Ollie Bearman: The 10 Minute Change That Saved My F1 Career (E396)

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1:10Damian Hughes: It's a new Workday.

1:14Jake Humphrey: If I told 10-year-old me what I'm doing now, I think you'd be pretty happy. But when the visor goes down, things change because F1 is cutthroat. One thing I was doing was bottling up my emotions a bit at the start of the year. Silverstone especially, I think, was really difficult. I kind of went into that race wanting to prove something with Ferrari. They've believed in me from a very early stage. I was in Formula 4 when they picked me up. They've invested a lot in me. Your dream remains one day to drive for Ferrari. I think...

1:46Jake Humphrey: Well, welcome back. Yeah, 12 months on. It's nice to be back, actually. I feel like I've changed so much.

1:51Ollie Bearman: Let's talk then about the season just gone because I was thinking actually like when we last sat in here and you were playing on Mario Kart with my son. Do you remember? Yeah, I think he beat me. I'm afraid so. But since then, you've actually beaten your teammate over the course of a season. Your fellow drivers voted you the best rookie of 2025. You had that brilliant fourth place finishing Mexico. You've now had time to sort of reflect on what happened to you last year. So if I was to ask you to give your rookie season in F1 a mark out of 10, what would you go for?

2:22Jake Humphrey: I don't know what mark I'd give it out of 10, but I was happy overall. It finished, like my best few races in terms of performance with a final four or five, which is really the target of a rookie season, right? You want to learn, you want to make mistakes and learn from them and not repeat mistakes. That's the most important thing. And one thing that I think I did well was I took all of the learnings from the first half of the season, put them into practice and really made a difference in the second half. So there's really, when I look back at that year, there's kind of two sides to that season.

2:55You can almost split it into pre-summer break and post-summer break.

2:58Jake Humphrey: And I feel like I really made a step. Okay.

3:00Ollie Bearman: So you've grown up in motor racing. You know, you've been brilliant in the Fila series. You had that amazing debut with Ferrari. And then there you are in your debut season and you are having a tough time in that first half of the season. Can you take us inside what you think was going on with you physically, mentally, the car?

3:19Jake Humphrey: like what was happening in that period yeah there were a few tough races um i went on a run of like four or five 11th places in a row and that was also really challenging because even if 11th you know you're so close but at some point i was just saying like what do i need to do i'm missing out on on the points by one position for for the last you know month or month and a half in a row um and even i had a few races i think miami i finished in the points and got a penalty and took me out and and you're like okay it's just not going how you want at this stage you know and yeah those kind of races prior to the summer break were really challenging um i i we were at a time when the car was was on a bit of a knife edge really hard to get in in the perfect setup window and I just wasn't accounting for that enough I was trying to push as if the car was was exactly where I wanted it and it would work three times out of five but on those other two occasions I would make a mistake run wide run off track and and make myself look silly basically

4:29Damian Hughes: and you said you were asking yourself like what do I need to do who were you asking that of

4:33Jake Humphrey: so I was I I had time off over the over the summer break and that was really an opportunity to talk with my team as in not the Haas engineers but my mental coach my manager my physio understand what went wrong in the first half try and just sit there everybody I want you all to go back and say where could we have improved you know where could my physio have done better where could my manager have done better where could I have done better and and then at the end of the summer break we all came together and said this is what we need to put in place to make the second half a marked improvement from the first half of the year and I think I was just not it's also a first year thing you know in my opinion I was not I was not sure what I wanted what did I want from my physio what role did my physio have to play and what role did my mental coach have to play even what did I want from the engineers prior to a weekend during a weekend to put me in the best situation to to qualify the car to drive the car and I just wasn't sure so I needed those first 10 12 races to understand okay this works but this doesn't and basically note that all down get to the summer break have a time off to first of all not think about racing and then come back and say okay this is the structure we need this is what we're going to do for the second half and and and the second half was was such a big improvement so would you give us um a specific

6:09Ollie Bearman: example of something in that first half of the season where it just wasn't what you needed you didn't know at the time but on reflection when you all got together in the summer you're like yes that is exactly we all missed that how did we all miss that yeah and it's it's also those

6:22Jake Humphrey: things you're kind of stepping over the most obvious points and and then you you think back and you're like god it's so obvious but you have to remember you know it wasn't just my first season as a rookie it was my manager's first season as a as an f1 driver manager was my physio's first season with a rookie f1 driver it was my mental coach's first season in f1 as well so we're all learning as we go and and therefore we weren't harsh on each other but some of the things that we weren't maybe paying attention to. And one thing that I kind of remember, one thing that stood out to me was I was, you know, we were at a stage where the car performance was challenging and we weren't quite able to get the most out of it.

7:05Jake Humphrey: It was a bit unpredictable and like on a knife edge, like I said. And I was trying everything to try and get the most out of this car. I was working with the engineers on the setup. I was even dipping into the strategy, you know what ties are we going to use this session and how are we going to plan the session spending no time thinking about where am i before getting into the car mentally mentally so i would get in the car and and and be like wait a second i haven't thought for one second about my personal objectives what am i going to do to build up the session um you know how how am i going to approach the session what's the goal of the session and so i would get in and just almost be freestyling it and have not planned it at all.

7:48Jake Humphrey: So at the summer break, we said, okay, prior to every session, because you need to do all of the engineering stuff, you need to optimize the setup and everything. But if the driver is not in a position to drive the car perfectly, then all of that is a waste of time. So we said, let's do all the engineering stuff as normal. But instead of going from the office straight into the car and just driving out the garage, come back to your driver room. let's spend 10 minutes and everyone align ourselves prior to driving the car so the car's goals and then the driver's goals literally just 10 minutes was all you needed literally 10 minutes even less sometimes you know we would we would sit there um while i was warming up with my physio we'd be speaking with my coach and we'd say okay these are the things we need to look out for you know this corner um on this track doesn't necessarily suit our car so let's really build into that one and feel what the car is all about.

