Sam Michael: Engineering His Rise To The Top | F1 Beyond The Grid Podcast

When Sam Michael arrived in F1, he worried he wouldn’t be able to keep up. But he became an influential and experienced leader at two of the sport’s biggest teams. From a race engineer at Jordan in the late 1990s, to senior director roles at both Williams and McLaren in the 2000s, Sam enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top before leaving F1 in 2014. Speaking to Tom Clarkson, he reflects on more than two decades in the pinnacle of motorsport and reveals the people who influenced his life the most. Sam shares fascinating insight into some of the big names he’s worked with; Lewis Hamilton, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Rubens Barrichello to name a few. He explains the characteristics that separate the greatest racers from the rest, how he made drivers take a test to understand their knowledge of cars, what he misses about F1 and much more. 02:43 – Life in Australia 07:25 – Heinz-Harald Frentzen’s championship potential 15:23 – Where Sam’s passion for racing comes from 19:27 – Leaving Australia for England 25:43 – Working with Rubens Barrichello 35:45 – Hamilton’s attributes 39:00 – Why he joined Williams 42:23 – Tension between Ralf Schumacher and Montoya 46:08 – Double diffuser in 2009 52:33 – People who’ve had greatest impact on Sam’s F1 career 54:42 – Rosberg and Button’s intelligence 01:01:24 – Becoming McLaren Sporting Director 01:05:57 – Why Sam left F1 in 2014 For more F1® videos, visit https://www.Formula1.com Follow F1®:   / f1     / formula1     / f1     / formula1     / f1   #F1