Marc Priestley is the author of The Mechanic, an insider look at life on the formula one circuit. Marc joined the McLaren Formula 1 team in 1999 while Mika Hakkinen was reigning world champion and later defended his title with McLaren, making it a back to back championship. McLaren we’re on the upswing and about to revolutionise the sport for the next several years.
Marc later work with big names in the sport, such as: David Coulthard, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton, who won his maiden World Championship while Marc was a senior mechanic in the McLaren team.
What is fascinating about Marc’s story is the level of commitment he displayed to enter into the realm of Formula 1. For nearly a decade, Marc pursued his goal of joining an F1 team. Each rejection letter was an opportunity to improve himself and become more attractive to an F1 team. Finally, in 1999 Marc got a call up from the McLaren F1 team, the reigning World Champions.
After a successful career in the garage of a winning pit crew, Marc transitioned into media, providing commentary with BBC Radio. Marc’s stories of his life in a cutting edge F1 team is captivating and provides a behind the scenes look at the heart of Formula 1 racing. We discuss some of the stand out points of being a part of the exclusive High Performance Team that is McLaren F1.
I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. Send me a message with any questions or comments about Marc or the podcast.
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