Inside Formula One: A F1 Race Mechanic’s Story - Scott Duncan

David McIntosh Jr 0:00 Quick shout-out to this week's sponsor, Vybey. They've been supporting my show for absolutely many years. Today's podcast has all been about high performance and high-performance culture, and that's what these guys promote. You may have seen Gordon Belch on the podcast three years ago. He's the founder of this, uh, this amazing brand. Today, I'm holding up their Hydration Plus electrolytes that I've been using every morning before a podcast. I'm gonna tell you a little bit more about the product. Zero sugar, vegan, gluten free, and it tastes good. This is the watermelon flavor. I've been using that. Uh, but there's also lemon and lime, tropical, and more. Each sachet turns water into clean fuel, no crashes, no compromises. I've been trying to cut down on my coffee consumption, so usually I've been having, like, four or five coffees a day. I'm down to, like, one now. So instead of a morning coffee, I've been having one of these for energy. I'm not selling you a dream. I'm not selling out. These guys have supported me for a very long time. Uh, Vybey has been my performance partner for the podcast from the beginning. Uh, most hydration products are just salts. I'm not sure if you've seen some of the competitors in the market, uh, but Vybey really go one step further. Three in one optimized electrolytes to rehydrate fast and recover stronger. Brain-boosting nootropics. That's L-theanine, ginseng, and guarana for calm, focused energy, and gut-friendly prebiotics to support digestion and immunity. Level up your hydration and focus at vybey.co.uk. Search Smart Hydration Plus or hit the link in the show notes, uh, and use code DMAC for some money off. Thank you, Gordon. Thank you, Vybey, for sponsoring this episode. Uh, as you can see, I've been using these. Uh, I totally testify the product, uh, and I hope you enjoy them. Scott Duncan, welcome to Origin Story.

Scott Duncan 1:49 Thanks. Good to be here.

David McIntosh Jr 1:50 Recently, you have been in Brazil and Mexico for work.

Scott Duncan 1:55 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 1:55 If I weren't to tell the audience what you do for work, they're probably gonna think that you've been running-

Scott Duncan 1:59 [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 1:59 ... some sort of drug cartel.

Scott Duncan 2:01 Yeah, yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 2:01 When people ask you, "What do you do for work?" how do you bring it to life?

Scott Duncan 2:05 Uh, yeah, it's pretty surreal. Uh, and not, not that many people know about F1. Uh, if you didn't know about it, you'd probably not really have a clue about the stuff that goes on and how, how much stuff happens behind the scenes. Um, but yeah, there's ten teams in F1. Uh, I'm part of one of them, Red Bull, uh, as a mechanic, so it's-

David McIntosh Jr 2:25 What's your job title?

Scott Duncan 2:27 Uh, tyre technician or tyre man. Uh, which is [laughs] probably not a clue what that is. But, like, F1's so specific, there's so many small jobs in it because there's so much resources, so many specialisms, uh, so I kind of focused on going down that route. Uh, it's still a mechanical background or a mechanical, uh, position, so I like it.

David McIntosh Jr 2:48 A tyre man. That sounds like a Superman... Sounds like Superman for someone that is really lazy, like tyre man.

Scott Duncan 2:55 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 2:55 Like a superhero. [laughs]

Scott Duncan 2:56 Yeah. I, I tell people most that, yeah. It's the most prestigious job, but there's definitely a lot of higher ones up, but...

David McIntosh Jr 3:02 [laughs] Nice man. That's awesome. Like, growing up, you would always see, like, Michael Schumacher on TV.

Scott Duncan 3:08 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 3:08 Would see a lot of F1 on TV, and would

David McIntosh Jr 3:12 have guessed that working in an F1 team or F1 as a racer would be a very elitist sport that didn't provide much accommodation for people from working-class towns in Scotland-

Scott Duncan 3:25 Yeah, definitely

David McIntosh Jr 3:26 ... uh, into the career. However, we grew up in Ayrshire. You're a couple years older than me, but we grew up in a very working class, west of Scotland town, and now you're working with the most prestigious race team as a tyre mechanic.

Scott Duncan 3:38 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 3:39 How does that happen?

Scott Duncan 3:41 [laughs] The most indirectly possible for me. Uh, like, there's no right or wrong way to get into it. I said, uh, the hard part for me is when I left school, I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do, which is probably quite familiar for a lot of people. Uh, if they are in the fortunate position where they do know what they want to do, I'd say it's a lot easier to work out, right, well, if I want to do this, I need to go to university and study this, get this experience. Whereas I didn't. Uh, my brother and sister are the same age as me, triplets. They-

David McIntosh Jr 4:10 Really?

Scott Duncan 4:11 Yeah. So they, they knew exactly what they wanted to do, which I found a lot harder. So they knew. So my sister wanted to be a radiographer. My brother wanted to be a PE teacher. So both went to university, then got graduate jobs and went from there. Whereas I spent a couple years just trying to find out what it was I wanted to do. Uh, got a couple of random jobs, uh, and then kind of decided I wanted to do something environmental. Thought maybe work in wind turbines. Everything was going that route. So, uh, I went to university and studied environmental sciences for four years. And still, I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do, but I thought it would work in that sector. Uh, so I did the full four years, then got a graduate job as a environmental engineer, uh, for a year, and it was within probably two or three months, I kind of figured out, yeah, this isn't for me. [laughs] Don't get me wrong, it was nice. Like, got a van. I was working, like, a nine-to-five in an office. Like, I liked it, but I just knew I can't, I didn't want to do this long term. Uh, and that kind of showed me then it doesn't really matter what the job was or what the money was like, like, if you don't enjoy it, you're not, you're never gonna see out. Uh, so I took a year out then. During COVID, uh, thought the best thing to do was move to Barcelona, so went there. I, I told everyone I was going to get a job, but it was really just to get a break and try and figure out what I was doing. Felt as if I, if I stayed at home, I'd be kind of wasting my time, so I just wanted to try and keep or look busy anyway. Uh, so I moved out to Barcelona. Uh, and obviously during COVID, there was absolutely no jobs going. So I spent pretty much every weekend at a bar watching F1. [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 5:45 [laughs]

Scott Duncan 5:46 I, I'd always liked F1 motorsport. Al- always watched it. I just never saw that as a route, as a job, as more as a hobby. Uh, I think it was one day I was sitting watching in the bar, uh, watching TV, and I saw a pit stop, and I was like, "That'd be pretty cool if I could do that." Uh, so I started having a look then at different routes, and there was kind of two routes that I, I figured out. You could go back to university and do engineering, or you could do an apprenticeship and get your mechanical qualifications and go from there. So I found out apprenticeship through Williams F1 team. Got to like the final stages over a couple of months. And I, I just put it in my head that I'd done it, I was getting this job, and that's how I would get into F1, so I kind of put all my eggs in one basket with that. Uh, and then got the final call about a month later saying I've unfortunately unsuccessful. And it, it just, it hit me. I was, I wasn't expecting it. Like I, I just assumed that I was gonna get it qui- quite wrongly. Uh, so [laughs] I just went, went down to the lo- like a, a near supermarket and got like a case of four beers, went down to the beach, and I like just lay on the beach and just sulked and like I, I just thought like, "What do I do now? I'm out in Barcelona. Got no family here. Got no job. Like what do I do?" Uh, but yeah, I just, I moved back to home at that point and managed to get an apprenticeship with Audi in Ayr. So for me, that was kind of a turning point going from like a graduate job, like a decent salary, stable, to an apprenticeship. Obviously, you know what apprenticeships like, like minimum wage. I'd come in in the morning, the first thing I'd do would empty all the bins. At 10 o'clock I would go and do the roll run, like get all the rolls for everyone, like rolls and a slice. Uh, so yeah, it was like back to s- kind of the start, but at that point, like I knew now what to do. I would, I would do the apprenticeship, and that would kind of get me further to getting into F1. Um-

David McIntosh Jr 7:34 One thing I like about your story is that, that you would volunteer on the weekends, going down to England-

Scott Duncan 7:41 Yeah

David McIntosh Jr 7:41 ... to volunteer as a mechanic on race day for other races. It wasn't F1, it was like track days and that kind of shit-

Scott Duncan 7:47 Yeah

David McIntosh Jr 7:48 ... wasn't it?