8:42Jake Humphrey: Also, another thing for me, you come from Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula 4 even, you have one free practice and then you go and qualify the car. So the goal of free practice is to put the car on the limit because the next time you drive it, it's qualifying. So then you get to F1 and you've had that mindset in every single car you've driven, right? And you get to F1 and suddenly you've got Friday, which is all laid back and you're just learning about the car and there's no competitive session on Friday, right? you're just doing free practice and it took me a good few races to make that shift and say actually friday is is not for me of course i'm learning the track and everything but friday is about optimizing the car setup so if you can find out exactly what the car's limitations are while driving at 90 instead of at 100 do that you're not taking any risks then you're not gonna do any mistakes and and then you're in a in a better place because the other thing that i think is interesting with that is when you're a rookie you're like well my mechanics are going to decide if I'm fast in FP1 of Australia and the media are going to write where I was in that so you're like

9:48Ollie Bearman: it's not just it's not just like being any other driver it's like these are the first few sessions of your F1 career and you know people are going to be making judgments about you so that I imagine increased the pressure even further in those sessions a little bit but I don't even think it

10:02Jake Humphrey: was a precious thing like Australia. I didn't feel any extra pressure than normal to drive. Once you're in the car, maybe before getting in the car, but once you're in the car and driving, you're doing what you'd normally do. Of course, the car's a decent amount faster than Formula 2, but you're driving the car as fast as your body and mind will allow you at that specific point. But I kind of changed my mindset in the second half and said FV1 is not about putting the car on the absolute limit like I was at the start of the year. In F2 and F3 it is because you need to know exactly what's going to happen by the time you get to quality.

10:37Jake Humphrey: FP1 is about first of all wait for the track to get better you know you're on a street track it's five seconds off in in FP1 so the lap time is irrelevant. The setup is nowhere near what you're going to be running and qualifying so the car is is totally different and you know you just need to slowly build into it there's no rush you've got so much track time compared to what I was used to and that shift is not something that happens overnight it's you know five years or even more karting you know you're doing the same thing so it's my whole career with one mindset and one way of driving ingrained into me and asking to get rid of it overnight it's just not not possible.

11:16Damian Hughes: Can I say about that moment you described though where up until you had this realization when you sit in the car and realize that you've not given yourself that 10-minute buffer to stop and think. How did you control your emotions at that moment?

11:31Jake Humphrey: I mean, you always have an idea of what you're going to do, but you get in the car and you realize you haven't actually, you know, you've compared the data to your teammate, but you're looking only for differences in car setup, for example. You're not looking at differences in driving style, which is so important. and you know then you're going out there and you're not really sure what to do so you're like okay I'm just gonna keep pushing and and keep building up and of course it it works for the majority of the time but but it can result in more mistakes um so you know and and I think it can also lead to inconsistency as well so that was really um yeah a big challenge for me to overcome come and it's also you come from f2 with a team of 12 people and you come to f1 and the team is almost 10 times bigger just of the people at the track you know and you've got so much more things to do that you've got your brain is full there's no capacity left almost remember when um

12:36Ollie Bearman: when you came on the show last time when we spoke about your route to f1 and the those lonely periods where you are even questioned do i carry on with this like i'm lonely i'm away from home did you find F1 lonely in your first season?

12:50Jake Humphrey: Yes, yeah, even to more of an extreme because you're often traveling for longer, you're traveling to further places, you're going to places where people don't speak English as well sometimes, you can be in Japan or China and the language barrier is there as well and even just not hearing your own language around you is a bit of a strange thing as well. I'm very lucky that my dad has made a big effort to come to a lot of races for me last year. And that is almost a bit of continuity for me. But especially at the start of the year, I found the travel to be really challenging. Just because F1 is 10 more races than F2.

13:33Jake Humphrey: But those extra 10 are all of the furthest away destinations on the calendar. So all of that extra travel, traveling alone all the time. and you go from one extreme of being at the track and being with hundreds of people, having no time to dedicate to yourself and then you get home into your hotel room and it's just you. And it's just such a juxtaposition. You start overthinking. It's crazy.

13:59Damian Hughes: It's extreme. Take us into that hotel room. You close the door to silence. Silence, yeah.

14:08Jake Humphrey: It's interesting, particularly after a tough race. it's a challenge and you'd rather be anywhere else. And there were times like after a difficult race where you just wanted to be with your family or with someone that you loved. Like I said, I was very lucky to have my dad at a lot of races, but he couldn't do all of them. And there were some tough events where you wish you had someone to, you know, someone to be with and describe your feelings to. but I guess it's part of the game.

14:44Damian Hughes: So what would you do then if you don't have that?

14:48Jake Humphrey: Yeah, I mean, generally I was, one thing I was doing was bottling up my emotions a bit at the start of the year. So I found that quite challenging. And then I would get home and it would also be empty, you know, and when at the start of the year, I was just in Monaco by myself with my girlfriend and my family wasn't living there. so I was also getting home and almost just waiting to go to the next race and I felt like I was just life was revolving around racing and it was non-stop and I found it quite a lot at the beginning as well.

15:23Damian Hughes: So what have you learned to do to be able to remedy that?

15:28Jake Humphrey: So I spent a bit of time with a coach at the start of the year once I realized that I was not overwhelmed, but struggling a bit with, I think, the juxtaposition between being so busy at the track, coming home and having nothing to do, nothing in your schedule, nothing, you know, it's just one extreme to the other. And I was struggling to kind of cope with that. And one thing that I've really understood or paid attention to this year was to be grateful and to take a step back. because I think perspective is important as well. I mean, times can be tough, but at the end, if I told 10-year-old me what I'm doing now, I think he'd be pretty happy.

