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Business of Speed is the definitive, deep-dive into the money, power, and technology driving modern racing.
We don't report the race, we pull back the curtain on the strategy behind it. This show treats global racing as the ultimate laboratory for competitive advantage, focusing on the high-level business decisions that shape the sports. We move past passive sponsorships to explore how teams, brands, and executives leverage racing for technology transfer, cultural relevance, and operational impact.
This is where the C-suite goes to learn how to harness velocity into a sustainable business advantage.
Welcome back to the Business of Speed podcast. I'm Vincenzo Landino. Today's guest is someone who doesn't even need an introduction, but I'm going to give him one for those of you that may not know who he is. He worked for the McLaren team from 2000 to 2009 under legendary Ron Dennis. He worked with drivers like Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, Mika Haakonen, Lewis Hamilton.
Vincenzo:Lewis Hamilton, who won his first championship in 2008, this guest was on the team working with Lewis directly. He is now a two time author. His second book came out the day we recorded this episode. He works with brands all over the world, companies that want to make their teams better using Formula One strategies. The guest I'm talking about is none other than Mark Priestley, AKA F1 Elvis.
Vincenzo:I hope you enjoy this conversation.
Lali:Hi. Welcome, Mark.
Marc:Hi. Nice to be here.
Vincenzo:To the show, Mark. Really glad to have you here. Exciting day for you today.
Marc:It is. It is the day that my brand new book, Pit Lane Lessons, finally comes out. So I'm very excited, really intrigued to find out what people think, but just generally excited because it's been a long process. You sit with a book for a long, long time while you're writing it, and you're just desperate for everyone else to see it. So finally today's that day.
Vincenzo:Yes. And this is your second too. So I mean, you've you've done this before and you you chose to go back to doing it again.
Marc:Yeah. Yeah. Do you know what? I've done these we all do this so many times with lots of things in our life. I've done the same with houses.
Marc:We've done up houses over and over again. I get to the end of every one. I said, I'm never doing that again. And then you go and do another one. So yes, it was the same with the book.
Marc:I said, I'm never writing another book because it was, it's a tough process. It's hard. But here I am, I did it. It's taken three years, so it really was hard. But you know, sometimes the hardest things we do in life are often the best when they, when they finally materialize.
Vincenzo:Yeah. Already with some, a good word of wisdom there. Right?
Lali:There's a saying that everyone has one book in them. Like, but you had two in you so far. So let's see. Maybe there's a there's a trifecta somehow in there.
Vincenzo:Although there'll a there'll be a third.
Lali:When
Vincenzo:you get to when you get to the next phase of this, I think, pit lane lessons, you'll learn even more about lessons about the lessons. Right?
Marc:Who knows? You know, never say never.
Lali:Let's Mark, I'm ask you something.
Vincenzo:Oh, go ahead, Bowie.
Lali:Since since I followed you I've been following you for a very long time, and your your handle has always been f one Elvis. So I'm very curious. I asked Vincenzo that about that. He had no idea where it came about.
Vincenzo:So
Lali:I wanna I wanna know that's did you give yourself that nickname? Did somebody give you I understand the Priestley Presley thing. Yeah. But what else is what else is behind that?
Marc:No. That's kind of it. And it wasn't me, but it was a long time ago. So when I was at school and I'm talking like 10 years old, there were a few people, my actual name's Mark, and there were quite a few marks in the class. And so some bright spark at school realized that Priestley sounded a little bit like Presley and came up with Elvis and you know it stuck and it stuck to such a level that I think most people I went through ten years working in the Formula One pit lane I don't think many people know that my actual name's Mark.
Marc:They all just call me Elvis. Even my own wife only ever calls me Elvis. So it's only my mom.
Lali:I thought you were Elvis for a long time.
Marc:It's only my mom that still calls me Mark.
Lali:There you go.
Vincenzo:I I contemplated saying is do I put f one Elvis in the invitation when I invited you to the podcast? Said, but I don't wanna like, I don't wanna because I know you've been using the Mark Priestley account on Instagram.
Marc:Started a second account. F one f one Elvis has always been my Instagram handle. But Yeah. With this this this book and and a lot of the stuff that I do around the book, I I work with a lot of businesses with the same kind of topics, and it was a little bit separated from a lot of the other that the real Formula One racing stuff and the car show that I host and those kind of things. They're slightly different audiences.
