For more than three decades, Xevi Pujolar has lived inside motorsport’s most unforgiving environment: one where decisions are measured in milliseconds and where solutions often arrive too late if they are not prepared weeks in advance.
His Formula 1 journey took him through Jaguar Racing, Williams Grand Prix Engineering, HRT Formula 1 Team, Scuderia Toro Rosso and Sauber Motorsport, working with drivers including Juan Pablo Montoya, Kimi Räikkönen, Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas.
Today, although no longer full-time in Formula 1, Pujolar still follows the sport closely, while also applying Formula 1’s operating principles beyond racing through his own consultancy and the Pole Position Operating System.
And when asked by Paddock Magazine about Formula 1’s current direction, his answer is notably calm compared to the noise often surrounding a new rules cycle.
“It would not be fair to say immediately that the regulations are right or wrong,” he says. “Every big regulation change begins with a wider spread between the teams. Then gradually everything converges.”
That, for Pujolar, is the natural rhythm of Formula 1. The first races may create strong headlines, but engineers inside the sport know that early impressions rarely define the season.
At the same time, he sees positive signs already. “If you look at the opening laps of the race, the fight is amazing. I quite like it,” he says. “For sure, maybe for the drivers it does not feel fully natural yet, but I think this is something that can be adjusted.”
The main challenge, in his view, is preserving the balance between technological evolution driver control and show.
“The drivers must still feel that their skill – the consistency of pushing the boundaries – is the predominant performance factor together with the machine.”
That point becomes especially relevant in an era where energy deployment and hybrid systems increasingly shape how drivers manage a lap.
For some, that has triggered nostalgia for older Formula 1 generations. But Pujolar is cautious with that argument.
“I loved the V10s and the sound and all that,” he says with a smile. “But that was the past. Technology moves on. You do not see many V10 or V12 engines on the road anymore,” he says. “The sport needs to remain relevant for the automotive brands investing in it.”
For him, that relevance matters not only technically, but economically. Formula 1 must continue serving as both spectacle and development platform.
“The direction is correct,” he says. “Maybe some fine-tuning is needed, but I think it is possible to improve without changing the philosophy.”
“I’m a Fan of Max”
One of the most striking parts of the conversation comes when discussing the early competitive picture and the unusual sight of certain teams temporarily away from their expected positions.
Pujolar admits that seeing some names outside the front immediately changes the emotional reading of a race weekend.
“It feels strange when you see drivers like Max that should be at the front, and then now you see them a bit more in the midfield. For sure I’m a fan of Max, so I would like to see him at the front.”
But the engineer in him quickly adds another perspective.
“In some ways, for the spectators it is also good to see different people leading. It is good to see Mercedes back there, Ferrari there. It reshapes the championship.”
That balance between personal admiration and competitive variety perhaps reflects Formula 1’s current moment perfectly: dominant narratives are being challenged, and even those who admire excellence recognise the value of unpredictability.
Why Fixes Are Never Immediate in Formula 1
Pujolar also offers a reminder often forgotten outside the paddock: in Formula 1, even when a problem is understood, solving it is never instant.
“Sometimes even if you know the solution, it is not about clicking two days and doing it,” Pujolar says, when we asked him about the struggles that Aston Martin is facing.
A correction still needs to pass through design, sign-off, production and track validation.
“You need lead time, you need parts, you need the right process. Even if it is only one or two months, in Formula 1 that already means three or four races.”
Formula 1 Thinking Beyond Formula 1
Although still involved in junior motorsport with ART Grand Prix, where he collaborates as Technical Consultant, his focus today also lies in translating Formula 1 methods into broader performance systems.
“At the end, what fascinated me most was not only the technical side, but how high-performance teams work together,” he says.
His current work through Pole Position OS focuses on translating Formula 1’s Performance Culture into other industries – from finance to aerospace – showing how to set the Operating System underneath the Elite Team Performance.
“When you are on the pit wall, sometimes the decision seems to appear from nowhere,” he explains. “But it is not like this. It comes from all the preparation done before.”
That preparation, he says, often begins long before race day.
“What you execute during the race is something you prepared weeks in advance.”
It is this idea: structured preparation creating apparent spontaneity that he believes modern companies increasingly need if they want speed without losing control, committing without fear to the unexpected events coming ahead.
Formula 1 No Longer Rewards Exhaustion
One of the strongest cultural shifts he identifies concerns how Formula 1 itself has changed internally.
Years ago, extreme fatigue was often accepted as proof of commitment. Today, he believes that mentality no longer survives in true high-performance environments.
“Fifteen or twenty years ago, the idea was: if you do not sleep, it is okay, hard work will pay off,” he says.
Now he sees the opposite.
“If you want to take good decisions, you need to be fresh. You need enough rest. Otherwise, it does not work. Still will require a lot of work, a lot of effort from everybody, however it must be sustainable”
That applies equally to engineers, mechanics and leaders.
“You try to be a superhero, but they are not superheroes.”
For Pujolar, modern Formula 1’s biggest lesson may not be speed alone, but sustainable precision.
More Than a Technological Laboratory
Formula 1 is often described as a laboratory for innovation, but Pujolar believes that definition is too narrow.
“It is not only technology,” he says. “You have logistics, infrastructure, media, marketing, design, production – everything.”
And because all of it operates globally, under relentless deadlines, Formula 1 becomes one of the clearest examples of organised complexity anywhere in modern sport.
“When you see all these areas working together, you understand that Formula 1 thinking can apply to any business.”