Nine months. Twenty-four races. Constant travel, pressure, and decision-making at the limit.
The mental demands of a full F1 season aren’t an afterthought. Motorsport athletes need to stay sharp, within the season and beyond.
Hintsa Head Scientist for Motorsport Dr. Tommy Wood — medical doctor, neuroscientist, and coach — has spent years working at the intersection of brain health and elite performance.
Here are 5 learnings on cognitive optimisation for motorsport athletes from Tommy’s new book The Stimulated Mind.
#TheStimulatedMind #HintsaPerformance
How many performance beliefs do you think are actually holding you back?
We’re finding out. Hintsa experts are busting the myths that shape how we train, recover, and perform — starting with resilience.
Myth 1: Resilience requires the absence of emotion.
It doesn’t.
#MythbustingWithHintsa #humanperformance
In the early 2000s, McLaren’s boss wanted a written agreement:
Kimi Räikkönen would behave over the summer break.
Dr. Aki Hintsa knew a formal contract would fail.
So he adapted to the human in front of him.
He wrote the “agreement” on a cigarette pack (at the time tobacco sponsor products were freely available in media and VIP spaces - remember that?) and wrote:
‘This is an agreement. We will behave over the summer break.’
Dr. Hintsa signed it, and handed it over.
Kimi laughed. And he signed.
The lesson is not “be casual.”
The lesson is: make commitments in a language the person can actually hear.
(Räikkönen lived up to the agreement and stayed out of trouble)
Where are you overcomplicating what could be simple?
Source: The Core - book by Oskari Saari
#Formula1 #kimiraikkonen #humanperformance
Breath is one of the most powerful levers we have to influence wellbeing and performance — and it’s completely free.
Our latest session for Hintsa Sport coaches featured Dr Guy Fincham, a breathwork researcher, sharing how respiration impacts health, recovery, and performance.
For athletes, studies show that an average overnight respiratory rate of 16 or more can indicate:
→ Poorer sleep quality
→ Suppressed heart rate variability
→ Reduced recovery
It has also been linked to increased cardiovascular risk and may act as an early signal for conditions such as sleep apnea, heart failure, COPD, and anxiety.
The good news? It’s trainable – and we’ll be sharing more on how in the coming weeks.
#breathwork #breath #sustainableperformance
Performance develops when talented athletes have the right ecosystem around them – coaching, care, structure, and belief.
Talent is only part of the story – it needs nurturing to develop into world champions.
That’s why initiatives like the @more.thanequal Driver Development Programme matter.
An in-house team of experienced driving coaches, working in collaboration with Hintsa’s performance experts, creates an environment where young female drivers can truly progress toward the elite level.
#womeninformula1 #MoreThanEqual #femalemotorsport
ST. GEORGE’S ANNIVERSARY GIVEAWAY: Win The Healthspan Stay by St. George and Hintsa Performance for two 💫
Today May 2, Hotel St. George turns 8, and we celebrate with a very special giveaway that can change your next 30 years.
The Healthspan Stay includes a Hintsa Healthspan Readiness Review with an experienced Hintsa coach for you and your companion – a total assessment and toolkit for adding more good years into your life, one-night stay in Atelier with Balcony room, access to the gym and St. George Care’s sauna & pool area, and a delicious breakfast.
Participation is open only 2–6 May by:
🤍 following @stgeorgehelsinki & @hintsaperformance on Instagram
🤍 liking this post
🤍 commenting below who you would take with you to enjoy this special experience.
The winner will be drawn and contacted personally after the participation period. The prize can be redeemed only on May-June 2026 on, subject to availability of the Healthspan Stay on designated Mondays, Tuesdays or Fridays. Travel to/from Hotel St. George will not be included in the prize.
Please note we won’t announce the winner in the comments or by any other account than @stgeorgehelsinki via Instagram DM, so beware of scam accounts. Read general competition rules at: /competition-rules.
Good luck to the giveaway!
#StGeorgesWeek #StGeorgeHelsinki #HintsaPerformance #TheHealthspanStay
The Middle East races played a surprising performance role in the F1 season. They were heat preparation.
Cockpit temperatures 50-60°C.
Up to two hours at ~80% max heart rate.