Marc:So I thought I'd start a separate Instagram account just to keep it really specific. So if you're into this kind of stuff, it's my mark underscore priestly account, which is the one for you.
Vincenzo:I mean, I love the business side of things, but I know Lolly's got more, sporting questions before we go, go into that.
Lali:Well, I just have a few for instance, like you're, you've spoken a lot about how in, during your McLaren days, there was like an extreme obsession with detail, right? Obsessive attention. And now you, you, you talk a lot with business people and you're, you're a public speaker. Do you think that obsessive attention to detail equals competitive advantage always? Or do some people in businesses perhaps thrive in that environment and others don't in that level of obsessive that, McLaren had?
Marc:Yeah, and it really was obsessive and you know the first book goes into quite some depth about how obsessive it was. I don't think any rule in life or business is a sort of one rule for everybody because everybody is a little bit different. Being obsessive about details in a competitive world, and that's business or sports or anything else, as long as you're focused on the right details, and that's the key here, that I think does or can at least translate into a competitive advantage. What I think a lot of people get wrong is either they focus on these finer glitzy glamorous details, the bits that everyone wants to plaster across Instagram, but forget about the basics. And actually that's, there's a lot of lessons in the book and McLaren have been guilty of this in the past and I talk about that quite honestly.
Marc:If you don't get the basic details right, there is no point in focusing obsessively on these finer details. But if you do get the basics, lay your foundations and then you start honing down and understanding which details will matter in the world you're operating in and then becoming obsessive. Yeah, absolutely. If you could be more obsessive about those details than your competitors, I think it can translate into an advantage.
Lali:But do you think that's why perhaps you also lived the extreme at McLaren? There was this obsessive attention to detail. They were dictating what you ate for breakfast, but at the same time, there was a lot of pranking and a lot of fun being had. Do you think that because it was so strict, you guys really needed to let loose? Was there a correlation there?
Marc:A 100%. Yeah, I think, you know, all life is about some kind of balance. And we had, we did have obsessive attention to detail. It stemmed to give some context it stemmed from Ron Dennis who was the CEO of McLaren when I first joined the team who I mean I'd never known anybody in my life to be as obsessive about details as he is still today. But the problem is, you know, that was him and there's a thousand people working at McLaren, they're not all Ron Dennis and so we all have various levels of attention to detail or obsessiveness or whatever.
Marc:Our characters are all different so we can't all be expected and I think this was, if we're honest, I think this was something of a mistake to some extent or something that could have been done better in the Ron Dennis days. We're not all, we can't all operate under that exact same, you know, set of parameters. I tried and I came out of McLaren after ten years with a far more obsessive sort of characteristic around detail than I went in and I genuinely believe that's helped me in all the things I've done since, but I never got to the Ron Dennis level. You know Ron Dennis has the gravel on his driveway washed at regular intervals so it's clean. I'm never going to get there because that doesn't matter to me but I am obsessive about the things that I think matter to me, which will be different than the things that someone else thinks matter.
Marc:So that's what I mean. The right details for you, obsess about those if you believe they're going to make a difference, and then they will.
Vincenzo:What I was going to ask you about who do you think the most obsessive person is currently in Formula One, but
Marc:I mean,
Vincenzo:I mean, Ron, Ron is the most obsessive. It sounds like, is there anybody comparable, like just below Ron or a second place? Like, And what does that look like for the people around them?
Marc:Yeah. That's an interesting one. I think only only if you really work very closely with someone do you understand to that level. But what I do know is that David Coulthard, you may remember a driver, he was with us at the team back in the day, still presents and operates in and around Formula One to quite a large degree. And maybe this came from Ron because he worked under Ron for a long time, but he is also incredibly obsessive about detail.
Marc:And I had him on my own podcast a little while ago and he just reiterated just how his genuine belief is that if anything matters to you then everything should matter And that's the way he goes through life. So he obsesses about the way he packs his suitcase to go to a race, know, obsesses about the way his office is is clean and tidy, even if he's not there. You know, those details to him reflect in everything else that he does. And I kind of get that to some extent. And I and I believe that is true for a lot of, for a lot of people.
Marc:But it's just about how far you want to take those things depending on whether you think they'll make a difference in your world. So I don't know the modern sort of crop of drivers. I don't know. I think Lewis is quite obsessive about detail, but again, only the details that matter. I don't think anyone with Ron Dennis, for me it seemed like every detail mattered, like there was nothing that he wasn't obsessive about.