Scott Duncan 7:48 It was like the kind of more lower, basic form of motorsport. But I knew the-

David McIntosh Jr 7:52 I mean the, the low-

Scott Duncan 7:53 ... the apprenticeship-

David McIntosh Jr 7:53 The lowest form of motorsport is driving your car at like a-

Scott Duncan 7:56 [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 7:56 ... industrial estate that like, like a 300 pound car setup-

Scott Duncan 7:59 Yeah

David McIntosh Jr 7:59 ... with like a 500 pound exhaust. That's, that's the lowest-

Scott Duncan 8:01 Yeah

David McIntosh Jr 8:02 ... form of motorsport.

Scott Duncan 8:02 But you start somewhere.

David McIntosh Jr 8:03 And then there's that. [laughs]

Scott Duncan 8:04 Yeah. But I, I knew, I figured out myself that the apprenticeship alone wouldn't make me stand out at all. Uh, I had to get experience in motorsport, and motorsport's very hard to get into a team. So you just need to put yourself out there and volunteer and say, "I'll come, I'll drive down myself. I wa- I won't take any pay. Just give me the experience." Uh, and I, I scrolled through LinkedIn and like every single page in motorsport I could find and sent hundreds of emails and got nothing back until one team. It was just a, a guy, a woman and wife, uh, a guy, uh, a partner and his, uh, wife, and they just said, "Yeah, come down. Like we, we can't provide you anything, but we'll, we'll let you mechanic for us." And it just went from there. Uh, it was a lot, it was a lot of work. Like I was leaving at Audi on a Friday, driving down to like Silverstone or whatever, like seven hours, working the weekend, and then driving back Sunday night and back in at work on Monday. So, you know, it was a lot, but I suppose if, if you want to get experience, you have to, you just have to do that kind of stuff. You have to like show that you're committed.

David McIntosh Jr 9:06 And it's clearly paid off innit. I- In those races and doing that volunteering, that's where you found the opportunity to join an F1 team, right?

Scott Duncan 9:13 Yeah. Yeah, kind of started from there. Um, so it was them. They knew someone at McLaren. So again, like the old saying of like, "It's not what you know, it's who you know," uh, and kind of put my name forward for it. I applied like on, on the McLaren website, um, for like the fact that they'd put my name, and did that anything or not probably did. But yeah, I got the job. And for me, that was the first time obviously I'd, I'd stayed in Scotland my whole life. I lived there. So I moved down to Bracknell, uh, which is a bit of a rough area. [laughs] It's not the best, but, uh, yeah, moved down there and started. Uh, I, I've had my fair share of imposter syndrome throughout my life in some jobs. Red Bull was the worst. Like in my first day at Red Bull, uh, the imposter syndrome was ridiculous. I was like, "I, I don't deserve to be here. I'm, I'm not gonna be able to do this." Uh, yeah, mo- I think the fact I was just moving down, moving out the family house and everything, uh, it was quite a lot for me. But yeah, I was there for a year and a half, uh, building the McLaren GT cars. So that was a surreal experience, like walking into the garage, seeing all these like mint top-end McLaren like GT cars and whatever just sitting about. Stuff like I would, I've never seen before in my life, stuff that I like watch-

David McIntosh Jr 10:23 Like dream stuff

Scott Duncan 10:23 ... watch on YouTube, yeah, and they're just sitting in the garage. So yeah, that was really cool. And I think getting into a team like McLaren, like having that on your CV itself has definitely helped me then kind of progress from there. Uh, but for me also, I wanted to get into F1. This was in motorsport, so it's still in McLaren, but like I w- I wasn't aware of how separate motorsport would be to F1. I just thought I'll, I'll join that,

Scott Duncan 10:45 and then I'll get a job in the F1 team. But I was there for a year and a half, and I just could not get a job. I applied for a couple, but I didn't even get an interview, which was pretty crazy. Uh-

David McIntosh Jr 10:55 What are the main differences between motorsport, GT, and F1? Like how... Give, give me some like context-

Scott Duncan 11:01 Uh, so-

David McIntosh Jr 11:01 ... about the differences

Scott Duncan 11:02 ... motorsport is basically derived from the road cars, so a, a standard McLaren road car but then it'll be like fully stripped out with a roll cage, like carbon fiber panels, uh, a lot faster. Um, so we were like building them for teams.

David McIntosh Jr 11:16 How fast do they go?

Scott Duncan 11:17 Uh, oh, the G- GT cars can go like upwards of 200, uh-

David McIntosh Jr 11:21 Kilometers or miles?

Scott Duncan 11:22 Miles per hour.

David McIntosh Jr 11:23 Holy shit.

Scott Duncan 11:23 Yeah. So yeah, pretty cool. Fortunately, I didn't get to drive one. But I, I, I back myself as a driver, but, uh, no, I don't think that, don't think that [laughs] career's ever gonna start.

David McIntosh Jr 11:32 [laughs]

Scott Duncan 11:33 Um-

David McIntosh Jr 11:33 And what about an F1 car? How fast do they go? Like explain some of the kind of mechanical differences.

Scott Duncan 11:38 I think they're slightly restricted as well, but I mean, they can go, they can go upwards of 200 miles per hour as well. But the difference with them is they can go like 180 miles per hour around a corner.

David McIntosh Jr 11:46 Holy [laughs] shit.

Scott Duncan 11:47 Which is, which is ridiculous, yeah. Um, so obviously like with that comes like the, the safety has to be like e- elite level, um, they're in a carbon monocoque where if it goes into a crash, but we've seen like-

David McIntosh Jr 11:59 Carbon monocoque. I don't know why that was funny. [laughs]

Scott Duncan 12:02 [laughs] 'Cause I mentioned cock. [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 12:05 [laughs] It's like the name of a dildo. [laughs]

Scott Duncan 12:07 Showing your maturity here. [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 12:10 [laughs]

Scott Duncan 12:10 But have you probably seen F1, like, if a, a car gets touched, like it just falls apart. But the, that's the exterior parts that the, the body work and the wheels and whatever, but the, the internal chassis, not monocoque-

David McIntosh Jr 12:22 [laughs]

Scott Duncan 12:22 ... uh, is bulletproof and you, even if you Google Formula 1 crashes and you see some of the stuff lately. There was a really bad one in Brazil at the weekend there, uh, and the c- car like obliterated. Everything around it had came off, wheels, body work, but that carbon monocoque was completely untouched, and he, he walked out, uh, I think it was up- upwards of like 140, 150 miles per hour, went into a barrier.

David McIntosh Jr 12:46 Oh my God.

Scott Duncan 12:46 It's crazy.

David McIntosh Jr 12:47 Yeah, it's crazy. So tell me your progression from the GT cars to F1. How did you go from McLaren to Alpine to Red Bull?

Scott Duncan 12:59 Yeah. So I was at McLaren for a year and a half at that point, and I kinda got to the point where I was like, "I n- I need to make the next step now." Uh, there was nothing available at, um, McLaren, so I decided to take a look elsewhere. I saw a job with Alpine. Uh, again, it wasn't on the race team, but it was in the F1 team, on the test team it's called, which is basically like a reserve team, uh, that train people up for joining the race team. So that was my first experience in, like, an F1 team, was pretty surreal. Uh, I was there for a year. Um, and you travel around, not to the races, but to different tracks, uh, with the test car and their reserve drivers. So at that point it was Franco Colapinto, who's one of the drivers at Alpine now.