At 39–40°C core temperature, fatigue spikes and cognitive performance degrades rapidly. The body starts prioritising cooling over output - and performance follows.
The most effective preparation for hot conditions?
Controlled heat exposure.
That was the role of the Middle East races: building heat adaptation early in the season, before the calendar heads somewhere that really demands it.
Miami is race 6. And the two races that would have built heat tolerance are gone.
Heat adaptation can’t be compressed into race week.
The protocols that actually work — structured heat blocks of 60–100 minutes, repeated across 7-14 sessions over multiple weeks — take time.
They drive meaningful physiological change: lower heart rate in heat, lower core temperature, improved sweating response.
This is where performance science earns its place.
When the calendar removes a preparation window, you rebuild it. Structured heat exposure: sauna, heat chambers, controlled training load in warm environments — drives the same adaptations.
The Middle East prepared drivers for Miami. This year, that work happens differently. But it still has to happen.
#miamigp #formula1 #humanperformance
A stay that could change your next thirty years.
Introducing: The Healthspan Stay
Designed in collaboration with Hintsa Performance, the coaching company behind some of the world’s top athletes and business leaders, this experience is created for those who want to live a long, healthy life.
At the heart of the stay is a 2-hour private session with a world-class Hintsa performance coach, combining physical assessments and an in-depth wellbeing review. You’ll leave with a personal plan for support your long-term health (and the relaxed feeling that comes from your stay at Hotel St. George).
The Healthspan Stay includes:
- One night in your preferred room or suite
- Hintsa Healthspan Readiness Review
- Delicious breakfast
- Spa & gym access
Limited availability in May-June 2026. Book now, link in bio.
#HotelStGeorge #HintsaPerformance #HealthspanStay
2010 season. The day after a race and his teammate got under his skin, Vettel wanted nothing to do with coaching. No debrief. No reflection. Just heat.
So Dr. Aki Hintsa did the unglamorous thing.
He drove three hours and waited outside Vettel’s house. Not to win an argument, but to protect the driver from burning energy on the wrong target.
And then, the next day, Vettel called Hintsa back.
After that, the real work began.
Not a new training plan. A new mindset.
The strongest people are not the ones who never get pulled off course.
They are the ones who can say, clearly: “I was wrong.”
Source: The Core - book by @oskarisaari
From maintaining precision under high G-forces to sustaining control over race distance, Formula 1 places unique demands on the driver.
Key principles from our recent session with @kylemeadows7 highlighted 3 lessons from the world of olympic sprinters – and how they translate directly into F1 driver preparation.
1️⃣ Joint Stiffness under load
Elite sprinters:
• Maintain joint stiffness during ground contact
• Transfer force efficiently without collapse
Same principle in F1:
Absorb force → stay stable → apply precise output.
Without it:
Any loss of stiffness = delayed steering input, reduced precision, and increased fatigue.
2️⃣ Isometric Strength & endurance
Elite sprinters develop:
• High tendon stiffness
• Ability to maintain force output under fatigue
The best drivers don’t just produce force – they hold it without degradation.
Without it:
• Precision drops late in the race
• Micro-errors increase
• Reaction time slows
3️⃣ Integrated performance analytics
Elite sprint systems:
• Track force, velocity, contact time, asymmetries
Then they adjust training daily based on data.
At Hintsa instead of generic strength programs, we apply:
• Individualised driver approach
• Load-response tracking
• Objective performance feedback
Together, these principles reflect our philosophy to a targeted and data-informed approach to driver development.
#formula1 #f1 #sprinting #humanperformance
When the mission is saving lives, sustaining the people doing that work isn’t optional – it’s essential.
The @WHOfoundation raises funds for global health. Mission-driven people dealing with shifting priorities, reallocated workloads, political uncertainty arriving overnight. So they stretch.
”There was this critical moment when we realised: something had to be done,” reflects Parul Pandey, Chief People Officer.
The WHO Foundation partnered with Hintsa to equip their team with practical tools to manage stress, find optimal performance modes, and protect mental recovery.
The goal: sustain both the people and their life-saving work.
🎬 Visit the Hintsa website to watch the full story.
#who #whofoundation #globalhealth #sustainableperformance