16:16Jake Humphrey: And putting things into perspective and appreciating everything around you, I think is an incredibly important attribute.

16:24Damian Hughes: So how do you do that? How do you remind yourself to stay grateful and to have perspective?

16:31Jake Humphrey: I think I'm always aware of how fortunate I am because I'm not here just on talent I mean there's a lot more talented drivers in in the world than the 20 or 22 of us in Formula One timing is such an important thing so I am understand I understand that I don't take it for granted that I'm an F1 driver it's not that I'm here now that that it's a forever thing there's no guarantees um and that also keeps me motivated um so I think that's the way I I try to remain grateful and and you know I I would be cycling a lot um to try and just give me something to do you know it was great training and it gets me around and and it takes a few hours you know would would uh get me through the day and I mean you just take a step back look where you are you're in the sun there's mountains all around you i mean what a great life how can how can i complain in that scenario but it's also a great lesson i think in actually what life is like

17:35Ollie Bearman: because everyone will have an opinion of f1 drivers from the outside right it looks glamorous looks well paid looks fun looks permanently positive you also would have had a view of what being an f1 driver would have been like two or three years ago when it was your greatest dream and then you're in it and you're like oh not quite what i yeah it's not chalked it up to be Is this what it is? I didn't think of. Are you particularly close to anyone else on the grid?

17:57Jake Humphrey: I would say more the rookies, the more, you know, the people who I was moving into F1 with. So Gabriel, for sure, I'm pretty close with. He's also my neighbor, so we live pretty close. Could you talk to him about how you were feeling? Not really, not really. I tend to bottle things up, like I said before, so I wouldn't really talk about my feelings to many people. first of all which which i understand that it's a it's a weakness of mine um but i i think to some extent everyone's going through a similar thing because you look at f1 from the outside what a great life it's amazing and of course it is amazing i'm not denying that but there's so many more challenges in it and and the pressure um the the attention as well and and the fact that everyone has such a short memory you know you can have a great race two races later if you've had two bad ones then you're you're back at the at the start you know so those things are challenging i didn't really ever it's also kind of you know at the end i see gabriel as a great friend and i have good friends in f1 but i don't think it's i don't think you you show signs of weakness to your competitors you know if you if you turn around and say you know i'm struggling with this it's just not in my i don't think i would do that in my nature this is the first challenge right the

19:23Ollie Bearman: year one internal loneliness and internal struggles but if you're in a title fight the challenges will be just as big but very different if you've you know if you're running out of time and you're going to lose your seat at the end of the season again it'll be a very different challenge if you've got the biggest teams fighting over you another different challenge i do think like there are drivers that have been through it all and i do think you know if you went to someone who's at the other end of their career and just said look can i just have you as a mentor or can I just share with you some of the things that I just don't have the answers to?

19:52Ollie Bearman: I do think you'd be surprised that they would turn around and say, of course you can.

19:55Jake Humphrey: I agree, actually. I have heard a lot of great things about the people who, like you say, are on the other side of their career. They've had the successes, the championships, the race wins. I've heard Luis, how much advice he was giving to Isaac at the start of the year, Fernando and Gabriel as well. You know, it's his manager. and I actually, it's nice that the drivers on the other side, because they were once on our side, you know, coming into the sport, looking up at all these big stars and racing against them, it's nice that they take the role of, you know, if you ask for help, I'm going to give it to you because I've been in that scenario and I know how it was.

20:33Jake Humphrey: I think it's a really important quality.

20:35Ollie Bearman: And how did that come up, the Isaac Lewis thing? Did they know each other before? Or do you think Isaac just literally went to him and asked?

20:39Jake Humphrey: I think he actually went and spoke to him, which is step one, right? Who would you like to approach? Definitely the guys with more experience. Probably Fernando, actually. I feel like he's been through it all. You know, he's so highly rated on the grid by everyone. I've listened to his podcast when he sat here and heard, you know, a lot of great stories. And he's been through hardships as well. You know, he was at Ferrari and I think those years were some of his best years in terms of his performances. but the car wasn't quite enough to win. And I think he's been through it all, you know, and that is a great mentor to have.

21:19Damian Hughes: What question would you ask him if you only had one?

21:22Jake Humphrey: What advice would you give to 20-year-old Fernando? Because that's my position, you know. I'm new to Formula One. I'm going through all of these experiences for the first time. What does Fernando regret? What does he wish that he did or knew back then? I think those are important questions. if he's watching he can yeah exactly

21:43Ollie Bearman: come on Fernando send it in I'll tell you something who I think would be brilliant for you actually Carlot Sainz yeah mate you know him very well

21:50Jake Humphrey: yeah

21:51Ollie Bearman: so nice so friendly you know he's already looking to the future he loves leaning down and lifting people up he's been through a great time at Ferrari he's been through a really bad time as you know at Ferrari he's raced in those rookie seasons up against Max Verstappen he's had the pressure he's now the other end he's trying to lift the team up I think there'd be a lot of value actually

22:09Jake Humphrey: I rate him very very highly I mean when I was at the I was a reserve driver with Ferrari and I was listening in on all the debriefs and the detail and and the the way he's able to describe what he feels in the car is is incredible because it's one thing feeling it and and often I was finding okay I'm feeling the same thing as as this guy or Esteban for example but Carlos was able to to describe it to the engineers in a way that they could improve the car i think that's such an important quality to have and one thing that that i've improved a lot through the year and definitely i'm nowhere near at the point where i need to be but it's uh it's a it's a big benefit silverstone especially i think was really difficult yeah what was io like after that race after you

22:57Ollie Bearman: and your your teammate obviously collided that's like a another big no no along with crashing under red flags it's like there's two things you don't want to do in a race weekend it's those two things

23:06Jake Humphrey: Yeah, two things you never want to do, and I ticked them both off in two days. At your home race. Exactly, the best place to do it, right? No, it was a challenging weekend for sure. And it was the main frustration, I think, especially from his side, particularly after the FP3 grid penalty was, in that session, I think we were fifth fastest. So we were really quick that weekend. We bought an upgrade to the car, and it was working. We were incredibly fast. and then I do something like that, going into the pits, absolute throwaway for the weekend, you know, totally unnecessary and stupid, absolutely stupid.