David McIntosh Jr 13:41 Wow.

Scott Duncan 13:41 Uh, so working with him. So it shows, obviously, it's not just, like, the mechanics that get trained up to work in the race team, that the drivers start there as well on the test team, and then they make the progression. Well, F1's really cutthroat, so if you're not performing, then you s- you can, you, you'll get one chance and then get cut out. So thankfully it's not as cutthroat [laughs] for mechanics or, like, working in it. Um, but yeah, done that for a year and kinda s- same, same scenario, there wasn't a job in the race team. So that's when I saw the job at Red Bull. Uh, and it was specified or specializing in tyres, so I thought I would go for it. Uh, I didn't know anyone at Red Bull at this point, so I was quite... I wasn't expecting much from it. Uh, but I got an interview and it went from there and [laughs] they somehow gave us the job.

David McIntosh Jr 14:28 One thing that I found really interesting when I was chatting to you the other day was that I thought to apply for a job in an F1 team, you would have to do some hands-on application. There'd be like an assessment center.

Scott Duncan 14:38 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 14:39 Like, how fast can you change a tyre or, like, lube an engine? I don't know what you guys do. [laughs]

Scott Duncan 14:46 [laughs] We do a lot of stuff. We're not lubing anyway. [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 14:49 [laughs] That's what I thought it is. [laughs]

Scott Duncan 14:51 I, I can't get into that, unfortunately.

David McIntosh Jr 14:53 But, like, you just said it was just an interview, a just, a chat.

Scott Duncan 14:57 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 14:57 Like, they didn't even like-

Scott Duncan 14:57 Yeah

David McIntosh Jr 14:58 ... test to see if you were capable. [laughs]

Scott Duncan 14:59 No. I had... I think the, the McLaren interview I'd, I'd heard that there was gonna be a me- a mechanical part, hands-on, I dunno, change this or like actually using tools, but there ne- there never was, and it was the same at Red Bull. It was a really intense, thorough interview. Like, it was... I was sweating for 45 minutes. It was, like, really intense questions. Um, I suppose for them, they just need to figure out, like, have you got experience? Are you capable of... 'Cause you can't really come in and get softly introduced to things, like, you have to come in straight away and be performing-

David McIntosh Jr 15:30 Okay

Scott Duncan 15:30 ... and doing what they need you to do. So I think for them, obviously, they, they ask all these questions to figure out if you are capable, not just from a perspective like mechanically, or are you capable with your skills, like you have to fit in with the team. So every team's kind of got their own ethos, their own way that they work, and Red Bull are probably the most prominent in terms of like their ethos and how they go about what they do. So they obviously must have thought that I fit, fit in with the team, which is a big part 'cause you're traveling 24 countries a year. You're, as I said, you've got your own room, but you're traveling together, you're working together, so you have to fit in with the team. So they must have thought that I, I fit somehow. Uh, and yeah, they offered me the job. So-

David McIntosh Jr 16:12 How would you describe the Red Bull racing culture? If I look at Red Bull as a brand, it's like, Red Bull gives you wings.

Scott Duncan 16:18 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 16:19 It's like they sponsor extreme sports and, uh, adrenaline junkies. It's pushing the limits of human potential. Uh, it's quite, um, unconventional, quite badass, quite rockstar in nature.

Scott Duncan 16:32 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 16:32 Is it the same for the actual Red Bull racing team?

Scott Duncan 16:35 Yeah, 100%. As I said, because it's an energy drink company, I think they pride theirself on being, like, trying to give everyone energy. And when you walk into the garage at Red Bull, it's ex- exactly that. Like, there's thumping bass and music playing, like, from the minute you get in the garage till the, the minute you leave. Uh, everything's high pace, adrenaline. Uh, I, I like the working environment. So as in when you're working in that environment with people, like surrounded by people that are, like, an elite level, it makes you push yourself as well. You want to be working at the same level. So I think working with people like that, it brings everyone up a lot higher. Obviously in F1, you have to be at the elite level. It's only 10 teams, X amount of jobs per team in the world. So it, it is really the best of the best at that, at that point. So yeah, it's a great working environment.

David McIntosh Jr 17:22 Let's do a little bit of F1 for dummies. I was, uh-

Scott Duncan 17:24 [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 17:25 ... doing some research. So, like, I'm, I'm not an F1 nerd, um, but watching Drive to Survive and then watching some YouTube videos recently, it really gave me, like, an appreciation of, like, the things that you don't see-

Scott Duncan 17:38 Yeah

David McIntosh Jr 17:38 ... behind the scenes around F1. But, like, if you were to des- describe F1 as a race and some of the practicalities that make it the race, how, how would you explain it to, like, my grandma, for example?

Scott Duncan 17:48 Yeah. Um, so yeah, there's, at the moment 24 races a year. There's 10 teams in F1 and two drivers per team, so there's 20 drivers. Uh, they'll race on a Sunday. They'll have one race. Before that, they'll have qualifying for the race. So they'll all go out, uh, and try and set the fastest time over three sessions, and they'll be like a knockout. So it'll start with 20 drivers, then five will get knocked out, and then five again, and that, that will set the grid for Sunday. Then on Sunday, it's the race. It's usually, I mean, it's a, it's a, usually around about half an hour, forty-five minutes, or equivalent to maybe 60 or 70 laps. So it's a long race, and obviously within that you've got a pit stop as well, or a minimum pit stop of one, sometimes two. Uh, and there's two categories within the championship. There's the drivers' championship, so h- the person that's gonna win the, the drivers' championship. Then you've got the teams championship with all the, the 10 teams in the paddock as well. So yeah, there's a lot to play for, and obviously that's all divided up by points per one. I think it starts at 25 points f- in the top 10, uh, and then it's zero outwith that.

David McIntosh Jr 18:58 One thing that I really didn't even consider before doing my research for this podcast was that it's probably like the only sport where you have the ability to manipulate performance through technology.

Scott Duncan 19:11 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 19:11 Of course, in football you have slight variations of football boots, or in golf you might have slight variations of clubs. But the innovation isn't that extreme.

Scott Duncan 19:19 Mm.

David McIntosh Jr 19:19 However, in F1, like innovation is completely encouraged. It's not just a athletic endeavor.

Scott Duncan 19:26 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 19:26 It's actually like a, almost like a technology conference. Like who's got the best kit,

David McIntosh Jr 19:30 who's got the best gear-

Scott Duncan 19:31 Yeah

David McIntosh Jr 19:31 ... and how do we use that gear?

Scott Duncan 19:32 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 19:32 And that was one thing I didn't really realize is how, um, encouraged the variation and innovation is.

Scott Duncan 19:39 Yeah. The, as, as Formula One's at the, for a l- most elite motorsport level, with that comes with the most elite engineers, designers. So, like all the innovation they come up with is like, it's, it's absurd some of the stuff they're doing. They've got simulators in the factory where they'll run a small scale model of the car.

David McIntosh Jr 19:58 Like 60% size, isn't it?

Scott Duncan 19:59 Yeah, yeah. So they'll ru- run that in a wind tunnel to see if the parts they're designing correlate to the performance that they expect, and if it, when it passes or if it makes an upgrade, they'll then put that on the car. Uh, which costs millions of pounds. Uh, but obviously it, it shows that like the more innovative they can be, the, the more performance they're gonna get out the car.

David McIntosh Jr 20:19 And it's funny because these, um, these innovations only shave like a millisecond-

Scott Duncan 20:25 Yeah, that's the, that's the thing that's weird in Formula One. Like-

David McIntosh Jr 20:27 The margins are so small

Scott Duncan 20:28 ... the margins are so small. The margin in qualifying between first and second can be like a thousandth of a second, or between first and 10th can be like a 10th of a second. Which is crazy, 'cause for them finishing in 10th, even if, you know, you're having a bad weekend, but you're only really like a, a couple of tenths off of the person in P1. So yeah, it's fine margins, but that's why small things like upgrades are how fast... If a pit stop's 2.5 seconds compared to three seconds, there's that, that difference does make a big impact in the race. So yeah, it's all fight, like small margins, but-

David McIntosh Jr 21:03 Yeah

Scott Duncan 21:03 ... does make a difference.

