Formula 1 news: F1 drivers understand the significance of their pre-race routines. This is how they bring themselves in their best form for the upcoming fights. Some choose to cut off from everything for a while to get rid of all distractions and anxieties.
And, some exercise to lift their heart rate and hone their reflexes. For instance, Pierre Gasly is often seen doing a reaction test with his coach. He throws tennis balls for the AlphaTauri driver to grab.
However, performed inside the drivers’ private spaces is an increasingly famous new game. You would have spotted it on Netflix, in ‘Drive to Survive’. And, on some social media posts too. It is a piece of flashing-light fitness tech known as the Blazepod system. It contains responsive flashing lights and a connected phone app.
The top players including the title champ Max Verstappen have been utilizing it to get all corners of their brains sharpened. Not just from Formula 1, it has been adopted by several sports stars. Comprising sportspersons from football, NFL, tennis, F1, MotoGP, and NBA too. They use it as a means of stimulating the mind. It helps get the players ready for action.
Presently, around 300000 professional and maiden players from all over the planet use Blazepod. It includes many F1 stars.
Initially used by Alex Albon, now other drivers like Red Bull’s Verstappen, Sergio Perez, and Pierre Gasly have started it too.
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The principle is simple for drivers. It requires a multitude of blazing light rays flashing either on a table or on a wall. And, they need to use their reflexes to tap on the glinting flashings as fast as possible.
This Flash Reflex Training system enables the racers to attain the best feasible ‘priming’. It’s a procedure of exposing one’s body to a particular stimulus. It favorably impacts them later on.
Basically, Blazepods help them with reflexes build-up. So, when they use it before getting into the car, their responses both on a cognitive and physical level boost up instantly from the start. They don’t have to wait till a few laps to come to their best form. It is so popular because they are portable, user-friendly, and customizable. They can be personalized as per the player’s preferences. And, they are cheap and easily available.
Blazepod founder Yaniv Schneiderman said above all, the tool is “fun” too. The professionals love it. It is something enjoyable along with tough training sessions. In fact, it neither has an official partnership with F1 nor are there any promotional purposes. The drivers are using them on their own.
Simon Jacobs, head of Education and Professional Development at BlazePod, gave a statement. He said drivers have adopted it because it challenges their minds and activates the nervous system. It prepares the body to be quicker in the race. There was a far more valuable aspect behind the all-fun-seeming thing.
There are precise data it can provide the drivers about their progress and work. They get back the statistics and can mark even the smallest detail of their performance over time. The proper understanding of the data can be very beneficial to the athletes for their progress.
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Blazepod is a quite new start-up. It was founded in 2017. But Jacobs believes there are huge opportunities to improve its services and provide even more benefits to drivers and other players.
Jacobs said the players using them for priming was ‘great’. But, they can make other uses of it too such as for strength and conditioning training. Or, for their rehab. And, for decision-making skills and other crucial efficiencies for the particular sport. It was like fetching the tool and adjusting it to fulfill a target that is specific to the sport. It should be like using the same flashlight for the same purpose- faster-responding players.
He made a remark about F1 saying that, unlike most other sports where there is the involvement of backward thinking, Formula 1 is very accepting of modern technologies and opportunities for clear benefits and a better push. And, that makes it “exciting”.