Marc:For me the much more healthy way to look at this and I think what most people in my sphere of life do is they obsess about the things that you know are important to them and maybe just relax a little bit on having the gravel on your driveway washed every now and again.
Lali:When you were at McLaren, it's been documented, you've spoken about this extensively, how close you became to Kimmy, like actual proper friends. Yeah. You went to his house, you met his friends, etcetera. At that time, was that common? Were other mechanics very close to their drivers?
Lali:And is that common still today?
Marc:You definitely form a real bond, particularly in the car crews around a driver and that happens to various extents up and down the pit lane. But I do think the relationship we had at McLaren at that time with Kimmy and with a group of guys we had was particularly special. I don't see many people, many mechanics or engineers going on holiday with their drivers at the end of the season. So I think that was special. We had a genuine bond.
Marc:We all kind of came together around the same time when he joined McLaren, so that car crew formed at the same time. I was joining McLaren at a very similar era. So we kind of grew together as a group and that bonded us incredibly tightly together. We were similar ages, we had very similar interests both at the track but also away from that as well. And his friends and my friends you know became a great group of friends together so it was a very special time and genuinely think because of that, that was a large part of why we were successful as a group.
Marc:You know having that bond and having this inherent desire that we would have done anything for each other has to translate into in this competitive world of Formula One has to translate into amazing teamwork, great fight and determination and that's exactly what got us through a lot of really tough periods at times.
Vincenzo:I want to talk I want to ask a lesson about failure or if you can give us a lesson about failure. You know, you go from failure 2007 to then winning the very next year. What what can you glean from that? What type of advice would you give? And I'm sure you do this regularly from the stage into organizations, and they're probably asking you about, you know, winning through failure.
Vincenzo:What, what do you, what's the biggest lesson you can give? Like if you had to give one piece of advice about adversity and sticking, you know, continuing on so that you can find that success, what would that be?
Marc:Yeah, it's really interesting. There's a whole chapter in the book on this, on dealing with failure. Actually I use exactly that example as a large part of it. So 2007 for us should have been the best year, right? We had two great drivers in Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Vallon, so we had a great car, great team, we were winning races left, right and centre.
Marc:Should have been a dream but it was a nightmare and it was a nightmare because so many things went wrong And at the end of that season I'd moved into a more senior role in the team. Part of the role that came up for me was to try and understand where it all went wrong. So there were some very obvious things like the two drivers fell out with each other it's very public, this is no secret They ended up hating each other. That destroyed the internal dynamic because the groups of people around those drivers ended up falling out as well. That destroyed the teamwork element inside.
Marc:And then there was a spy gate drama going on in the background, this big industrial espionage. 2007, by the way, would make a great movie. But, you know, my job
Vincenzo:Idea. Maybe maybe maybe David Coulthard can produce it.
Marc:Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. My job that year wasn't just to identify those surface level things because they were quite obvious.
Marc:It was to go really deep. And this is what Formula One teams do very well. And this is where this this sort of lesson comes in is that the deeper you're able to go into a failure, and that's hard, right? Because at 2007, it was an awful year and most people in our team, including me, just wanted to forget it. We were all of this opinion that well, we know what's gone wrong.
Marc:Let's put that behind us and we'll just move forward. That's the obvious way to to go about it. But Formula one teams and particularly our team at that time didn't think that way. We collectively decided we were going to delve really deeply and sort of forensically analyze our mistakes and the things that we had got wrong, which is really uncomfortable because the people that made some of those mistakes had to be front and center in that investigation and have it laid bare in front of their peers, know, and openly discuss it and try and find what was at the heart of it. The key to dealing with failure in the best way in my opinion is to go as deep as you can.
Marc:So yes, the two drivers fell out. Okay, so ask yourself why? Go another level deeper. Why did they fall out? Well, maybe there was some sort of discrepancy about Fernando Alonso was the world champion, Lewis was a rookie.
Marc:Maybe they had different expectations, know, and and they didn't match up when Lewis suddenly became a very worthy championship contender. Maybe Fernando got upset and vice versa. All true. Then ask yourself why again and keep going deeper and deeper into more and more levels of why these things happen. And what we uncovered was all the way back, like a year before Fernando even joined our team, he was a world champion at Renault at the time when Ron Dennis approached him and asked him to drive.