David McIntosh Jr 21:05 The success is found in like the, the margins.

Scott Duncan 21:07 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 21:08 I like that.

Scott Duncan 21:08 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 21:09 And I think that's a metaphor for life really. Like, if you can, especially like in podcasting, right? Like, a podcast is just a conversation, but if you can be just slightly more intelligent or have slightly better set or whatever, like it's, it's noticeable.

Scott Duncan 21:22 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 21:23 Um, yeah, I think it's such a good metaphor for life. One thing that I, uh, I didn't know about Red Bull, uh, and F1 I guess as a whole, is like all of the data engineers and some of the kind of, for the lack of a better term, nerds of F1, dorks of F1-

Scott Duncan 21:41 Yeah

David McIntosh Jr 21:41 ... like these, [laughs] these, these people who are sitting behind computers doing incredibly complex simulations in the UK in real time as these races are happening, feeding communications back and forth.

Scott Duncan 21:54 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 21:54 Like testing strategies, et cetera, et cetera. Uh, doing real time simulations to alter the results of the race. Uh, I- I'm using such a bad term calling them dorks, they are intel- like incredibly intelligent-

Scott Duncan 22:06 Yeah

David McIntosh Jr 22:07 ... like high-end academic grads. Like, winning races from, from a computer screen a hundred if not thousands of miles away.

Scott Duncan 22:16 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 22:16 Um, in real time. I think that's just so fascinating. No other sport has that.

Scott Duncan 22:20 No, it, it comes down to the resources again. Like obviously in F1 they've got the resources and the means to be able to do that. Uh, and they've got obviously the people that are qualified from the highest level, uh, to be able to be d- doing that as well. So you, you usually run simulations back in the factory at Milton Keynes with one of the test drivers on, on a simulator with the setup that they want to use for the race on the Sunday, and see how that compares. Uh, and they can then use that for the car at the, at track to see how they set it up, and if they want to do one stop or a two-stop strategy. So like it's so much thought. You'd be, you'd be... Watching the race, you wouldn't think that that much goes into it, but, uh, because it's such fine margins and the, like the money involved with winning, like they, they want to put that effort in.

David McIntosh Jr 23:03 How much does a F1 car cost?

Scott Duncan 23:06 A car?

David McIntosh Jr 23:07 Like if I were to like try and like save up my sponsorship revenue from the podcast and buy one, how much would it cost? [laughs]

Scott Duncan 23:11 Yeah. I'm sure [laughs] ...

David McIntosh Jr 23:13 [laughs]

Scott Duncan 23:13 You might be a bit off, but I'm sure-

David McIntosh Jr 23:15 [laughs]

Scott Duncan 23:15 ... I'm sure like it's in the millions. I know, 'cause we, we changed the, the power unit in Brazil after qualifying, and I'm sure the power unit alone is a, a, a couple of million.

David McIntosh Jr 23:25 Holy [laughs] shit.

Scott Duncan 23:26 Um, and like parts, 'cause everything's made out of carbon, uh, the, the parts are like absurd amounts of money as well.

David McIntosh Jr 23:31 Holy shit.

Scott Duncan 23:31 Uh, I could, I couldn't tell you off the top of my head. I will find out after for you and I'll send you a message.

David McIntosh Jr 23:35 Well, like if you were to like lick your finger and put it in the air, like rough ballpark.

Scott Duncan 23:40 I-

David McIntosh Jr 23:40 Like 10 million something

Scott Duncan 23:41 ... I'd say yeah, in the tens of millions.

David McIntosh Jr 23:44 Do you know if there's anyone that's ever bought a F1 car personally, like an old, old one or something?

Scott Duncan 23:48 Yeah, so I, I know a lot of the older ones now all either get auctioned off, or in some cases the drivers that won in that era would then get given their car-

David McIntosh Jr 23:57 Holy shit

Scott Duncan 23:57 ... which is pretty cool. Um, a lot of the, the teams have units where they'll keep all their old cars. So like at Alpine and McLaren, uh, I got to go to the unit sometimes, and you've got all these old F1 cars that were raced that are just sitting in shelves with, with dust on them, which is crazy.

David McIntosh Jr 24:13 That's crazy.

Scott Duncan 24:14 Uh, but yeah, it's, it's a, it's a pretty cool, cool thing to see

David McIntosh Jr 24:20 I find the evolution of what a F1 car looks like over the last 20, 30 years really fascinating. How the, the, the chassis, the, the technology, everything else in between has changed and developed.

Scott Duncan 24:31 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 24:32 From what I remember, when I was looking at, like, Jackie Stewart and that kind of era, it was literally just, like, a body with wheels thrown-

Scott Duncan 24:39 Yeah

David McIntosh Jr 24:39 ... uh-

Scott Duncan 24:40 Just so much more basic.

David McIntosh Jr 24:41 Yeah. And now there's, like, the wings at the front, wings at the back, DRS, all these different-

Scott Duncan 24:45 Yeah

David McIntosh Jr 24:46 ... little, uh, nuts and bolts, um, idiosyncrasies that I don't even know how to describe that have changed in a reiterative manner, manner over the years to now what looks like a, basically a spaceship on wheels.

Scott Duncan 24:59 Yeah, it is. And it comes down to, like, if anything it seems over-engineered, obviously because it gets so innovative. It's like, at what point do you stop? There was a, there was an era, I think around, like, 2007 or 2010, you need to go Google it after, but the front wings are ridiculous. They've got so many different, like, scoops and, like, crazy things hanging off of them. And at that point it was, like, over-engineered and they've kind of went backwards and simplified it slightly. But every year they're finding more innovative ways that they're changing. So this year it was kind of a hybrid V6 engine. Next year's a new regulation change, so they're gonna be using synthetic fuel, or more sustainable fuels. So obviously they're trying to, like, tick that green energy box as well. It's, it's-

David McIntosh Jr 25:42 [laughs] Everyone's ticking the green energy box.

Scott Duncan 25:43 Yeah, yeah. Because obviously with my background I can, I can try and, uh, help with-

David McIntosh Jr 25:47 [laughs]

Scott Duncan 25:47 ... the environmental. Which is pretty ironic that I studied environmental sciences and I'm now in probably one of the most pollutant sports there is with the amount of, like, flights and freight that gets sent round the world. Like, about a, a lot of air carbon emissions that we'll never be able to offset.

David McIntosh Jr 26:02 Your carbon footprint's, like, the size of Godzilla's soul. [laughs]

Scott Duncan 26:05 [laughs] Yeah. Did you see how much AVios I've got, though? [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 26:08 [laughs]

Scott Duncan 26:08 Worth it.

David McIntosh Jr 26:09 Ah. Tell me some of the, some of the things we might not know about an F1 car that makes it a high-performance vehicle. Maybe like the DRS system, or how air is used, um, on the wings to increase down force. Look at me trying to show off with these terms.

Scott Duncan 26:25 [laughs] No, it sounds good.

David McIntosh Jr 26:26 [laughs] ChatGPT, thank you. [laughs]

Scott Duncan 26:28 Yeah. You've done your research. Uh, yeah, the DRS has, has been about now for a few years, but that's, that's one of the most controversial things at the moment because it provides such an advantage. So at certain points in the track the rear wing will drop down and it will create a gap so more air can flow through it, so obviously the car can speed up. Uh, but at the moment it gives, like, quite a decent advantage over the car in front. Uh, if you're within one second of that, that car you'll get DRS, so it makes it a lot easier to overtake. So, like, next year they're actually taking that out and they're gonna have a more active aero so it's less, uh, less

Scott Duncan 27:05 easy for to overtake cars in front of you. But yeah, the, the, the innovation in the last few years is, is crazy. Like, the wings and everything. Uh, the floors this year have been the, the big thing.

