Ollie Bearman: The 10 Minute Change That Saved My F1 Career (396)

0:00Damian Hughes: If I told 10-year-old me what I'm doing now, I think he'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...

0:31well welcome back yeah 12 months on it's uh it's nice to be back actually i feel like i've changed

0:36Ollie Bearman: so much let's talk then about the season just gone because i 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 he still talks about i think he beat me i'm afraid so um but since then you've actually beaten your teammate over the course of the 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

1:05Damian Hughes: what would you go for I don't know what mark I'd give it out of 10 but I was happy overall um it finished my like my best few races in terms of performance were the final four or five which is really the target of a rookie season right you want to 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 you can almost split it into pre-summer break and post-summer break and I feel like I really made a step.

1:45Ollie Bearman: Okay so you've grown up in motor racing you know you've been brilliant in the FILE 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 what you think was going on with you physically mentally the car

2:04Damian Hughes: 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

3:14Jake Humphrey: and you said you were asking yourself like what do I need to do who were you asking that of

3:19Damian Hughes: 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 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.

4:00Damian Hughes: 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 qualify the car or 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.

4:46Damian Hughes: This is what we're going to do for the second half. And the second half was such a big improvement.

4:51Ollie Bearman: so would you give us um a specific 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

5:06Damian Hughes: that yeah and it's it's also those 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 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 was challenging and we weren't quite able to to get the most out of it 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 tires 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 and have not planned it at all you know 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.

6:40Damian Hughes: But if the driver is not in a position to drive the car perfectly, then all of that is a waste of time, you know. 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.

7:27Also another thing for me, you come from Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula 4 even,

7:33Damian Hughes: 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 not for me. Of course, I'm learning the track and everything, but Friday is about optimizing the car setup.

8:07Damian Hughes: 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 going to do any mistakes and then you're in a better place by Saturday.

8:21Ollie Bearman: 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, 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.

8:46Damian Hughes: A little bit, but I don't even think it was a pressure 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.

9:22Damian Hughes: 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 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 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.

10:02Jake Humphrey: 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? I mean, you always have an idea of what you're going to do,

10:21Damian Hughes: 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

11:21Ollie 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?

11:35Damian Hughes: 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.

12:18Damian Hughes: 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. It's extreme.

12:46Jake Humphrey: Take us into that hotel room. You close the door to silence. Silence, yeah.

12:53Damian Hughes: 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.

13:29Jake Humphrey: So what would you do then if you don't have that?

13:33Damian Hughes: 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.

14:08Jake Humphrey: So what have you learned to do to be able to remedy that? So I spent

14:15Damian Hughes: 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 being 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 to be grateful and to to take a step back because I think perspective is important as well I mean times can be tough but at the end I'm you know if I told 10 year old me what I'm doing now I think he'd be pretty happy you know and putting things into perspective and and appreciating everything around you I think is is an incredibly important attribute.

15:09Jake Humphrey: So how do you do that? How do you remind yourself to stay grateful and to have perspective?

15:16Damian Hughes: 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 the world than the 20 or 22 of us in Formula One. Timing is such an important thing. So 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 it's a forever thing. There's no guarantees. And that also keeps me motivated. So I think that's the way I try to remain grateful. And, you know, I would be cycling a lot to try and just give me something to do. You know, it was great training and it gets me around. and it takes a few hours, you know, would get me through the day.

16:07Damian Hughes: 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 I complain in that scenario?

16:16Ollie Bearman: But it's also a great lesson, I think, in actually what life is like 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. It's not quite what I, yeah,

16:36Damian Hughes: chalked it up to be.

16:37Ollie Bearman: Is this what it is? I didn't think of. Are you particularly close to anyone else on the grid?

16:42Damian Hughes: 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 neighbour, so we live pretty close. Could you talk to him about how you were feeling? Not really. Not really. I, I, 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 I understand. It's a weakness of mine. But 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.

17:23Damian Hughes: I'm not denying that. But there's so many more challenges in it. and the pressure, the attention as well, 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 back 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 year one internal

18:10Ollie Bearman: 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 was at the other end of their career and just said look can i just have you as a mentor can we can i just share with you some of the things that i just don't have the answers to i do think you'd be surprised that they

18:39Damian Hughes: would turn around and say of course you can i agree actually i i have heard a lot of great things about the people who like you say are on on the other side of their career they've had the success is the championships the race wins i've heard luis how much advice he was giving to to isaac at the start of the year fernando and gabriel as well you know it's it's his manager and and i actually it's it's nice that 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 i'm if you ask for help i'm i'm gonna give it to you because I've been in that scenario and I know how it was.

19:18Damian Hughes: I think it's a really important quality. How did that come up, the Isaac Lewis thing?

19:22Ollie Bearman: Did they know each other before? Or do you think Isaac just literally went to him and asked?

19:25Damian Hughes: 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 a lot of great stories. And he's been through hardships as well. 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, and that is a great mentor to have.

20:04Jake Humphrey: What question would you ask him if you only had one?

