#080 – F1 Financials & Studying

Good morning everyone,

Hope you’re having a great week!

Let’s jump in.

read online on my website 

read time 5 minutes 

Life Update:

Before jumping into this week’s newsletter, I just wanted to give you all an exciting life update.

Last month, I accepted an offer to work for Thiess at their Lake Vermont Coal Mine Operation in Queensland!

I moved up here last weekend and am currently writing this from my accommodation located 10 mins from site in the small town of Dysart in Northern Queensland.

It’s a 3-month internship in their on-site finance team, and I’ll be staying up here for the entire summer before heading back to Sydney for uni in February.

Really enjoying it here so far and will keep you all posted with how it goes!

#080 at a Glance:

• Quote: Life is a storm, my young friend.

• Podcast: Optimal protocols for studying and learning.

• Deep Dive: The dealmakers driving billions in revenue for F1.

• Book: Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey.

• Tweet: Don’t be like everyone else.

Quote I’ve been thinking about:

Podcast I listened to:

Huberman Lab: Optimal Protocols for Studying and Learning

Absolute ripper of an episode from Dr Andrew Huberman about how to most effectively study and learn.

These were my key takeaways:

• Studying is a skill and the best learning protocols are not (always) intuitive.

• Periodic testing is the best way to learn (i.e. stopping periodically to test yourself on what you’ve learned).

• A great day of learning starts with a great night’s sleep, minimal stress, good hydration, high alertness, and focus.

• The information that you learn on a given day is mostly consolidated during your sleep on that first evening (First Night Effect).

• Top performing students tend to most commonly employ the following study habits. They:

  • Actively set aside time to study.

  • Clear out distractions from their environment and study alone.

  • Study for 3-4 hours per day, broken up into 2-3 sessions.

  • Make an effort to teach their peers.

• The best-performing academic students have a very long-term belief as to how success in their studies will positively impact their families, life trajectory, and long-term ambitions, without being completely clear as to how exactly it would impact those outcomes; just that it would do so in a very positive way.

  • In other words, they attach a ‘broad aspirational categorisation’ to their study behaviour.

• Studying that feels most challenging is the most effective.

• Re-reading material over and over again is far less effective than reading material once, thinking about that material, and then testing yourself on that material.

• Self-testing <24 hours after exposure to learning material increases retention of that material by 50%.

• The best self-tests are open-ended, short answer, and structured with short prompts/questions.

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

[Podcast Length: 1 hour 41 minutes]

Deep Dive:

The Dealmakers Driving Billions in Revenue for Formula One 

Watched a fantastic YouTube Video the other day which shed some light on the business and sponsorship deals that make the sport of Formula One tick.

The video included short snippets from interviews with Team Principals, Constructor CEOs, Commercial Directors, Marketing Managers, and nearly everyone in between.

These were the insights that I found most fascinating:

• Despite the success of the sport today, many of the F1 teams were close to bankruptcy during COVID-19.

• The Oracle Red Bull Racing Team is completely debt free.

• The cost cap for F1 teams covers the majority of on-track performance but does not include driver wages, power units, and marketing.

• The largest revenue streams for F1 as an organisation are media rights, ticket sales, merchandising, and sponsorship.

• US-based firm Liberty Media purchased the Formula One Group for $4.4b in 2017 and today, the franchise is estimated to be worth over $18b.

• The Formula One: Drive To Survive Netflix docuseries is largely responsible for the growth of the sport in recent years, and for the seismic shift in what is now a more global and diverse audience.

• Since the return of the Las Grand Prix in 2023, the race has delivered $1.5b worth of economic value to the region.

• The Silverstone Circuit is owned by the British Racing Drivers’ Club, a small private members club which operates as a non-for-profit organisation.

• The price of team sponsorship varies massively and can range anywhere from $60-80m per year as a Tier 1 sponsor of a front-of-grid team, all the way to $1-2m per year as a Tier 3 sponsor of a back-of-grid team.

• The Oracle Red Bull Racing Team has been the most financially successful team on the grid over the last 5 years having created approximately $1b worth of lifetime revenue through strategic partnerships alone.

• Red Bull’s brand, being an everyday consumer product, lends itself to a far wider pool of potential sponsors in comparison to the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari who are trying to promote a luxury car and therefore, are seeking to partner (almost exclusively) with high-end, premium brands.

You can watch the full video on YouTube here.

[Video Length: 15 minutes]

Book I am reading:

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

I simply could not recommend this book highly enough.

Given it’s been almost 3 years since I first read it, I decided to bring it up to Queensland with me to keep me company over the summer.

In February 2022, I wrote an article for Boss Hunting extracting what I thought to be the most profound lessons that anyone can take from Matthew McConaughey’s incredible life story.

Here’s a link to the full article if you’re interested, but my 4 key takeaways were:

1. Memories aren’t made and lessons aren’t learnt by sitting on the couch; nothing worthwhile happens on your arse.

2. Learn who you are first before trying to influence others.

3. Keep a journal – your future (and current) self will thank you for it.

4. If you ignore the outcome and focus on the now, you’ll never fail.

Easily in my top 3 favourite books of all time.

Apparently the audio book is quality as well.

You’ll love it.

Tweet I liked:

Don’t Be Like Everyone Else

Thanks for reading! Grateful for your support.

Stay hungry, stay humble, stay curious. ⚡

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