KAREN ANDERSON: Does F1 champ Max Verstappen have something to teach the rest of us about the pursuit of excellence?

I told you a couple of months back about my love for sport which came about via watching Grandstand with my Dad, and that I am mad about motorsport. Any type of car racing and I am stuck in front of the TV from start to finish, but Formula 1 is my greatest

sporting passion.

So it is with a heavy heart that I watched the final moments of the last race of the season on November 26. Thankfully it will return in three months, but in the meantime, I think the hollow feeling was exacerbated by the way this last season played out. Max Verstappen dominated, winning 19 of the 22 races, to the extent that there was little point in entertaining the idea of anyone getting close to him which made the races somewhat more predictable than ever.

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This got me thinking about the concept of excellence. For example, is Max the best driver or did he win all those races because he has the best car, the best mechanics, the best designer, or the best management? There is no doubt that he has skill, but all 22 of the drivers on the grid have skill to be able to drive with the precision required to pilot rockets on wheels at over 200mph for lap after lap. I would expect it is equally difficult to get to the point of being a mechanic or engineer on these teams, and his designer Adrian Newey has conceived cars that have won twelve constructor championships with three different teams, and thirteen driver championships with seven different drivers.

Surely then the excellence is not resting in just one pair of hands – it is the result of the coming together of a mix of people all operating at the best of their ability and therefore unpredictable and almost impossible to replicate. The other teams were not sitting back and driving for second, all were striving to improve the whole year and there were flashes of brilliance from just about all of them at different points.

That is what I am lucky enough to be building around me. I have old friends and new who I believe want to see me succeed and are willing to walk the hard miles at my side, and maybe even lead the way sometimes.

What can the idea of excellence mean in our normal everyday lives? Is it the single- minded pursuit of ‘being the best’ or is it more calling on all the resources you have to bring a community around you who support you to achieve more than you could if you tried to stand alone? Perhaps the concept of excellence seems so far away from what you experience that it might be easier to just start with a small improvement instead? Even the smallest of changes can be helped by having genuinely supportive people on side to be at your back with encouragement and motivation for those times when it is tough.

That is what I am lucky enough to be building around me. I have old friends and new who I believe want to see me succeed and are willing to walk the hard miles at my side, and maybe even lead the way sometimes. And that folks is what has enabled me to have the most fantastic year of adventures and experiences while not shirking on my responsibilities to the boy. I thank them all individually at the time when they help me and am always sure to tell them what they mean to me. And if there is ever anything I can do or say to help them to thrive, then I will take that opportunity and embrace it with both hands and hug them to me.

Karen is Mum to an autistic son in his twenties and campaigns for the rights of unpaid carers to be supported in their caring role and involved in the decisions that affect their lives and the lives of the people they care for. You can find her on twitter and Instagram @Karen4Carers.

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