20:08Damian Hughes: What advice would you give to 20-year-old Fernanda? Because that's my position. I'm new to Formula 1. 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 send it in

20:30Ollie Bearman: I'll tell you someone who I think would be brilliant for you actually Carlos Sainz mate, you know him very well so nice, so friendly 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

20:55Damian Hughes: 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 the way he's able to describe what he feels in the car is incredible because it's one thing feeling it And often I was finding, okay, I'm feeling the same thing as this guy or Esteban, for example. But Carlos was able 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 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 a big benefit.

21:37Ollie Bearman: Silverstone especially, I think, was really difficult.

21:39Damian Hughes: Yeah.

21:39Ollie Bearman: What was Io like after that race, after you and your teammate obviously collided? That's like 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, right?

21:51Damian Hughes: 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 the 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 you know we were we were incredibly fast and and then i do something like that going into the pits absolute throw away for the weekend you know totally unnecessary and stupid absolutely stupid um 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.

22:47Damian Hughes: 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 there's a lot of psychological overwhelm in a Formula One car yeah and that that's part of it you know that 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 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 because it's totally my fault it was totally unnecessary I didn't gain anything by doing it 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.

23:59Damian Hughes: 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.

24:31Jake Humphrey: 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?

24:41Damian Hughes: 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 I've you know 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 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 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?

25:51Damian Hughes: Very well, I think. I think there's plenty of ways 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. But his first, you know, goal was to get an understanding of our views. And that's really important. You know, he sees it. And he, of course, I'm sure had his view, but he doesn't, 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.

26:32Damian Hughes: 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. And that's the most important thing. 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 our partners. and you know we've spoken to f1 drivers who've talked about this moment and said actually the

26:59Ollie Bearman: 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 weirdly brought us closer together i don't know whether you experienced that with esteban yeah i think

27:13Damian Hughes: you know like i said 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 it, 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?

27:50Damian Hughes: 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

28:08Jake Humphrey: 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

28:24Damian Hughes: competitive and with that brings a bit of stubbornness and 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 develop the car correctly. If we start to create a split, we're not going to be as efficient. We need the engineers to work together, and for that to happen, the teammates need to have a good relationship. And for me, it's 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 clear the air.

29:05Damian Hughes: 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 your bias view to the side as much as possible. Say, okay, I could have done a better job in this sense and by coming clean and making it clear that you accept wrongdoing, they do the same as well in that situation. To be vulnerable. Yeah.

29:33Ollie Bearman: You've grown up so much in the last year and a half. This is like talking to a 30-year-old, not a 20-year-old. 10 years in 12 months 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 and 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 the budapest circuit like yeah so we came i think budapest was

30:15Damian Hughes: directly after um spa and spa was was a tough weekend where i we we i scored points in the sprint race in in the main race we had a problem with the 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 off 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 that took us away from from the top 10 and um so we get to Budapest last race before the summer break and I think in that scenario I had this 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 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 you're in the top three in terms of the minimum speed and in that high speed corner and I was like okay well you know clearly I'm and pushing um but i kept going i kept pushing and i ran wide and i damaged the floor in fp1 um and and you know then it has to be it was it was damaged and had to be repaired um that kind of puts you a bit on the back foot for fp2 um and then we got into fp3 i did the same thing again damaged the floor in turn four and i just had this mindset i'm not scoring points as this is going, I need to push a bit more.

31:54Damian Hughes: 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. This is not how I intended to finish my first half of the season.

32:33Damian Hughes: 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... At that point, I was last in the championship as well. of all the drivers that have 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. 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.

33:16Damian Hughes: 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. 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.

34:05Damian Hughes: Brilliant.

34:06Ollie Bearman: I've got something to show you about the magic of modern technology. Go on. Have a look.

34:12Damian Hughes: 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 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. Fernando said to us he has no memory of winning the Formula 1 world title. Really?

34:50Ollie Bearman: I said, what did you do afterwards? He goes, I have no memory. I have no memory of that moment. I mean, imagine that. That's so sad.

34:55Damian Hughes: Yeah.

34:56Ollie Bearman: On to the next thing.

34:57Damian Hughes: Yeah, 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. 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 myself so

35:21Jake Humphrey: how are you doing 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 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?

35:41Damian Hughes: 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 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.

36:16Jake Humphrey: 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?

36:30Damian Hughes: 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 i i this guy is the best f1 driver ever and and he's chasing me down you know he's he's putting me under so much pressure and i was like this is this is what i'm living for this is my life but that shows an

37:15Ollie Bearman: 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 you there's a bit of freedom there you're enjoying the fact that you're getting chased down by Max Verstappen.

37:26Damian Hughes: It was amazing. I mean, I was side by side with him and that feeling in your stomach is, that's what we live for, right? That's awesome. It was incredible.

37:35Ollie 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? Like, 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 i don't think it's that he does anything necessarily

37:56Damian Hughes: 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 um what was the way what did he do it's not that he was putting me under any more pressure than than any other time you know when i went side by side with him he 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.

38:31Damian Hughes: So it's not that he did anything differently. It's just the perception of Max. It's Max. He's the best. It's him. And I was side by side with him and normally I would have 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.

