BEYOND THE GRID: Sam Michael on engineering his rise to the top of F1 and the people who influenced his life the most

When Sam Michael arrived in F1, he worried he wouldn’t be able to keep up. But he became an influential and experienced leader at two of the sport’s biggest teams. In the latest episode of Beyond The Grid he tells his remarkable story.

From a race engineer at Jordan in the late 1990s, to senior director roles at both Williams and McLaren in the 2000s, Sam enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top before leaving F1 in 2014.

FULL TRANSCRIPT: Read every word from Scott Speed’s fascinating Beyond The Grid interview

Speaking to Tom Clarkson, he reflects on more than two decades in the pinnacle of motorsport and reveals the people who influenced his life the most.

Sam shares fascinating insight into some of the big names he’s worked with; Lewis Hamilton, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Rubens Barrichello to name but a few.

He also explains the characteristics that separate the greatest racers from the rest, how he made drivers take a test to understand their knowledge of cars, as well as what he misses about F1 and much more.

To hear Sam's Beyond The Grid interview, hit go in the player above, or head here to catch it on your preferred platform.

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