Marc:There was never a conversation that happened about who, you know, was we was there gonna be a number one or number two driver? Yeah. We had Fernando, the king of Formula one at the time, the world champion, and we had this young rookie in Lewis. Everyone assumed Lewis was gonna just learn the ropes from this guy who was a a double world champion by the time he got to us, but it was never talked about. There was no communication around that.
Marc:There was nothing to say, you know, as we go through the season, preferential treatment or development will swing in the favor of Fernando. It was just assumed that way. Fernando assumed it. I suspect even Lewis assumed it in the beginning because he didn't have the expectations of challenging for a title. The team certainly didn't have any expectations of that.
Marc:So the assumption was there, but no communication to back that up. So when reality didn't match expectation after just a few races and Lewis was very much on par with Fernando, we, the team, never had a policy of having a number one and number two driver. We were never gonna change that, but it was always just assumed that that would be the obvious scenario. So if you really uncover that failure, probably a lack of clear and concise communication a year before any of this even happened was was probably one of the things that was at the fault there. So you take from that.
Marc:Well, okay. So moving forward, clear and concise communication has to be a key part of avoiding these things in the future. And then from that very known baseline that you've uncovered, you build your way back up to a a set of parameters that meant in 2008, we did win the world title. And I say in the book here, I'm a 100% sure we would not have won that world title in 2008 without the failure of 2007. And because of what we did in the winter between those two seasons, uncovering what went wrong.
Lali:I have a quick follow-up because I don't think I've heard you speak of this, forgive me if you have. How much did it sting to have Kimi win the February with Ferrari after you'd been working with him so closely? He was such a good mate, he leaves you and boom, he gets his championship.
Marc:Yeah. It stung just internally our team. It stung because we had we'd failed massively. We had everything there to win the title. All the pieces of the puzzle were there, and yet we'd failed.
Marc:So that's done. But if we weren't gonna win it, I obviously I absolutely was really happy for Kimmy and I remember at the you know, on that Sunday night in Brazil, it was a disastrous day of course for us at McLaren, but I remember going to the post season party and right at the end of the party I hadn't seen Kimmy at all all evening and I saw him just across the other side of this event, this venue, and he was just happened to be on his own and I literally just ran across and he sort of got up for his chair and we just had this enormous embrace because you know I know how hard he'd been desperately trying to win that as well. I'd have loved it if we could have done it with him, that would have been the dream, but if that wasn't to be the case I was so happy for him genuinely that very quickly the sort of negative emotion of our disastrous season, which we'd seen coming for a while, so it wasn't like it all happened on the last day, very quickly switched into real, you know, joy to see my mate suddenly achieve a childhood dream.
Vincenzo:Yeah. And we'll put a nice bow on this before we get in, we kind of segue into the next, questions. You say this in the book and I skimmed through some sections and this one stuck out to me. You said never let a failure go to waste. Of course, you won't extract the true value from all your experiments if you don't take the time to analyze what happened and what you can do different in the future.
Vincenzo:And you said the trick is to try and take a moment of calm to zoom out. Failures tend to come with emotion attached. If we didn't care about the result, it wouldn't affect us. But if we do care, then it matters and we're going and we're often all in and emotions and all. And so I just thought that was a it was an interesting just because of what you were talking about, you can fail, but you have to learn from it in order to get better.
Vincenzo:Right. And to then win. I think that was
Marc:And the hardest part of that is that emotion, you know, when it happens to us on a personal level, the failure does come with emotion. And when emotion comes into these equations, we get angry, we get sad, you know, and those emotions cloud everything. And all you want to do is either lash out if you're angry or if you're sad you want to sort of hide away, but those things all detract from actually analyzing the failure and taking the moment to learn. Formula one teams are very good at, you know, parking the emotion. It still happens.
Marc:We're not emotionless beings at a Formula one team, but we have a moment where we we we kind of define an end point. Ron Dennis was always very good at telling us this. He'd say if we had a disastrous race on a Sunday for example, we'd do our post race debrief of course on a Sunday evening, we'd pack up and on a Monday morning he said for him personally he always used to say by the time his slippers landed in his or his feet landed in his slippers by the side of the bed on a Monday morning, What happened yesterday was done emotionally and then it was all about moving forward in this sort of pragmatic way to learn what we could do better next time. I still remember that all of the time today. I still am affected by emotion when things go wrong for me, but pretty quickly I can define an end point.