39:04Ollie Bearman: So interesting. So when you are racing with him and people talk about him and you've already said the best ever, do you see why he's so good when you're racing against him or not?

39:13Damian Hughes: Well, I mean, in that situation, it was one corner that we were side by side but I really wish to race against him more and tell you

39:25Jake Humphrey: 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?

39:41Damian Hughes: I think I think um working on on on some areas of 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 um 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? 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 where's your weakness I think a bit it's also a bit of a an athlete a competitive person thing you're like where is my weakness you don't even think about having a weakness you know and I think step one of of fixing it or working on it is to understand it's there which which I'm aware of and then the rest is is is basically noting it down understanding what was the circumstance that changed what happened in my periphery that that caused this emotional change from within the cockpit and when you can see all these you know case studies and these different versions of me this is when i got angry or this is when and have you spot the emotions got in the way there is a bit of a pattern when when when people do me wrong you know if someone pushes me off the track i can i can get the red mist a little bit and then you make silly errors you know 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.

41:52Ollie 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 that P4 in Mexico?

42:07Damian Hughes: 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. 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 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.

43:13Damian Hughes: It was such a proud moment. Getting out of 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, leaving your family to move to Italy. All of those moments flash back through your head and you're like, this is why I love this life.

43:41Ollie 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

43:50Damian Hughes: 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 that weekend as a reference almost because everything went well i i missed fp1 that weekend which is uh tough as well you know i gave the car to a rookie um which is strange to say these bloody rookies i know so annoying um and yeah so i i that was another challenge and and everything just went well we worked well uh through qualifying i maximized the car performance even if we were still not that quick in quality um and and from there even if it wasn't necessarily my my best single performance because actually i think my best performance came in uh in brazil the weekend after um 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 and that's really good well we've got something to gift you

45:04Ollie Bearman: So those are David Croft's commentary notes that he has for each Grand Prix and those are his Mexico Grand Prix notes. That is so cool.

45:15Damian Hughes: Thank you so much. That's really, really kind. So nice. It's a pleasure, man. It's a pleasure.

45:22Ollie 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?

45:42Damian Hughes: 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. You know, 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 know, 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.

46:25Damian Hughes: 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.

46:57Ollie Bearman: Are they looking at results, do you think? And you're trying to get them to look beyond the results.

47:01Damian Hughes: No, no, no. I think they take a very good view of everything and they're in contact a lot with IAO as well. So there's always a good dialogue.

47:10Jake Humphrey: Was there anything that surprised you that they were asking far from you?

47:15Damian Hughes: 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.

47:54that they want me to be ready in a moment's notice.

47:57Damian Hughes: 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, 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

48:34Ollie 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?

48:49Damian Hughes: 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.

49:30Damian Hughes: 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.

50:15Damian Hughes: 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 so it means that we've developed correctly we've we've understood our car the wind tunnel models have lined up well to the real car and and we've learned and grown 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 and i think success would look like starting from where we left off in abu dhabi and how much attention do you pay to

51:23Ollie Bearman: like the ferrari rumors about you could go into that seat halfway through 2026 or if they struggle

51:29Damian Hughes: again you might get a call earlier like zero nothing really because i think i've been lucky in a way to have got on that call two years ago and to do the race yeah and ever since then there's been those rumors and those things coming out so it's kind of just normal first of all I don't even see them because I don't you know you have to go on autosport or whatever to find them um so I don't go out looking for them and and you know that that's the best way I my focus is not on those it's on it's on the current project and and hopefully we can do good things in in 2026.

52:06Ollie Bearman: I love it have you got time for a few very quick fire questions of course after that amazing season last year what do you look for now as your three non-negotiables for a successful formula one

52:18Damian Hughes: career alignment is very important yeah so having a clear idea of the goal not only from my side bills from the team side of every time you get in the car what is the target of this session um 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

53:51Ollie 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?

53:59Damian Hughes: 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 scenario where you're under pressure like that? And when I get that feeling now, for me it has connotations to good things. With pressure comes opportunity. And for me that's a really critical point.

54:44Damian Hughes: I love it.

54:45Ollie Bearman: 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.

54:51Damian Hughes: Exactly.

54:52Ollie Bearman: 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?

55:11Jake Humphrey: 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, talks about struggle, imposter syndrome, So stuff like that just makes me really warm to them. You're in a better position than me. What did you think was the big difference? Without question.

55:32Ollie Bearman: 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 kind of wasn't in a position 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?

56:07Ollie Bearman: 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. He came in, shook everyone's hands, was really like, and it is sincere. It's sincere. 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.

56:44Ollie Bearman: It was just, he's just a nice, well-brought up, well-rounded, stable guy.

56:48Jake Humphrey: Well, 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 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.

57:07Ollie 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 celebrating and being emotional, knowing there's a camera there, wanting to talk to him on the team radio after a race. Like, 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 transformational after that summer break.

57:39Jake Humphrey: 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.

58:24Jake Humphrey: 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. fans you