David McIntosh Jr 27:16 Floors?

Scott Duncan 27:17 Yeah. The, the floor of the, the car, uh, it's made out of carbon, but this year's, uh, kind of down force, uh, or ground effect car. So they're trying to run them as close to the ground as they can. Uh, and also under... I c- couldn't possibly tell you what the, the f- the floor looks like underneath because it'll get shot down by Red Bull. But, uh, yeah, they try and f- get the air to flow in certain ways that sucks it to the floor.

David McIntosh Jr 27:42 Oh, I've seen that they create little vortexes.

Scott Duncan 27:44 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 27:45 Yeah.

Scott Duncan 27:45 Yeah. So that's, that's pretty innovative. Um, but that's all changing next year. It's gonna be more comp- uh, like, straightforward, not as complex.

David McIntosh Jr 27:53 I think one thing that people might not know about F1 cars that I found out in my research, that despite all of this innovative technology, carbon fiber this, uh, carbon fiber that, there's a plank of wood-

Scott Duncan 28:06 [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 28:07 ... at the bottom of an F1 car.

Scott Duncan 28:08 The plank.

David McIntosh Jr 28:08 Yeah, the plank. Tell me about the plank.

Scott Duncan 28:10 Uh, like, the plank, as far as I know, is there is to, well, one, to stop when the car bottoms out and hits the floor. It's there as a kind of structural point so it doesn't damage anything. But then it's also used to measure at the end of a race. 'Cause the lower you can run the car to the, the floor, the faster it's gonna be, 'cause it can get sucked down and it's quicker. But if you run it too low, it'll wear, it'll get damaged more quickly. So the FIA measure that at the end of every race. And if you've run it too low and it's got too much wear on the plank of wood, you'll get disqualified, which has happened quite a few times this season. Whether it's a team doing it knowingly and trying to get away with it, or it's just, like, an accident where they've, they've not set the car up right and it's, uh, running too low. And you'll see it a lot in night races when you see the sparks coming out the car.

David McIntosh Jr 28:59 Mm.

Scott Duncan 28:59 That's the plank hitting the bottom. 'Cause it's got a little kind of metal ridge round the outside as well, so that's where the sparks come from.

David McIntosh Jr 29:05 Ah.

Scott Duncan 29:05 Uh, so that, that's not just a, like, a bit of the car that's just getting smashed off the ground. Like, that's the kind of lowest point that's meant to hit, hit the floor.

David McIntosh Jr 29:14 One thing that I found also very interesting was that per, and correct me if I'm wrong, per the kind of code of conduct, the rule book, whatever, that each driver must change their tyres-

Scott Duncan 29:25 Once

David McIntosh Jr 29:25 ... during, once during the race.

Scott Duncan 29:26 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 29:27 Um, and do they have to change between hard and soft in the race, or can they go from hard to hard, soft to soft?

Scott Duncan 29:32 Uh, they have to, I'm sure they have to change compound once. So they have to use two compounds. There's three, soft, medium and hard. So if they're starting on hard they would have to then go onto a medium and a soft. Uh-

David McIntosh Jr 29:43 What are the differences between a hard tyre and a soft tyre, for example?

Scott Duncan 29:46 Uh, not a lot really, but it's, the softest tyre is meant to be the fastest. It's got the most grip but it degrades quickly. Whereas the, the hard tyre has got the least amount of grip but can go long stints.

David McIntosh Jr 29:58 So I guess there's, like, a kind of, from a race strategy point of view, there must be, like, a toil up of between do we wanna put on the fastest tyres but doing more pit stops-

Scott Duncan 30:07 Yeah

David McIntosh Jr 30:07 ... or do we put on the more en- enduring tyres, um, but go slower.

Scott Duncan 30:11 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 30:11 And you have to kind of-

Scott Duncan 30:12 That's the way they are

David McIntosh Jr 30:12 ... in real time kind of manipulate those decisions.

Scott Duncan 30:14 Yeah. It seems ridiculous to think that, uh, if you were to stop twice and another team were to stop once, you could still finish in front of that team having stopped twice, but the difference between the soft tyre- ... and the hard tyre is like you, you can gain on someone a couple seconds a lap.

David McIntosh Jr 30:30 Wow.

Scott Duncan 30:30 And if it's over 70, 70 laps, it does make a difference. But I mean, that's all for people a lot higher up to figure out what the best strategy is.

David McIntosh Jr 30:39 How many tyres does a s- car go through in a single race?

Scott Duncan 30:42 Uh, over a, in a race, probably only two or three sets. But over a weekend, from us getting there on the Wednesday, so you've got like Friday practice, Saturday qualifying, Sunday race, every team gets 20 sets per driver, so like 40 sets per team, which is crazy. Like it's a, a, a serious amount of work involved.

David McIntosh Jr 31:02 God. Yeah, f- going from an environmental science-

Scott Duncan 31:05 [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 31:05 ... point of view, like you guys are burning more rubber than Bonnie Blue.

Scott Duncan 31:08 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 31:09 [laughs]

Scott Duncan 31:09 Yeah. I mean [laughs] yeah. I've never heard it like that before, but yeah, it's true. Uh, I think they do somehow recycle them or whatever, but it's, yeah, it's, it's crazy.

David McIntosh Jr 31:20 [laughs]

Scott Duncan 31:20 And it's, and n- not every set of tyres gets used as well. So like a brand-new tyre, they can't use it again to... They'll literally get it at the end of the weekend, put a knife through it, which is... And a, a tyre, a Pirelli F1 tyre alone I think is about £1,000 just, just for the, like the rubber. Uh, so it's like so much money just to put a knife through it.

David McIntosh Jr 31:40 What are some of the, I guess, th- throughout history, not Red Bull specific, what are some of the weird and wonderful stories, tales, maybe even cheat codes that Formula 1 teams have used to gain a advantage on the track?

Scott Duncan 31:55 Uh.

David McIntosh Jr 31:56 Have you heard any stories like that?

Scott Duncan 31:57 I have heard some. I dunno if I can, I can comment on the Red Bull ones. [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 32:02 Not the Red Bull ones then. [laughs]

Scott Duncan 32:03 I know, like in some cases there was, uh... I'm sure they tried to put like a, a little hole in the front of one of the cars that would then when the, when the driver put his foot down or pressed a button, air would come through. Uh, and it was just a, another way of getting better aero in the car. Uh, so I think that, I dunno what year that was, but I mean, the, that was found out and... A, a lot of the times now it's teams will try and cheat, um, but they'll just bend the rules. So it's, they're trying to look for loopholes in the rule book. Uh, and then once the FIA figures that out, or usually teams complain that, "Why is, why is McLaren so much faster? They're doing this." The FIA will look at that and then see, well, they're not breaking the rules, but it is bending them, and then they'll just completely ban doing that. So it shows that you can... You have to be innovative and you have to try and push the boundaries, not necessarily break the rules, but you have to try and find loopholes-

David McIntosh Jr 32:56 Mm

Scott Duncan 32:56 ... to, to get faster, to get ahead.

David McIntosh Jr 32:58 To be ahead of the regulation almost.

Scott Duncan 32:59 100%, yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 33:00 Oh, I wanna ask you about the halo.

Scott Duncan 33:02 [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 33:02 I find that really interesting.

Scott Duncan 33:03 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 33:03 With that kind of structural, I guess, halo nature around the driver. I often wondered what that was for, whether it was like, I guess what, some sort of like windscreen effect or it was like just an aerodynamic feature. I didn't realize it was actually just a health and safety thing.

