Audi\u2019s<\/a> motorsport activities, so he is well aware of what it takes to reach the top.<\/p>\n\u201cThe driver is not just [someone] driving fast, they\u2019re also a kind of leader within the team. They’re the ones that can be positive in the environment \u2013 but also sometimes it can be the other way \u2013 but it was quite clear that we need to be in a position, if we’re wanting to be serious and fight at the top level, to actually have the right drivers involved in our programme.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other thing is that I’ve had very good experiences in my Audi career of having a good environment for drivers \u2013 in the way that we work together and the way that we understand how to actually get the best out of us and out of the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I looked very early on \u2013 back in 2023 actually \u2013 about how we could set up a driver programme, what it would look like, what the general positioning is and the ethos. That was all put in place as a plan and then through 2024, and especially 2025, we started to execute that particular plan ready for 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n
Audi\u2019s objective with their programme is clear \u2013 it\u2019s to have the best drivers in the cockpit of their cars and to develop them in such a way so that, when they are called upon, they are ready. But setting up a programme is not a simple process.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say it’s a living organism,\u201d McNish adds. \u201cIt’s not something that you set up and then it just runs like that. It obviously has to evolve.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, as drivers evolve \u2013 if you’re dealing with someone in Freddie’s position [compared to] dealing with someone like Freddie when he was 14 \u2013 they\u2019re very different animals, without doubt. In that respect, I think it’s dynamic and I quite enjoy that dynamism if I\u2019m honest with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The guidance that comes with being a part of the DDP<\/p>\n
While it officially launched at the start of this year, Audi\u2019s DDP has already evolved to a certain extent with the team bringing in additional support to assist with human performance and engineering development.<\/p>\n
For example, Giampaolo Dall\u2019Ara, who acted as the team\u2019s Head of Race Engineering last season, has moved across to help with driver development while personnel from various departments are on hand to help with everything from marketing to communications.<\/p>\n
All of that means both Slater and Felbermayr have a wealth of knowledge to hand already, as they continue to grow both on and off the track.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously they provide a lot of experiences or things behind the scenes \u2013 media training and things like this \u2013 and we evaluate after every race weekend how it went with Audi people and with Allan as well,\u201d Slater explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cAllan is very experienced so we get to have good conversations with him about how the weekend went, what can we improve on, what we help with, all these sorts of things. It’s just a mixture of different things. For me, like I say a lot, my goal is to become better every single day and they give me the opportunity to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I see it all over,\u201d says Felbermayr as she evaluates where she feels she\u2019s grown already. \u201cEspecially the physical help, for me it\u2019s quite helpful. We get support from medics, getting the whole body scanned at the beginning of the year to know where you are, and then just building on that during the season to get stronger every day and also looking forward to the next categories.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow I’m really happy with my physical strength for that category but it gets harder and harder if you go further so that’s something that helped me quite a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the 19-year-old Austrian currently embarking on her second F1 ACADEMY season, she also has the added benefit of Schreiner to call upon as a mentor \u2013 a driver who has experienced the all-female series first hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I went into the first season [of F1 ACADEMY] last year, I didn’t really know what to expect,\u201d Felbermayr explains. \u201cEverything was new to me. I remember the first race weekend, I didn’t know what’s going on, what we were doing, and Carrie was a big support just to prepare myself a bit better.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you never can be as prepared as possible, because there’s always something you don’t expect or anything like that, but Carrie helped me a lot to be as prepared as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have regular calls [and] we became friends. She’s always there for me during the race weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n
From McNish\u2019s perspective, it\u2019s also vital that the drivers are in an environment where they\u2019re allowed to make mistakes. They are, after all, human \u2013 but the key to a young prospect\u2019s development is learning how to bounce back and learn from disappointment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember when I was 17 and where I was on my human development,\u201d says the Scot. \u201cIt was very different to where I was when I was 21 or 22 and I can see it with [Audi F1 driver] Gabi [Bortoleto].<\/p>\n
\u201cGabi was actually on my original list [for the programme]. Gabi and Freddie were on that original list, and he had just started F3. There were six drivers that I was sort of [looking at] and two of them are with us now, so it’s quite nice actually. But Gabi has evolved a lot in the last 24 months that I’ve known him and he’s already been in Formula 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom that perspective there is that evolution and you can never put an old head on young shoulders, but you can definitely support them to try and make the right mistakes because they will make mistakes.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody makes mistakes, I still make mistakes. Nico [Hulkenberg] makes mistakes, Gabi makes mistakes. It’s about how you deal with them. It’s like a long, long university in a way.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u2018very hard balance\u2019<\/p>\n