23:46Jake Humphrey: And that is the annoying thing for myself and even more for someone like him watching, seeing the potential, seeing what was possible and throwing it away over something so, you know, such a nothing event. that weekend was a really really challenging one for me after that we had a bit of time away and I was able to really get away from racing I went on vacation for a week and I think that came at a great time because it was a tough period of the season for me especially being the home race

24:23Ollie Bearman: There's a lot of psychological overwhelm in a Formula 1 car

24:25Jake Humphrey: Yeah and that's part of it You know, generally on the in-lap of FP3, you push the pit entry to prepare for qualifying, to prepare for the race, sorry. But on the red flag, don't push the pit entry. And it's just those things that are unnecessary. And I'm harsh on myself. I don't think that's overly harsh. That was the moment that I look back. If there's one moment that I could have taken away from that season, it would have been that. So for me, it was the number one worst point or worst action. Because it was all on you? It was totally my fault. It was totally unnecessary. I didn't gain anything by doing it.

25:01Jake Humphrey: There was no, you know, if you think of the risk reward ratio, it's purely negative. Now under every scenario and even, you know, even pushing the pit entry for the sake of gaining a few tenths of a second, I don't see the benefit, you know. So back then I was trying to gain every little tenth of a second. and if I could push the pit entry a little bit more, it meant I could maybe come out just in front of the guy in the race. So I was saying, okay, I'm going to be absolutely on the limit. I want to arrive at 80 at the line, no earlier. And that's the risk that you take by doing those things, you know, and it's just scaling back those things because it's unnecessary risk and for very small reward, particularly on the red flag.

25:45Damian Hughes: And yourself and Esteban had a clear the air meeting after that. as somebody that you said bottles things up naturally, how did that meeting go?

25:56Jake Humphrey: Well, we had slightly different opinions on what happened, but that's normal given we hadn't looked at the incident. You know, we'd just taken our perspectives from the car. I think we'd probably still disagree on the incident given our views, even though there's no emotion anymore. We've looked back on it. But I think that was the best way to handle such an incident there in that race. And I think also I kind of went into that race in a way wanting to prove something, having done such a silly error the day before. So I was pushing like an animal and not thinking about the bigger picture. And that's something, again, at the summer break, I always try to keep in mind the bigger picture, you know is this overtake worth it you know we're fighting for whatever position we're fighting for what's the risk especially with your teammate yeah totally unnecessary um those are mistakes that you make once and and you you vow to never do them again and what sort of a leader is are you in those situations like how does he run a meeting like that well very well i think i think there's plenty of ways that that he could have gone about it he could have walked in there and started shouting at us for the way that things panned out.

27:15Jake Humphrey: But his first goal was to get an understanding of our views. And that's really important. He sees it and he, of course, I'm sure had his view, but he hasn't heard the full picture. So there was no prejudice. It was simply, let's talk about it. Clearly, we didn't come to agreement at that time, but before the next race, we were all in agreement again and it's so important to remember that his job is about making this team as fast as possible. So if we're fighting for P6 and P7 and crashing and finishing outside the points, he doesn't want us in the team. He wants two people who are going to do it well.

27:55And that's the most important thing.

27:58Jake Humphrey: And despite that incident, we continue with a good relationship for the rest of the year. And that's mainly thanks to the way that it was handled by our boss. We'll be right back after a quick word from

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30:51Ollie Bearman: And you know, we've spoken to F1 drivers who've talked about this moment and said, actually, the best thing that happened was when we hit each other because we both had to accept responsibility. we both had to try and understand each other a little bit further we were like it weirdly brought us closer together I don't know whether you experienced that with Esteban yeah I think you know like I said

31:11Jake Humphrey: I think we still have slightly differing opinions but what's clear and what we can both agree on is that it was we both have a part to play in that incident and it was unnecessary those are two points which are you know unarguable and I think it made us see the bigger picture it also made me understand a bit more in F2 and F3 your teammate is important you still want to beat them and it's one thing but in F1 you're actually working together with your teammate to improve the car you know your feedback directly impacts the next upgrade on the car the future developments of the car what direction do we take so it's a very different role being a teammate to a guy in F2 versus F1 so that collision really made me appreciate how important it is to have a good relationship with a teammate and never to lose that I think the the last thing you can do is have a bad relationship with your teammate it's

32:05Damian Hughes: game over after that so what would you advise if anyone was listening or watching this Ollie that maybe it is not in Formula One but in their own world where they need to cooperate better with somebody to get the best out of each other yeah I mean as drivers we're

32:22Jake Humphrey: competitive and with that brings a bit of stubbornness and of course like I said we were biased in our own ways but what we agreed on was was the things that it was unnecessary and that we we can't have a bad relationship you know we we needed we needed a good bond to then continue to to develop the car correctly if if we start to create a split we're not going to be as efficient you know we need the engineers to work together and for that to happen the teammates need to need to have a good relationship and for me it's a it's a non-negotiable that you have a good relationship with your teammates so you kind of have to put your pride and ego to the side and and and clear the air i think you have to have some tough conversations ones that you don't maybe want to hear ones that maybe they don't want to hear but you have to like i said put put your bias view to the side as much as possible say okay i could have i could have done a better job in this sense and and by coming clean and and making it clear that that you accept wrongdoing they do the same as well in in that situation vulnerable yeah now you've grown up so much in

