But that was clear from the beginning and like a week ago.