Marc:It might be the next morning after a good night's sleep. It might be something like brushing my teeth or whatever. Define a moment where after that moment I park the emotion and we look at what we can learn and having that as a sort of skill in your locker, I think is hugely valuable.
Lali:I love that because having the favored living rent free in your head is not going to allow you to get quickly to your next success.
Marc:Love it.
Lali:Actually pick a point. You can sulk until there. After that point, you're done. We're moving.
Vincenzo:Yeah. We tend to dwell and then it's, and then you oftentimes paralyze yourself. Right? You, you don't, you don't move forward. So that's absolutely excellent point.
Vincenzo:We talked about Kimmy, so one last it's not really about Kimmy, but Kimmy was a party animal. We all know that. Legendary, off the track. Today's environment, so let's switch gears to today a little bit, and I know you're looking at it maybe from a different lens now, but do you think it's just gotten a little too professional buttoned up tight? At least I don't see it from the outside that these guys are party animals or they're I mean, yeah, they let loose, but oftentimes, you know, you Yeah, they're on the yacht with their girlfriend or they're, you know, they're, they're cruising Monaco in their, their cars, you don't really see them partying.
Vincenzo:And in a world where we're so tied, our phones are everywhere, right? It's probably easier to get noticed and spotted in film doing all these things. You really, at least I don't don't seem to see it as much. Do you think that that's just do you think it's gone away? Do you think something's changed?
Vincenzo:Have we lost something? Have we lost that edge to f one? What what is it?
Marc:It's definitely changed and, you know, I often I often sort of think back and reflect and say, may have got the sweet spot in Formula one, right? Because a) it was a period of time when the sport was awash with money. So the tobacco sponsored era where budgets were sort of $400,000,000 a year and more, and there was more money than you could dream up ways of spending. And a lot of that went on parties, which was great. But the other side of that was there was no such thing as social media and mobile phones when I first started and you can it doesn't take a genius to work out how that changes everything in terms of what you can do publicly and get away with or, you know, not be under the same scrutiny and spotlight.
Marc:But also the sport has moved into a more, you know, serious if you like, business like corporate world where we've got blue chip brands sponsoring teams. You're not just representing your Formula One team, all of the huge brands that are associated with the team. You're representing them when you've got that shirt on and you're at an event. So that's definitely changed. But having said all of that, I can tell you for sure that a lot of these guys still manage to have a good party every now and again.
Marc:It hasn't got so bad that these guys are not just sort of rushing back to a library to catch up the latest textbooks of an evening list. They do manage to have some fun as well. They're not
Lali:robots, thankfully.
Vincenzo:Yeah, you talk about how F1's changed social media. It's a content machine, Now we have this, it's just everything's content. I mean, we're making a podcast. You have a podcast. You have books about it.
Vincenzo:There's, there's so much more content around F1. Forget about all the content that teams produce, brands produce, the series itself produces. Do you think that what Netflix, the whole drive to survive, Liberty Media purchasing, do you think that that's helped or hindered the authenticity of the sport?
Marc:Well, the authenticity, it depends from which perspective you look at because the the Netflix show, I think, is an amazing thing. It's obviously been a roaring success in the level that it's brought in a huge number of new fans, new more eyeballs onto the sport, that grows an audience, which means you grow sponsorship opportunities and branding and the whole thing is growing at an astronomical rate. The authenticity aspect of that, if you watch the Netflix show, I mean, I can tell you, I'm sure you can figure it out. It's not all authentic. You know, they're constructing a narrative because it's entertainment and that's fine because it is an entertainment show and it's working.
Marc:The authenticity side of things, I don't think you're gonna get from Netflix, but you can get it from other places. So there are lots of personalities and people from within the sport that now have the freedom to broadcast, you know, their careers and and parts of their weekend on on their own social channels. There are a lot of the major broadcasters that do a very, very good job of covering the authentic side of the sport. So Netflix, I don't think has necessarily tweaked the authenticity piece in favor of being authentic, but it's done another job, an important job, and it's doing it very, very well. So I think you can have both.
Vincenzo:Yeah. Lolly and I grew up in an era where you couldn't find another Formula One fan. Yeah. You know, in your,
Lali:in We were the only ones, weird kids at school. We were like, hi, if you were like, Lunatics, what are you watching on television?
Vincenzo:So now it's, you see it everywhere. It's almost, you can't walk into, you know, I'll walk down the street and I'll see someone with a Red Bull shirt on or a McLaren shirt and you're Well, it's great. Actually follow?
