Nico Rosberg cut his socks to become an F1 World Champion.

It’s true! Rosberg did actually cut his socks, and later that year he was crowned the F1 World Champion.

How does such a small thing as cutting your socks lead to great success?

The answer is in the fact that small changes lead to massive results.

2016 — when Rosberg cut his socks.

Picture the 2016 summer break; halfway through the race calendar and all teams take a two week break. There’s no races, factories shut down, engines stop.

At this point, during the 2016 summer break, the World Drivers Championship was between drivers Lewis Hamilton in first, and Nico Rosberg in second. Being Mercedes teammates, they were in entirely equal machinery; the winner would be determined based on the driver and their actions alone.

Rosberg knew he could beat Hamilton and take the championship; how?

Rosberg considered weight; weight is an important factor in motorsports that can affect virtually everything. Everything needs to be as lightweight as possible — the car, helmet, the driver themselves etc — in order to give the driver the best chance at winning the race. During this 2016 summer break, Rosberg made small, marginal steps to decrease his overall weight.