Scott Duncan 33:18 Yeah, it's purely safety. So before they never used to have anything that covered the, the driver's head. The driver's head was above the monocoque. [laughs] There's a buzzword just there, innit? [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 33:29 This podcast is gonna be called-

Scott Duncan 33:30 The, the monocoque

David McIntosh Jr 33:31 ... Red Bull's Monocoque. [laughs]

Scott Duncan 33:32 [laughs] Um, but yeah, it, there was nothing protecting the driver. If something was, a tyre was to come off, I think it happened before, a tyre came off and hit the driver in the face. Uh, or if the car rolls over, the helmet was the highest point, so the, the driver could get in serious, seriously injured. So they brought the halo in, when would that be? It's qui- quite a few years ago now, but it surely is for a, like a health and safety point of view and, like the amount of times it has saved drivers now that have flipped upside down. Or like one, one scenario like Ma- uh, [clicks tongue] Lewis Hamilton's car went over Max's and it came right over the top of the halo. But if that halo wasn't there, I mean, then it wouldn't, like it would've been pretty serious.

David McIntosh Jr 34:12 Oy. What's the, what's the craziest, uh, crash or incident you've seen since working there?

Scott Duncan 34:17 Uh, [exhales] that one in Brazil at the weekend was probably one of the worst. Uh, which is ridiculous to say that he just got out and walked out the car.

David McIntosh Jr 34:25 What happened?

Scott Duncan 34:25 But, uh, I think the, the, there was three cars run off in the same corner, so I think there was a bit of debris or something on that corner, but he was the first one to go off. Uh, again, it was at, at the end of a straight, so he must've been going like upwards of 180-odd, uh, and just lost it, went into the barrier, and then flew straight into the kinda grandstand barrier. Uh, it was pretty scary. Like you should have a look at it after. Um, it was some serious G-force. But it kinda brings it home when you see crashes like that that, like the stuff that you do, like it's imperative you do it right. And like if you make the tiniest mistake, that can then have consequences on the track as well. So it puts a lot of pressure on. There's a lot of pressure over a weekend. So I mean, it's such high stakes and you have to be working at such a high level. Everything you do is gonna have an effect on, on the weekend.

David McIntosh Jr 35:11 I didn't realize how athletic F1 drivers are, understanding that their heart rate sits like above 160 beats per minute-

Scott Duncan 35:18 Yeah

David McIntosh Jr 35:18 ... for two hours straight.

Scott Duncan 35:19 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 35:20 Plus-

Scott Duncan 35:20 It's the heat, the heat as well-

David McIntosh Jr 35:21 Yeah

Scott Duncan 35:21 ... in a lot of the places. Like Singapore was, I think it was like 34, 35 degrees and like 90% humidity, so that was like a sweat box the whole weekend. Um...

David McIntosh Jr 35:32 How would you describe the athleticism of drivers? Like what, what exercises are they doing as they're driving?

Scott Duncan 35:38 You probably see quite a lot the, like the, the ones that come up online is obviously the, the neck, [laughs] uh, stability or the neck strength that they have to have because they're going round corners at 180 miles per hour. Like for a standard person to jump in a car and do that, your neck would like fold in half. So they have to have a lot of strength in their neck to be able to take those G-forces. Uh, like you see a lot of F1 drivers, you see that their necks are pretty thick or V-shaped 'cause they have got such strong necks. Uh, it's just something you just never really think about 'cause they make it look so easy. And obviously they have to do a lot of endurance training and training at altitude. Um, Mexico was the first time I've been somewhere that's been, I think it's like 1,200 meters above sea

Scott Duncan 36:20 level. So I'd never been that high before, so as soon as we got off the plane, like you could feel the, your kind of shortness of breath. Uh, so like working in that environment just makes everything a bit harder. Um, we always try and go a track run with Red Bull on a, on a Thursday night, and like I, I nearly had a cardiac arrest [laughs] running round the track, just 'cause I was... I wasn't, like, used to being so, like, short of breath and at that, at that level. Uh-

David McIntosh Jr 36:43 How long is a track, like one lap?

Scott Duncan 36:45 They're usually around five kilometers, kind of give or take a couple of kilometers here or there. Uh, but yeah, usually around about five, which is, uh, good for a, a track run, 'cause 5K is pretty kind of standard. You can... If you're a runner or you're, you've never ran before, you can slog through a 5K. Uh, so it's, it's a good, another good way to keep fit, but also, like, as a team, it's a good bonding exercise.

David McIntosh Jr 37:07 One of the things I really enjoyed learning about in my research was that each team have different cars, but each driver has different cars.

Scott Duncan 37:17 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 37:17 And they're kind of tailored to their own performance and their own specificity. Uh, but also each track, like, wildly changes.

Scott Duncan 37:25 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 37:25 You have... One of the things I, I love watching, and I think it's so fucking cool, and it must be great for tourism, I, I can imagine these cities love it, but to be fair, the countries that you guys usually go to are quite elitist countries anyway.

Scott Duncan 37:35 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 37:35 But these are street tracks that are, like, built into the city.

Scott Duncan 37:38 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 37:38 I think that's awesome. One thing I didn't really think about was the absolute logistical nightmare of getting all of the team, all of the crew, all of the equipment, all of the tools, all of the cars, all of the drivers, all of the, the catering, all that stuff into the city-

Scott Duncan 37:51 Yeah

David McIntosh Jr 37:51 ... standing it up, and operating it. Like, can you walk me through what people that are watching F1, illegally streaming it and not appreciating on their TV-

Scott Duncan 38:01 [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 38:01 ... what, what, what they're not appreciating about what goes into a race week-weekend?

Scott Duncan 38:04 Yeah. The logistics of it is, is absolutely crazy. I don't know how you'd even start to organize an F1 event. Um, but also the setup of it. I, I know that they start setting up F1 events, like, months before the r- the race just 'cause of the logistics of getting everything in place. Um, I know from our perspective anyway, we have a, a team that goes out a week before the race. So, so if we're going to Vegas tomorrow, a team would've went out last week to set up our garage, so when we get there on the Wednesday, everything's set up. I mean, that alone takes, like, a week to set up, and it's a lot of kind of forward thinking. Uh, and the logistics of all the freight that gets shipped around, all around the world. I know we take around, like, 14 air freight containers. Um, so if you, like, times 10 teams, uh, it's a serious amount of freight and, uh, tools that gets taken about all around the world. Uh, if you see it at the end of a race, like the forklifts flying about everywhere and everyone in high vis, it's literally a traveling circus. Like, you-

David McIntosh Jr 39:02 [laughs] I believe it

Scott Duncan 39:03 ... you, you would never, you would never think to put something like that on and travel it around the world 'cause everything's, everything seems like a permanent structure. And all the hospitality units and the garages look like permanent structures that should never be moved around. Uh, so yeah, it's crazy.

David McIntosh Jr 39:19 Tell me about your, uh, kind of day in the life or week in the life. How are you transported around? What does the average w- week in the life look like for a Red Bull race mechanic in terms of, like, where you're flying to, how you f- get there, how you're accommodated for-

Scott Duncan 39:35 Yeah

David McIntosh Jr 39:35 ... how you spend your week working, and then how you relax whilst you're there.

Scott Duncan 39:38 Yeah. It's-

David McIntosh Jr 39:39 'Cause like you said, you've been in, like, Mexico, Brazil, Azerbaijan this year, going to Vegas tomorrow.

Scott Duncan 39:44 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 39:45 Uh, like, it does sound like a traveling circus.