It\u2019s no secret that motorsport, and the road to F1, is demanding. There are only 22 current spots on the grid and no shortage of drivers desperate to realise their dreams and make the grade.<\/p>\n
That means there\u2019s a lot of hard work in store for anyone wanting a career in motorsport\u2019s top echelon, but balancing that effort with knowing when to rest is a significant challenge \u2013 something plenty of people can relate to in their own lines of work. That isn\u2019t lost on McNish, who is acutely aware of the risks of burning the candle at both ends and the negative impact that can have.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s a very hard balance because it’s very individual,\u201d he explains. \u201cI think I got it wrong personally when I was in my junior career at times, and that was before there was any work-life balance or mental health discussion, there was nothing like that at all. It was a very different era.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it is correct, you’ve got to introduce it at different times. For example, with Emma last year, and it was quite clear we signed her for F1 ACADEMY 2025 in preparation for 2026, that was a clear strategy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Emma, last year we really didn’t do very much in and around our social media. In fact, we proactively reduced it at the beginning. It was a case of trying to make sure that we brought it forward at the right time when she was ready to take it on because it’s a big spotlight, rather than overloading from day one.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s about stage managing, and it’s the same with Freddie. Freddie comes into this paddock now, but he’s been under contract with us for quite a long time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn that respect, we’re only bringing him in at the appropriate moment, because at the end of the day, what we want to do is for them to be able to take on board the wider roles of a racing driver at the higher stages when they can do it, not just necessarily overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018He’s always been a bit like a second dad\u2019<\/p>\n
One of the DDP\u2019s undoubted advantages is McNish. While the former driver has landed himself a relatively new role as Audi\u2019s Racing Director, following the departure earlier this year of Jonathan Wheatley, he is still absolutely committed to helping the stars of tomorrow develop.<\/p>\n
That is never more evident than when you ask Slater and Felbermayr about what he\u2019s like to work with.<\/p>\n
\u201cAllan was the first person I spoke to [at Audi] and he’s always been a bit like a second dad at some points as well,\u201d Slater says. \u201cHe\u2019s helping me understand the way motorsport works and the way you should be thinking because he’s been through it all.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo have someone like Allan to have a conversation with about the race \u2013 after a weekend or wherever it is \u2013 is really valuable for me to listen to. [He\u2019s] someone who has kind of completed it and done such an amazing job, so he\u2019s got a lot of knowledge and it\u2019s very important to listen to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Felbermayr agrees: \u201cIt’s really easy to talk to him. Having a relationship and also having fun, that’s really easy with him and that’s also part of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout having fun on track, in the car\u2026 fun is part of being a driver in my opinion. If you don’t have fun, [then] it’s not going well or if you lose joy in what you’re doing, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
Part of that personability stems from McNish\u2019s own experiences as a young driver himself, as well as a keen sense of moral obligation and passion for guiding young drivers. In a world where it could be so easy to be cut-throat, it\u2019s not lost on him that he and the DDP have a responsibility in helping to shape these young drivers as people \u2013 not just as on-track athletes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis first dad is okay, I can tell you!\u201d McNish responds when told how Slater sees him. \u201c[Both of Freddie and Emma\u2019s dads] have got a bit of racing blood inside them and the whole family, Mrs Felbermayr and Mrs Slater as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey’re supporting their children. I remember back to my mum and dad driving me up and down the roads. DC [David Coulthard] and I were from the same area and our parents would drive us up and down for seven hours to go to bloomin\u2019 Clay Pigeon [Raceway] or Rye House [Kart Raceway] on a freezing cold December day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were then on the bus on the Monday morning trying to do homework, if you bothered about doing your homework. [When you] see that sort of commitment \u2013 and there’s a lot of commitment by parents \u2013 and yes there is an element we have in our objectives, which is related to performance, but we also have got a little bit of a moral obligation.<\/p>\n
\u201cPersonally, and I think that’s one thing that I like about [Audi], is that everybody that’s involved in the project is living and breathing it more than necessarily a job. We’re actually involved and taking care of it as if it was a very delicate egg. In reality, that’s what we are.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re evolving that and [these] drivers are people at an early stage of their lives. For us, it’s something that I take very personally to the point where I’m here for every F3 session. I watch on the weekends, or other races that are going on for drivers that we’re maybe looking at for the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy day off is not really a day off because I’m just invested in it and I think we’re all in the same boat. That’s something that I am quite proud of actually, that we’ve got that desire.\u201d<\/p>\n
He adds: \u201cI remember having doors slammed in my face and not really knowing why and thinking, \u2018I’m a good driver\u2019. There is a point where I think we as an industry maybe have not always done it as well as some of the other sports, but at the same time we are obviously a performance-driven industry, and I think every driver understands that’s the key part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In January this year, ahead of their maiden season as a works outfit in Formula 1, Audi announced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":848973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-848972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}