'Charles Leclerc is inadvertently aiding Chinese military efforts'
Charles Leclerc during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend. Photo: RacePictures.
A filmmaker with a soft spot for Ronnie Peterson, Gilles Villeneuve, Mika Hakkinen and above all, Tazio Nuvolari and Ayrton Senna, is also a diehard Formula One fan since the age of 4 (mid-90's). An avid researcher of the past of Grand Prix Racing since before it was even named F1, and with a thirst for knowledge of the ins and outs of the actuality of the sport, as well as for the technical aspects that define it, is a member of GPblog since 2023, where he has put his love of racing to good use.
The Chinese government is allegedly using Ferrari F1 driver Charles Leclerc's data in a supersoldier research program.
Charles Leclerc has issued a warning to Leiws Hamilton. Photo by RacePictures.
"I want to establish that this headband that I was just wearing, called the FocusCalm, is not just like a random thing," Torre explained on his podcast Pablo Torre Finds Out.
"It is actually incredibly popular in the world of sports because it enables athletes to track their brainwaves for performance reasons.
"You can see when you're calm, when you're stressed, 'you can get in the zone' is what the whole advertising around this is."
ADVERTISEMENT
Read also
Leclerc's name was in mighty company, as top performers from various disciplines have used the focus-training headband in question, too.
"These aren't just like any athletes: we're talking about Italy's famously focused Jannik Sinner, who trains with the FocusCalm.
"We're talking about the former number one women's tennis player in the world, Iga Swiatek, who is using it every day. The number one alpine skier of all time, American gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin, who uses it as also a bunch of English Premier League soccer players do."
Read also
ADVERTISEMENT
Dr. Roberto Ceccarelli, who previously worked with Leclerc explained how this technology could indeed be used for military purposes.
"Yes, absolutely. Yes. We are still in contact with them [BrainCo, the creators of the FocusCalm] now because they did also a device which is more wearable and that we can use in different experiments with aviation, with the military, because obviously the device has to be wearable and comfortable.
"So it is a synergy, is a project that is running since many years and obviously BrainCo was really, really supporting us."
Following an investigation, reports suggest that the Chinese government has been able to collect Leclerc's brainwaves data from one of the FocusCalm focus-training headband worn by the Monegasque.
Torre then reported the findings of a six month-long investigation that revealed Chinese government ties to the company in charge of manufacturing the FocusCalm headband.
ADVERTISEMENT
It was later alleged that a Chinese government agent stole the data from the headbands, including Leclerc's.
Read also
GPblog's latest F1 Paddock Update
Want to stay up-to-date on all the latest Formula 1 news? Then GPblog's F1 TODAY podcast is the perfect way to do it. Subscribe to GPblog's YouTube channel to stay up-to-date on new episodes, and follow the podcast on Spotify to know when a new episode is available.
ADVERTISEMENT
Donāt miss GPblog in Google
Mark us as a preferred source and our articles will appear more often at the top of Top Stories.
Add as a preferred / source on Google