33:32Ollie Bearman: the last year and a half this is like talking to a 30 year old not a 20 year old um 10 years in 12 months exactly that's exactly that's the title of this episode i grew up 10 years in 12 months we want to talk about mexico we want to talk about amazing moment and your incredible end to the season but when I don't think we're doing justice to this part of the season I'm really telling your story unless you just share with us your emotions as you drove away from Budapest and the Hungarian Grand Prix before the summer break with all of the things that we've discussed kind of in your head still I imagine still all bottled up still inside you what was that journey away from

34:09Jake Humphrey: the Budapest circuit like yeah so we came I think Budapest was directly after Spa and And Spa was a tough weekend where I scored points in the sprint race. In the main race, we had a problem with the engine, which is totally out of our hands. And it put us out of the top 10 position. And I scored 11th again for, I think, the fifth weekend in a row of the fourth. So, you know, it's just another one of those occasions where, okay, this time the weekend went better. From our side, we did things mostly right. and there was another thing out of our hands that took us away from the top 10. And so we get to Budapest, last race before the summer break, and I think in that scenario I had this kind of feeling or motivation to, okay, I'm finishing P11, I need to push a bit more to finish in the top 10, you know.

35:06Jake Humphrey: I arrived in Budapest and I think, I remember after the first run in FP1 that the driver coach came on the radio and said, okay, turn four, you're in the top three in terms of the minimum speed in that high-speed corner. And I was like, okay, well, you know, clearly I'm pushing. But I kept going. I kept pushing and I ran wide and I damaged the floor in FP1. And, you know, then it has to be, it was damaged and had to be repaired. That kind of puts you a bit on the back foot for FP2. and then we got into FP3, I did the same thing again, damaged the floor in turn four. And I just had this mindset.

35:48Jake Humphrey: I'm not scoring points as this is going. I need to push a bit more, keep pushing a bit more, keep going, keep going. And just these small errors kept creeping in and I did another one in the race and damaged the car again and we had to retire. And, you know, that was the worst possible end to the first half of the year. that was already a challenging point for me because whatever I was doing, I was P11, you know, and then I tried to give it that little bit more, that 1 % more and it finished like that. And basically I just left the circuit with question marks everywhere. You know, it's not going to plan.

36:26Jake Humphrey: This is not how I intended to finish my first half of the season. I'm not seeing any progression here and it's just challenging. and I had to have a really tough conversation with myself and a tough conversation with my mental coach. And we said, look, if we continue, like at that point I was last in the championship as well, of all the drivers that had scored points. So there was people below me, but they'd scored zero points. And, you know, we sat down and we were like, look, this isn't going to work. You know, you'll be packing your bags if you continue driving like this and making these mistakes.

37:05Jake Humphrey: You genuinely feared for your future at that point. For sure, for sure, because F1 is cutthroat, you know, and I had four or five races where it just wasn't working. I had this stupid Silverstone thing. I had this weekend in Budapest, and you don't see progression, you know. So the people deciding my future don't see improvement. And what do you do when you don't see improvement? You get rid, you know. So that start to the summer break, I was like, okay, I really need to tie my shoes up and get this together, you know. And that tough conversation really woke me up and made me understand, first of all, how cutthroat this sport is.

37:49Jake Humphrey: And second of all, how with a small change at the end, I didn't need to change, you know, flip my world upside down. I just needed a bit of structure. and then I could perform at a level which was much higher. Brilliant. I've got something to show you.

38:05Ollie Bearman: About the magic of modern technology.

38:07Jake Humphrey: Go on.

38:08Ollie Bearman: Have a look.

38:10Jake Humphrey: Oh, there we go. What I regret for sure was not to enjoy more my time, my career. I know that I'm at the end of it and there is a new life in a few years' time for me without driving. I would tell myself even my 10 year old self the same because you're always looking at the next goal you know I can hardly remember what I did after my first F1 race because I was straight back home and straight on the sim the next day

38:42Ollie Bearman: Fernando said to us he has no memory of winning the Formula 1 world title really I said what did you do afterwards he goes I have no memory I have no memory of that moment I mean imagine that's so sad

38:52Jake Humphrey: yeah

38:53Ollie Bearman: onto the next thing yeah

38:55Jake Humphrey: it's it's something I would because you're always looking at the next thing you know you win your first F3 race and you're like okay I need to win another one now yeah there's no time to sit back and think wow how far have I come in the last however many years you know I would give myself that advice even though I'm 20 you know so well I think it's great advice I hope I don't turn you know get to the later stage of my career and still have that advice for myself so how are you doing

39:20Damian Hughes: it then because you're recognizing it you've sound like you've had some pretty brave conversations with your inner circle, your physio, your mental coach, your manager, to create boundaries, to learn how to create that buffer zone before you get in the car. How are you creating space to just enjoy what you're doing?

39:39Jake Humphrey: I think it's about perspective again. I always, I don't wish away the moments that I'm in the car ever because that is my number one passion in life. so I try my very best to savour every single lap because I certainly don't take it for granted. I know it's not a guarantee and this is exactly what 10-year-old me was dreaming about. So I think by savouring and putting things into perspective how lucky I am, I try to enjoy things.

40:13Damian Hughes: You've spoken about that race in Mexico though where you said it was the most pressure you've ever felt in a race when you had Lewis and Max. When Max was behind me. Right. So how do you get to savour a moment like that when you're feeling that acute levels of pressure?

