What F1 Insiders Told Us After the Australian Grand Prix
The High Performance Podcast
High Performance
4.6 • 4.8K Ratings
🗓️ 11 March 2026
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Jake and Damian go inside the 2026 Australian Grand Prix — not with lap times and race analysis, but with something rarer: direct messages from the people who were actually there.
Jake shares a WhatsApp from Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu on leading through complete uncertainty. A message from Fernando Alonso's number one mechanic on why culture beats performance when nothing is certain. And a voice note from former Williams team principal Claire Williams on what COVID taught her about navigating the unknown.
With cars failing on the grid, drivers feeling mixed emotions in the cockpit, and an entirely new era of Formula One rewriting the rulebook overnight, Jake and Damian use the chaos of Australia to ask a question that matters well beyond the paddock: how do you lead, perform and stay steady when everything changes at once?
Listen to our full episodes with guests mentioned in this episode:
Adrian Newey: https://pod.fo/e/267f99
Ayao Komatsu: https://pod.fo/e/37b872
Ollie Bearman: https://pod.fo/e/39acad
Claire Williams: https://pod.fo/e/2b956b
George Russell: https://pod.fo/e/1527c9
Fernando Alonso: https://pod.fo/e/1e5849
Thanks to our partners:
Heights 👉 Get 20% off your subscription by using Code: HP20 here: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp_heights_au2
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi everyone, welcome along to another episode of High Performance, where myself and my co-host |
| 0:06.8 | Damien Hughes are just going to sit and talk about something that we know you are talking about |
| 0:11.2 | at the moment. Today, Damien, the Australian Grand Prix, the first race of the 2026 Formula One season. |
| 0:17.9 | But our plan is to take people into a part of this sport that they don't normally get to |
| 0:22.8 | see. |
| 0:23.2 | So I've got a voice message that I'm going to play from a former Formula One team principal. |
| 0:28.4 | I've got a WhatsApp from a current F1 team principal. |
| 0:31.0 | I've got a couple of messages and text messages from some mechanics and engineers who were |
| 0:35.6 | working on the cars over the weekend. |
| 0:41.6 | And it is so interesting, sort of seeing everyone's different takes and trying to work out how they're trying to deal with the uncertainty of modern Formula One. |
| 0:47.1 | It was a race like no other. |
| 0:49.9 | So did you enjoy it as a fun though, Jake? |
| 0:52.7 | It's a really good question, actually. |
| 0:54.1 | And so, look, early on in the race, we saw the two front runners, |
| 0:59.4 | Charlotte Claire and George Russell were going at it, wheel to wheel over a few laps. |
| 1:03.2 | And there were way more overtakes in this race. |
| 1:06.1 | So there was about, I think, 45 the 2020 2025 Australian Grand Prix |
| 1:11.3 | there was well over like a 160 or something |
| 1:13.9 | in this race but here's what I want people to understand |
| 1:17.0 | right there's overtakes in Formula One that matter |
| 1:19.2 | because it is all the things that we love on high performance |
| 1:22.8 | it's skill it's determination |
... |
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