Marc:And then but and especially in The US. Right? So in The US, which has always been a really difficult market for the for Formula one to to crack, Netflix has done a huge part, has played a huge role in that as well as bringing the great races that we have there, the three events which are all fantastic events on the calendar. Liberty Media who've taken over the commercial rights have done a wonderful job of pushing into that zone. And I can see it from, you know, my own career in terms of all the corporate work that I do and working with companies.
Marc:A huge percentage of what I do now is in The States. I spend a lot of time in The US and it used to be that one out of 10 events I did was in The US. And when I got there, no one really knew what I was talking about. You know, you're looking at a face of sort of room full of blank faces to some extent. It's the opposite now.
Marc:I have I've got people who, you know, not only know me, but certainly know a lot about the sport, who are really intrigued and interested to have me come and speak to them. From a personal career perspective, that's been great because I now have a lot more work coming from that side of the world. I think it's wonderful that the sport is now pushing into different markets, and there are still untapped markets around this planet which we're about to start breaking into. So this sport is nowhere near done in terms of its growth. Yeah.
Vincenzo:Three last questions in the in the for you. Just three. You because I do wanna talk about the consultancy piece. Well, not really talk about it, but you went from a mechanic. You're now this media personality, but you also consult and you speak.
Vincenzo:What was that transition like for you going from in the garage to now out there?
Lali:Yeah, because you're thinking about it while you were at the garage, so what's Certainly your thoughts about
Marc:didn't think about it going in this direction necessarily, but just towards the end of my ten years at McLaren and I said earlier on, we won the world title with Lewis in my final or a year before I left. That was an amazing opportunity for me and I did appreciate it. It made a difference for my future, which I always thought there was going to be a future outside of Formula One. Wasn't sure what it would look like, but I wasn't going to stay in Formula One forever. I'm just the sort of person that always needs reinventing and a new challenge.
Marc:That's just part of my character. So there was always gonna be life after f one. Winning a world title with Lewis changed the value that I could offer to people or even just the perception of that value. Right? Because now in what I do, being a Formula one world title winning mechanic is just genuinely better than just being a Formula One mechanic.
Marc:It might not sound that much different, but the truth is it does. It gives me an awful lot more authenticity in this kind of work that I do because I've lived it, I've done it, I've been there and I've ticked the box of being part of a team that's beaten the rest in the world, the best in the world. And that elevates you to a certain level of status just as it does for a driver who does the same kind of thing. It's the same in my world. It's exactly the same.
Marc:So that was a catapult for me where we won that title and I thought, right, this is it. This is the moment. I've got my springboard. I'm gonna go and do something. And it actually started with the media side of things.
Marc:It started reporting, first of all writing on Formula One, then the BBC here in The UK gave me the opportunity to come and be a pit lane reporter for the radio. And you know ironically all these years later I now am back with the BBC commentating on the sport for them on the radio for the same network so that's really nice. But that media, a little dip into the media with the BBC which was just a trial weekend I remember it being first of all, gave me a little window into this idea. The media side of the Formula One paddock by the way is completely different to the pit lane where I'd spent all of my previous ten years. So I'd been to these races forever, but I just hopped over the paddock to the other side and it's like a whole new world.
Marc:So that really was a new adventure for me and I remember coming home after that Sunday night, it was the British Grand Prix, being a pit lane reporter for the BBC and on the way home I called my wife and I said I've just found my new career! And it was that kind of clear, know, was that clear that this was going to be amazing. I had value to offer because people were you know, my insight was from the inside of a team as opposed to from the outside. And I and I think the career I've had started with broadcasting and I'm still doing it, but it's evolved into this value that I have from this internal perspective, which I appreciate is a privileged position. It's changed my life for the better, and I'm now on a mission to try and help it to change other people who don't necessarily have the same opportunity that I had.
Vincenzo:We're grateful for that moment of clarity that you had for sure.
Lali:I'm going to wrap it up with two questions that are just like, first thing that comes to your head. Of all the tracks you've ever visited personally, which one do you think offers the best fan experience?
Marc:Oh. Do you know what? I'd say Austin is right up there. It's one of my favorite race race events of the year, and I know it is for for anyone who goes to visit. And it's partly because the Americans have really embraced, this event.