40:28Jake Humphrey: Well, I was thinking like, this is my first time I've gone side by side with Lewis, with Max, with, you know, even George and Piastri, all of these drivers who, some of them I've grown up watching, you know, Max has been on TV even now. 2016, I was 11. so every F1 race I can remember has Max in it and certainly Lewis as well so I'm racing with these guys side by side I had Max behind me I had goosebumps driving around I was like how cool is this this is insane this guy is the best F1 driver ever and he's chasing me down he's putting me under so much pressure and I was like this is what I'm living for this is my life

41:11Ollie Bearman: but that shows an immediate change in your psyche because I reckon earlier in the season you'd have been like oh I can't let him get past me people are going to judge me, it's going to be a bad moment. Whereas suddenly there's a bit of freedom there. You're enjoying the fact that you're getting chased down by Max Verstappen. It was amazing.

41:25Jake Humphrey: I mean, I was side by side with him and that feeling in your stomach, that's what we live for, right? That's awesome. It was incredible.

41:33Ollie Bearman: So you're in this really unique position where you have had Max Verstappen in your wing mirrors trying to get past you. What does Max Verstappen do in those situations? What are you experiencing that sounds like it's kind of F1 wheel-to-wheel racing, XXX, like it's just multiplied in that situation?

41:51Jake Humphrey: I don't think it's that he does anything necessarily differently. And Mexico is a specific track because of the altitude that you can't necessarily follow that closely because your car overheats. But Max found a way. What was the way? What did he do? It's not that he was putting me under any more pressure than any other time. When I went side-by-side with him, he was just another car on the track. but you know who it is and you know that the way he holds himself is differently to the others. You know how aggressive he is. You know that if you give him an inch too much, he's going to take it and he's not going to let you get away with even the smallest mistake.

42:29Jake Humphrey: So it's not that he did anything differently. It's just the perception of Max. It's Max. He's the best, you know. It's him, you know, and I was side by side with him and I was like, normally I would have, you know, tried to open up that corner to prepare myself the best exit. But I said, no, I have Max next to me. So if I give him a bit more space on the entry, he's going to take it and overtake me. So I don't have that opportunity. I need to literally be as close as I can to don't give him any more space than I can.

43:01Ollie Bearman: So interesting. So when you are racing with him and people talk about him and you've already said the best ever, like do you see why he's so good when you're racing against him or not well i mean in that

43:11Jake Humphrey: situation it was it was one corner that we were side by side but um i i i really wish to race

43:20Damian Hughes: against him more um and and tell you see i i think this is amazing to go from being a rookie to racing against these giants what do you think is the biggest step you need to make to see yourself in the same category as them um i think i think um working on on on some areas of

43:46Jake Humphrey: my game are still needed and some of that comes with experience but some of that also comes with um being aware and having these conversations with yourself so i i think some aspects where I want to improve. For example, emotional control. I think that's quite an important point. And a lot of people say that I'm this measured person and quite in control of my emotions. But when the visor goes down, things change. That's my feeling. And I think remaining level-headed is a super important quality to have. So what do you do to help with that? Yeah, so I think the first thing is talking about it. I think that's the first step to understanding that you have a weakness and you want to improve it because, you know, if someone would ask me where's your weakness, I think it's also a bit of an athlete, a competitive person thing.

44:45You're like, where is my weakness?

44:46Jake Humphrey: You don't even think about having a weakness, you know. And I think step one of fixing it or working on it is to understand it's there, which I'm aware of. And then the rest is basically noting it down, understanding what was the circumstance that changed, what happened in my periphery that caused this emotional change from within the cockpit. And when you can see all these case studies and these different versions of me, this is when I got angry or this is when the emotions got in the way. There is a bit of a pattern. When people do me wrong, you know, if someone pushes me off the track, I can get the red mist a little bit and then you make silly errors, you know.

45:33Jake Humphrey: And it's always when that happens to you, I'm trying to tell myself, okay, remember, this has happened. This is your normal response. This is not a healthy response and that's not the best. That's not putting you in the best scenario to respond, you know.

45:49Ollie Bearman: You were really honest about your emotions after Hungary. I'd love to get your honest emotions about Mexico and if those early races were chipping away at your self-belief and your confidence what did those final few races do for you particularly

46:03Jake Humphrey: that that P4 in Mexico honestly back to the first point I never lost at any point my self-belief or self-confidence I always understood that this was a tough period I this isn't me this isn't what I'm capable of. I have the talent to get through this. I think that's also an important point of getting through tough moments. But I always, at no point did I ever doubt my ability or my belonging in Formula One. That never was a question mark in my head. But Mexico was great. It came at a point, so end of the year, you know, it's been a really tough period. It was it was a double header between Austin and Mexico round 20 I think mechanics are incredibly tired the engineers incredibly tired as well and myself so and and we just bought an upgrade on the previous race so that was the last upgrade of the year the last upgrade out of anyone and it was a big risk to take for our team you know and that weekend before crossing the line it was the best feeling of my life.

47:10Jake Humphrey: It was such a proud moment. Getting out the car and seeing how much it meant to my family, but also to the mechanics, to the engineers. For us, it was a race win, a team like Haas. And it reminds you all of those early mornings, getting up at 5am to go to the kart track, to traveling across the world, you know, leaving your family to move to Italy. All of those moments flash back through your head and you're like, this is why, this is why I love this life.

47:39Ollie Bearman: And what was the conversation with your psychologist and your team, your personal team, like after that, having gone back to the conversation you had over the summer?