Scott Duncan 39:47 Yeah. Yeah, it is. But, and y- you definitely, you have to like the traveling aspect of it. Um, not necessarily the airports. Like, that's by far the worst part, but you have to like going to different countries and working in different countries. Uh, and for me, like, I love that part of it. Like, I love traveling, and I love motorsport, so that's wh- I was sitting in that beach, you know, crying in Barcelona, uh, that was when I decided, yeah, this is for me. Um, yeah, the, the traveling part of it is they're aware that it takes its toll. So you get long-haul flights, kind of like 10, 11 hours. Uh, and even when you get there, different time zones, so you can give jet lag as well. So they, it's in their best interest to look after all the staff and the employees knowing that they've got a, a long week ahead. Um, so you get treated very well in terms of, like, the food we get is pretty banging. Um, you've got sports nutritionists, you've got physios. Uh, they've got a lot of stuff in place to, to look after you. Uh, they've also got, like, F1 medics around the track, so as I say, it's common that people get ill. If, if something happens, they've got, like, every single pill or medicine that you could possibly need, uh, to m- to look after you. So you feel very well looked after. It's not as if you're getting taken around the world, and it's absolutely beating out of you, and you're, like, constantly tired. Uh, they do take that into account, and obviously they want to make sure that everyone's at, like, the, the best possible level.

David McIntosh Jr 41:11 Peak performance, yeah.

Scott Duncan 41:11 Yeah, definitely. Uh, so yeah, it's good. I, I like it.

David McIntosh Jr 41:16 And you're put up in hotels-

Scott Duncan 41:18 Yeah

David McIntosh Jr 41:18 ... that kind of stuff as well.

Scott Duncan 41:19 Yeah, which is, like, such a far stretch from where, where I started in the first team. It was just, it was, like, the guy and his wife staying in a camper van.

David McIntosh Jr 41:27 [laughs]

Scott Duncan 41:27 He said they'd provide food for the weekend, and it was just, like, a m- a meal deal sandwich kind of thing. Like, not, not, nothing against that. That, like, you have to start somewhere.

David McIntosh Jr 41:35 You have to earn your stripes.

Scott Duncan 41:35 And it's... Yeah, you have to earn your stripes. Uh, but whereas now you're getting, like, flown around, and you stay in, like, ni- They put you up in nice hotels. Uh, you don't have to share a room, which is the best part for me 'cause I like, I like my own company and my own space. Uh-

David McIntosh Jr 41:48 I thought you'd be, like, top bunk and Max Verstappen would be bottom bunk. [laughs]

Scott Duncan 41:52 [laughs] No, no, he'd be in the bottom.

David McIntosh Jr 41:53 [laughs]

Scott Duncan 41:54 Um, no, the, the hotels are pretty good. Uh, I, I can't have any, no complaints about that. The one in Zandvoort was pretty strange. It says, like, the Zandvoort track's around the outside, and the inside of the track's are Center Parcs.

David McIntosh Jr 42:06 [laughs]

Scott Duncan 42:07 So peop- all, all the Red Bull stay in the Center Parcs, and you're in lodges. So you share with one other person. Uh, I mean, you get your own room, which is all right. But yeah, that's, that was a pretty weird one 'cause obviously everyone's got barbecues and whatever and, uh, yeah, some fun times were had there. [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 42:23 That's cool, man. What about, like, on the job, what does the working week look like? How long are the shifts?

Scott Duncan 42:29 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 42:30 What are you responsible for? What do people not see?

Scott Duncan 42:33 So usually the, the first working day is a Wednesday. So, so we're flying tomorrow. You always fly on a Monday or Tuesday. Uh, Vegas is pretty good 'cause we fly Monday and we get there, like, late Monday night 'cause the time difference. So we'll get the whole of the Monday night off and the whole of the Tuesday. Uh, I don't really know what there is to do in Vegas other than go to a casino. [laughs] I'm sure there's more stuff to do.

David McIntosh Jr 42:53 You could watch The Hangover. [laughs]

Scott Duncan 42:55 [laughs] Yeah. Well, that, that's sort of... That's the only thing I can think, think of.

David McIntosh Jr 42:57 [laughs]

Scott Duncan 42:58 Uh, but yeah, most places you always get your travel day off. You never work the day you travel. So it's quite good. You get, like, a bit of rest. Um, but then from Wednesday to Sunday it's pretty flat out. Um, you'll be starting usually kind of 7:00 or 8:00 in the morning to a minimum of 12 hours, uh, shift. If anything goes wrong or if it's a kind of sprint weekend, it can be longer. Uh, and then come Sunday, uh, that's like the race day, so you've kind of got to the end of it, but you've then got that six-hour pack up after the race. So it's quite a long day, but then they'll usually fly you back on the Monday or Tuesday. So you sometimes get a day off on the Monday as well. So I think it's, it's quite good when... 'Cause we're going to all these cool places, but if you don't really get the time to chill or to explore, you know, and you're not really getting the, the benefit of going to all these countries. So it's good that you get a couple of days off, uh, just to, like, chill out or if you want to go out and do whatever you want, like, you're kind of free to do so.

David McIntosh Jr 43:52 Do you ever have that, like, like what a kind of corporate worker might have on a Sunday, like the Sunday scaries where you're like, "Oh, fuck, man, I have to be in Azerbaijan tomorrow, fuck sake."

Scott Duncan 44:01 Yeah. No, I s-

David McIntosh Jr 44:02 Or-

Scott Duncan 44:02 It's so weird you say that 'cause, oh, when I, when I started-

David McIntosh Jr 44:04 Got half four flight, half four bus.

Scott Duncan 44:06 [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 44:06 Number six to Azerbaijan in the morning. [laughs]

Scott Duncan 44:09 When I, when I first started that graduate job as like an environmental engineer, like I g- I got that of like Sunday night, oh, like I, I'm in the office tomorrow 9:00 to 5:00, and you literally... 'Cause it's 9:00 to 5:00, you've got a set time. You just f- you, you see yourself just looking at the time and it drags. Whereas now, like, you don't... Because you don't really work set hours, you just work until the work's finished, which is a good thing. So for me, it always just flies by. Um, but no, I've, I don't get like the Sunday night scaries anymore 'cause I generally just, like, I love what I do. It sounds so cliché, but, uh, going from what I was doing, and I did have the kind of the fear and I wasn't enjoying it, to this, like it makes a big difference when you actually enjoy it 'cause you want to put more effort in and you want to obviously work at a, at a higher level because, like, what we do can make a difference to the car at the weekend or can make a difference to the championship as well.

David McIntosh Jr 45:01 Are there any... Is there any banter in the paddock or any banter in the garage? Like, you know, as an apprentice, if you're like a car mechanic, there's, like-

Scott Duncan 45:09 Yeah

David McIntosh Jr 45:09 ... little practical jokes like, "Go get some bubbles for a spirit level," or whatever.

Scott Duncan 45:13 Yeah. [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 45:13 Is there any, like, equivalent of that in F1?

Scott Duncan 45:15 Yeah. Yeah, there's definitely some. Uh, some of them I probably can't say. There, there's a lot of banter, like, between the teams as well. Uh, obviously because you travel the world together, like, you just get to know everyone. Uh, I know a lot of the time in F1, if someone leaves a team, there's always a, not that I leave and do, but they'll get probably, like, cable tied up, flour, oil chucked all over them-

David McIntosh Jr 45:36 [laughs]

Scott Duncan 45:36 ... in the paddock. Um, oh, before I've seen it where someone will get, like, cable tied to a, like, a tire trolley. So, like, ca- ca- cable tied to that and, like, taken into the other team, like, covered in oil and whatever. Um, yeah, there's a lot of stuff goes on that it just makes it a bit more easygoing. I think if it was always constantly high-pressure scenario, like, you'd burn out, so it's good to have that, that balance.

David McIntosh Jr 45:58 You were telling me that you guys celebrate quite hard as well. Like, if there's an occasion worth celebrating, you guys won a championship or a race-

Scott Duncan 46:05 Yeah

David McIntosh Jr 46:05 ... there's, like, parties and it's good fun as well.

Scott Duncan 46:09 Yeah. I think most of the teams do. So Red Bull put on their own parties as well, uh, which are pretty good.

David McIntosh Jr 46:15 Can imagine.