Marc:America does an incredible job of putting on a show anyway and if you combine that with Formula One at a great racetrack that almost always delivers a really interesting or exciting Grand Prix, and a city which is just weird and wonderful at all times, you combine those elements and I think it's wonderful. What Formula One has done today under Liberty is they've done a lot more of this. They bring races to destinations that make a great weekend even outside of the racetrack. So if you're a fan, you now want to take your family, your kids, you want to take friends not just to watch the race, but to go and have an amazing weekend. And Austin for me is one of the great places that does that.
Vincenzo:If only there was an event that handed out that award, Lolly.
Lali:If only there were. And who is going to win the world drivers championship? Go.
Marc:Oh, nice, easy one. Yeah. Well, okay, two quick answers to this. One, I think Lando is probably going to win it. That's how the form looks right now.
Marc:He's also now got the position in championship race, right? He's leading albeit by a small margin, but he's on form, which is key. The play and I asked this on my social media, my my Instagram the other day, whose seat would you rather be in right now? I think I'd like to be in Max's seat. And the reason I say that is because, you know, Max has now got a car that can compete at a lot of weekends.
Marc:It didn't work out that way necessarily in Mexico City. It didn't didn't suit the track. His car didn't suit the track, but it will at some of these upcoming races. So he's got a good car that's competitive, but it doesn't have the pressure that the two McLaren guys are under. They're gonna be fighting each other.
Marc:Those two, neither of them ever won a world championship, yet they've dreamt of it since they were kids. It's the one thing that's been a lifelong goal, and the only person for them that's really standing in the way of it is the guy on the other side of the garage. I talked about the failures we had in 2007 at McLaren. There are so many similarities in 2025 at McLaren. Right?
Marc:Two drivers, full circle, two drivers, both going for the title. Yes. Max could well be a threat, and I think he will be a threat at some stages, but really the opposition for each of those two McLaren drivers is their teammate. And when you take a teammate and turn them into an enemy, well, that's what happened in 2007. Right?
Marc:So that's a real challenge for McLaren to understand how to manage that relationship. So far, yeah, you know, they seem relatively friendly. But when this gets down to the real business end and we are talking about fine margins determining whether you're a world champion or not, and bear in mind, in 2026, everything changes in Formula one. This opportunity could be it. This could be your shot.
Marc:So everything's on the line, and it will be the single most important thing to each of those two drivers. Max is kinda sitting there with a great big grin in his face going, I can get in amongst this and have some fun here because he doesn't have the pressure or the expectations. So what I can say, it's gonna be a fascinating end to the season. I'm definitely here for it, and I and I cannot wait to see which way it plays out.
Vincenzo:Mark, thank you for your time today. Awesome stuff. Your book, Pit Lane Lessons, What F1 Can Teach You About Work and Life is out today, everywhere, and in The US soon, but we do have it on Kindle and audiobook for The United States. Tell us tell the audience where they can connect with you, find you, how they can work with you.
Marc:Yeah. So, so Instagram or LinkedIn are the two places generally that I operate online. So you can find me, I've mentioned f1elvis or markpriestly. Those are the Instagram and it's markpriestly on LinkedIn. But yeah, you can find me all over.
Marc:You'll find me on YouTube as well. A quick Google find out what I do. But yeah, thank you guys. I appreciate you having me on because this book, as I said, it's been a labor of love. This is my life's work today.
Marc:It's trying to help people to get the opportunities that I know I've been very fortunate to have through working with amazing people, an amazing team at McLaren in an amazing environment of Formula One. It's changed my life. I've spent the last ten years helping to change the fortunes of some of the world's biggest companies successfully in many, many cases. And so I know it's proven that this model that this book is full of, all of the lessons it's full of, can help you if you want to achieve something, if you want to change something in your life, this is the book that can help you do it. So I'd love it if you go and buy it, download it and listen to it.
Marc:I've also got the audio book that I recorded myself. Very grateful to anyone who goes and gets that, I'd love to know what you think. So drop me a message.
Vincenzo:Thank you much. Is definitely a book that we will be handing to all of our clients at Business of Speed for sure. I mean, it is the perfect, perfect opportunity for people to understand right from within the garage and actually we'll probably just have to bring you on board.
Marc:Right. Great.
Lali:It's so good. It's so good to see you. So good to chat. Thank you so much.
Vincenzo:Mark, we'll
Lali:see you
Vincenzo:guys. Thanks. Bye bye.