47:47Jake Humphrey: Yeah, I mean, so actually, my manager wrote down a few of his like predictions at the summer break, you know, given that, okay, we're going to implement this thing, let's see, what can we achieve? I think he wrote down a podium. So I was just one spot away, unfortunately. But it was nice to see. And then we could kind of use that weekend as a reference almost because everything went well. I missed FP1 that weekend, which is tough as well. You know, I gave the car to a rookie, which is strange to say.

48:20Ollie Bearman: These bloody rookies. I know, so annoying.

48:24Jake Humphrey: And yeah, so that was another challenge. And everything just went well. We worked well through qualifying. I maximized the car performance even if we were still not that quick in quality. And from there, even if it wasn't necessarily my best single performance, because actually I think my best performance came in Brazil the weekend after. Even if it wasn't my single best performance, it was a great example of, okay, we've implemented this structure and that's what we can do when we achieve exactly what I'm capable of. And that's really good. well we've got something to gift you

49:03Ollie Bearman: that's David Croft's commentary notes that he has for each Grand Prix and those are his Mexico Grand Prix notes that is so cool

49:13Jake Humphrey: thank you so much that's really really kind so nice it's a pleasure man it's a pleasure

49:19Ollie Bearman: listen talking about a little bit more we can't talk to you and your F1 career and your future without talking about Ferrari when you're in the position you're in where you're racing for a team and you're really well settled at Haas and loving it, but you remain a Ferrari driver. How much of your communication is still happening with them throughout good and bad times?

49:40Jake Humphrey: Yeah, the dialogue remained very open throughout the year and will continue to stay like that as long as I'm affiliated with Ferrari. And I think it was very important for me to make clear what I was going through at Haas. There are some differences between a team like Ferrari and Haas. the scale is on a different level. And for example, coming from having done that race in Ferrari and having what is a lot of support, you have some extra staff in the team and some extra help in a way. And then you go to Haas, it's a bit of a different structure. And especially as a rookie, I felt like I was having to learn on the job a bit more than a team like Ferrari.

50:23Jake Humphrey: And that's a given, given the size of the teams. but I felt like I had to make clear the struggles that I was going through with Haas. To Ferrari. To Ferrari, because you see the result and that doesn't tell the full story, not even half of it, you know, so that was important. And then, of course, what they want, what they tell me is what they want to see from me, where they want to see me improve, what they're looking for, which is what you can imagine, just drive a bit quicker every weekend.

50:55Ollie Bearman: Are they looking at results, do you think? And you're trying to get them to look beyond the results.

50:59Jake Humphrey: No, no, no. I think they take a very good view of everything and they're in contact a lot with Ayao as well. So there's always a good dialogue.

51:08Damian Hughes: Was there anything that surprised you that they were asking far from you?

51:13Jake Humphrey: No, nothing that I was not expecting. It was just, there were some tough moments and it was just important for me to get across what I was going through. because, you know, of course, being with a bigger team is a huge challenge. A team that can fight at the front, you're expected to perform on any given day, the pressure is much higher. But, for example, they have a bit more structure in place to help you learn and grow. So there's pros and cons to both. But I was just trying to make them understand the issues that I was going through. And, yeah, of course, they want me to do the absolute best at all times.

51:52that they want me to be ready in a moment's notice.

51:55Jake Humphrey: And that's my job to try and be that. And your dream remains one day to drive a Ferrari in Formula 1? Yeah, of course. They've trusted me, first of all, with their car last year, two years ago now. But they've also believed in me from a very early stage. I was in Formula 4 when they picked me up. They've invested a lot in me. And my dream is to put the red suit back on and be in a red car one day. but I also think that this year is such a great opportunity with Haas with the new regulations that I feel like we can do a lot. So first of all that. Let's talk about that then because as much as it's a massive technical challenge

52:32Ollie Bearman: creating these new Formula 1 cars, it's also a huge opportunity for Haas to find a little something. You've driven the car, albeit at the very start of pre-season. What were your initial feelings when you were behind the wheel of that car?

52:47Jake Humphrey: Yeah, first of all I agree it's a great opportunity and it's also the first time I've been involved in a car from the ground up. It's our car, it's mine and Esteban's car, as opposed to inheriting a car with tendencies that previous drivers were asking for and things. So this is, to the best of their ability, what we've asked for. And that's really cool also. We've seen the car from the first designs to the wind tunnel model six months ago and see it develop through that process is really, really cool and it's been my first experience doing that. and then finally we get to drive the car. I pulled out the pits for the first time in it in Fiorano in Italy and that's really, really special.

53:28Jake Humphrey: We got to do the shakedown there and we have a lot of Haas designers based in Maranello. So actually for the first time ever, they were able to see their creation, their baby, pulling out of the pits and I gave them a big wave as I went past. It was amazing. But actually, you know, given these regulations, the size of the regulation overhaul and the difference and the engine side of things, which is a lot more complicated now. I was expecting it to feel a bit more different, a bit less refined and things, but I was positively surprised by the drivability straight away. It was good. Of course, we have less downforce with this year's car, but it's still F1 for sure.

54:13Jake Humphrey: It's still neck-breakingly fast, So it's really fun to drive. And like I said, we're very early stages. It's a very immature car and we're going to make big developments throughout this year and in future years as well. But I'm just really proud to be at the real forefront of a project. And like you say, great opportunities. So what does success look like in 2026? I think building on what we did last year, last year was our highest points tally in that era of the ground effect era. and if you look at our relative gap to the leaders, the closest race in terms of gap was Abu Dhabi. That was our best race in terms of car performance in the last five years.

54:52Jake Humphrey: So it means that we've developed correctly, we've understood our car, the wind tunnel models have lined up well to the real car and we've learned and grown over time. I think success this year will be continuing to fight in the midfield. I think we were middle of the midfield, even back of the midfield at the start of the year and slowly worked our way up. And I think success would look like starting from where we left off in Abu Dhabi.

