From Messi to Mika Häkkinen, how top athletes can slow down time
With the new Formula 1 season is about to begin, it’s worth pondering what makes a great racing driver. There are no doubt several important qualities, such as calmness under pressure, the courage to take risks, quick reflexes and excellent coordination. But there is a more obscure ability that may separate the best drivers – and other top athletes – from the rest: the ability to “slow down” time. In 1994, a British racing driver named Mark Hughes had “one of the greatest days” of his life when he began a race right at the back of the grid, with 25 other cars in front of him. Somehow he managed to overtake 23 cars, finishing third. While driving, Hughes felt a strange sense of detachment, as if he was watching from outside his body. He also felt a peculiar sense of timelessness. As he told the author Clyde Brolin for his book In the Zone (2017): “It’s funny and it sounds weird but it felt unconnected to time … It’s not really time … You …