55:19Ollie Bearman: And how much attention do you pay to the Ferrari rumours about you could go into that seat halfway through 2026 or if they struggle again, you might get a call earlier?

55:29Jake Humphrey: Zero. Nothing. Really? Because I think I've been lucky in a way to have gotten that call two years ago to do the race. and ever since then there have been those rumours and those things coming out so it's kind of just normal first of all I don't even see them because you have to go on autosport or whatever to find them so I don't go out looking for them and that's the best way my focus is not on those it's on the current project and hopefully we can do good things in 2026

56:03Ollie Bearman: I love it

56:04Jake Humphrey: have you got time for a few very quick fire questions? of course

56:07Ollie Bearman: after that amazing season last year what do you look for now as your three non-negotiables for a successful Formula One career?

56:16Jake Humphrey: Alignment is very important yeah so having a clear idea of the goal not only from my side but also from the team side of every time you get in the car what is the target of this session everyone needs to be clear on what their target is otherwise things get missed um discipline i would say is also critical um to continuing to build on on you know what you're doing and last but not least um i feel like it's it's a vague term but maturity is is somewhere i came a long way last last year yeah you know i learned how to become a driver where you're leading the team in a way you know you're you're developing the car so having feedback and being sure of your feedback is critical and maturity is an important word what's the best piece of advice you've received and why i think one thing that i spoke very openly about with with um my mental coach uh at the start of this year was was to make sure to appreciate all of those moments and you know there were times like I said that I was wishing away um for example a week off I would I would hate the sight of a week off because I'd have nothing to do you know and I think as time goes on I've learned to appreciate those moments appreciate the quiet appreciate the silence appreciate the time alone more and I feel so much happier in myself um to have taken that advice

57:49Ollie Bearman: great and finally what is your one bit of advice to someone watching this now if they're searching for their own version of high performance?

57:57Jake Humphrey: I would say dealing with pressure. There were times where I would get, I would have those butterflies or that feeling of pressure and it would keep me up at night or it would make me start overthinking and getting in my head a little bit. But now I've come to realize that that feeling, those goosebumps, those butterflies that you feel before a race or before a big moment that's a privilege I mean how lucky are you to be in a in a scenario where you're under pressure like that and when I get that feeling now I for me it has connotations to good things with pressure comes opportunity and and for me that's a really

58:41Ollie Bearman: critical point I love it I mean as we say so often on this show if you didn't have that feeling then it means you're not doing something that you love or care about exactly you absolutely are it's Passion and motivation as well, for sure. Mate, we wish you all the best for 2026. We're rooting for you at high performance. Thank you. You're a top man. Thank you. See you next year. Damien. Jake. It's always lovely to welcome a Formula One driver to open up. I'd obviously interviewed Oli before, a year and a half ago. Your first time meeting him, what did you think?

59:09Damian Hughes: I loved him. I thought he was really sincere, really genuine and sort of just very honest. I think when somebody comes and makes themselves vulnerable, talks about loneliness, nurse talks about struggle imposter syndrome stuff like that just makes me really warm to them you know you're in a better position than me what did you think was a big difference uh without

59:29Ollie Bearman: question his neck is about five times the size as it was a year ago but his maturity his ability like i could tell when we spoke the first time i could tell that he knew what he wanted to say but he what he kind of wasn't in a position to to really explain it and actually i think that he had to go through some good times like Mexico in the back end of the season and go through some tough times like before the summer break and go through the kind of evaluation process with his team to really work out who he is in Formula 1 because otherwise you're just a person driving a car right and I think when you stop and go right why am I here what do I need to get out of this as well as just pick up points for a team you know okay I'll get a good paycheck but what's left at the end of my career I think he's kind of answered all of those questions and you know the nicest thing is I have and I will obviously name the names but I've known F1 drivers before they've got into F1 and then I've met them a year later when they've done a season and they're just basically a monumental bellend and he was not that like he came in shook everyone's hands was really like and it is sincere it's sincere you know he wanted to speak to everyone he spent ages afterwards chatting to the team having photos with anyone that would have a photo with him it was just he's just a nice well brought up well-rounded stable guy.

1:00:46Damian Hughes: That's a bit that really jumped in. Like when we were chatting afterwards and said you can tell he's been brought up well. Like just the manners, just the eye contacts. Even talking to his partner outside of the room that came with him. You know, like she's shared many of the same values and had a similar outlook of the world. You can see he's a man that's grounded.

1:01:05Ollie Bearman: Yes, he is. But I also think he's not able to be vulnerable unless he comes from a background or a family where it's okay to talk about your feelings. So, you know, like his dad wildly celebrates and being emotional, knowing there's a camera there, wanting to talk to him on the team radio after a race. This stuff comes from his family. And I think that's a really important thing to remember. And I think ahead of the new season is going to be fascinating. I'm interested in your take on the whole struggling, evaluating it, getting together with his team, and then the results were transformation after that summer break.

1:01:37Damian Hughes: Well, it's a brilliant insight into him because I think often we operate without stopping. It's like that Sherlock Holmes quote, you know, like we eat without tasting. Like we sort of... Hear without listening. Yeah, and we act without thinking. So he's found himself in a car, driving, reacting to things going on without ever making the time to stop and think. And what was really interesting to me was it was all about stuff that was off the track. It was learning about setting boundaries. It was learning to say no. It was about time management. It was about delegation. it was skills that you wouldn't necessarily attribute to a Formula One driver was the fact that as a young teenager growing into a young adult he's having to learn you know and that to me shows his humility but also gives you an idea of the challenges of a role like this that it's not just what we see on the track it's the stuff that goes on behind it Brilliant, well thanks a lot mate Thank you mate, I absolutely loved it I loved it.

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