Scott Duncan 46:16 Uh, [laughs] yeah. I don't think I can get into that-

David McIntosh Jr 46:18 [laughs]

Scott Duncan 46:19 [laughs] ... on, on a podcast. But, uh, yeah, obviously the, the Red Bull appreciate, or the team appreciates when we put the work in and you reap the rewards of it at the weekend if, if Max wins or whatever. So yeah, they always, they always try and end it on a high, uh, with a, a party, whether it's at the hotel or they'll book a, a bar or a club or something. But yeah, so it's a good way to kind of chill out and, like, uh, relax at the end of it.

David McIntosh Jr 46:45 I'd be... If I was a medic for the F1, specifically for the Red Bull team, I'd be entirely worried about the heart health of all of the-

Scott Duncan 46:53 [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 46:53 ... staff members given-

Scott Duncan 46:54 Smashing Red Bulls every day

David McIntosh Jr 46:55 ... smashing Red Bulls.

Scott Duncan 46:56 [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 46:56 Like, I can imagine there's probably people that go through three or four a day.

Scott Duncan 47:00 Yeah. I think race day is probably the worst 'cause weirdly, like, there's so much adrenaline going, but at the same time everyone's, like, there's a lot of Red Bull in the garage. Don't get me wrong, like,

Scott Duncan 47:10 there's, there's other drinks like water or whatever, but, uh, you do, you do kind of cop in it 'cause, like, Red Bull's everywhere. Like, all over your T-shirts, all over the branding, all over the car. Uh, and also the, the fridges are always full of Red Bull, so you're just feeling inclined to, oh, I'm gonna have a Red Bull.

David McIntosh Jr 47:27 I feel sorry for the other sponsor, Oracle, which are like a cloud-based technology platform. No one's g- like, pure buzzing that-

Scott Duncan 47:32 [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 47:32 ... they're getting, like, unlimited cloud software.

Scott Duncan 47:34 I know, yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 47:34 Everyone's buzzing-

Scott Duncan 47:35 Yeah

David McIntosh Jr 47:35 ... that they've got, like, Red Bull. Uh, that's class, man. The future of F1, where do you see it going? Do you feel like they can might go full AI, like robots in the monocoque, whatever it's called?

Scott Duncan 47:48 Yeah. Th- th- they've started that.

David McIntosh Jr 47:49 [laughs]

Scott Duncan 47:50 D- uh, they, they have started doing AI racing. It's m- it's crazy.

David McIntosh Jr 47:53 That's shite.

Scott Duncan 47:53 You, you need watch it.

David McIntosh Jr 47:54 That is so shite.

Scott Duncan 47:55 It's, uh, it's like F2 cars, but they're... Like, there's no one in it, so it's a robot that's controlling it. Uh, I think they started that last year, and they've started racing around s- some of the circuits.

David McIntosh Jr 48:06 That is the gimpest thing I've ever heard.

Scott Duncan 48:07 [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 48:07 Honestly. That is like-

Scott Duncan 48:09 If, if you thought there was n- uh, dorks or geeks in F1, you should see these guys that are programming the, the AI cars.

David McIntosh Jr 48:16 [laughs]

Scott Duncan 48:16 It's, it's cra- the AI-

David McIntosh Jr 48:17 They have AI girlfriend as well, I can promise [laughs] me.

Scott Duncan 48:19 Yeah. Yeah. I can imagine they would. Don't get me wrong, like, they're of like elite level of intelligence to be doing that kind of stuff. But I can't see AI coming into it yet. Um, the, the n- the next natural progression you'd think would be all go electric. But, I mean, they've already... Formula E, which you've heard of, is already a thing, and it's just not taken-

David McIntosh Jr 48:36 I thought Formula E was like Formula 1 but everyone's on ecstasy

Scott Duncan 48:40 Yeah. Uh, but it, it looks like it when they're going round 'cause they're going just as fast but you can't hear anything, so you'd think, you'd think you on ecstasy watching it-

David McIntosh Jr 48:46 [laughs]

Scott Duncan 48:47 ... 'cause it's like, it's pretty mental. But it's just not taken off. I think the whole point of F1, people enjoy, like, the racing bit. It's the sound-

David McIntosh Jr 48:54 Yeah

Scott Duncan 48:54 ... of the cars going round. Obviously going back to, like, V8 and V10s when it was, like, a completely different level of sound. Uh, that, that's part of it, so I can't see it ever going full electric.

David McIntosh Jr 49:05 You ever, uh, got protesters outside?

Scott Duncan 49:08 Uh, we've not. So a couple years ago at Silverstone, you've probably seen, there was one where the, uh, Just Stop Oil protesters ran out in the track. Uh, that was pretty crazy. Uh, obviously they were protesting the fact that F- F1 is the most uneconomical or unenvironmental sport there is, so they, they ran out. Apart from that, I've not seen an awful lot. Uh, people seem to be quite content with the fact that, like, it's good to watch, and not as, as interested in the environmental side of things.

David McIntosh Jr 49:39 Well, I've, I've really enjoyed this conversation. There's been loads of jokes and-

Scott Duncan 49:42 [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 49:42 ... silliness thrown in. But one thing I really appreciate is that, like I said, like, a lot of boy... Well, y- young men, boys specifically, I remember specifically me, like, growing up watching F1, feeling that these, these races, these environments are a million miles away. And the fact that you, we grew up in the same town in Ayr-

Scott Duncan 49:58 Yeah

David McIntosh Jr 49:59 ... and you've gone on to have an amazing career shaped by your own agency and your own work. Like, you, you went out your way to make this stuff happen. I think it's a really inspiring message. Um, you're working for the most elite race team at the moment. We've got Max-

Scott Duncan 50:16 [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 50:16 ... absolutely crushing it.

Scott Duncan 50:17 Yeah.

David McIntosh Jr 50:17 And you, you're part of that success. I think it's hugely admirable. You should be very proud of yourself.

Scott Duncan 50:21 Thanks.

David McIntosh Jr 50:21 If you were to give a piece of advice or maybe even give a roadmap to someone who either wants to get into, uh, F1 as a career choice, or maybe just more broadly is sitting in the metaphorical Barcelona beach not knowing what they're gonna do with their life-

Scott Duncan 50:39 Yeah

David McIntosh Jr 50:39 ... do you have any advice for someone like that? To end on a positive-

Scott Duncan 50:43 [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 50:43 ... motivating self-development high.

Scott Duncan 50:45 Yeah. Although I've-

David McIntosh Jr 50:45 We can talk about monocoques for the last couple minutes.

Scott Duncan 50:47 [laughs] As I said, I, I've got massive imposter syndrome, so I feel as though I'm not in the position to do that. But in my personal experience of what I've done, I think the thing that worked well for me is I just, I didn't stop. I didn't not do anything, which sounds ridiculous. But, uh, 'cause you c- came out straight from school and got the graduate job, went to university, went to Barcelona. I was always doing something, and I, I found it was always easier to find out what you don't want to do rather than find out that one thing you did want to do. Uh, I think for a lot of people, they don't know exactly what they want to do. So in that scenario, do something. Find out what you don't want to do first, then narrow it down. I think as soon as I found out, or in my head decided this is what I wanted to do, I f- found it so much easier to be able to map out how to get there, uh, and can just follow the process from there. It was, it was a lot harder when I didn't know what I wanted to do. I was kind of just trying certain things or, like, telling myself that I was looking for a job when really I was just trying to get a bit of time to figure out what I wanted to do. So yeah, do something rather than nothing to find out what you want to do. Uh, this was, in my scenario of getting into F1, it was just completely about, like, overcommitting. Uh, so you need to commit to doing the extra time, going, volunteering with a team as well as doing the, the education or the, the qualifications. Uh, if you overcommit and show that you're willing to drive down seven hours for a weekend, volunteer for a team, uh, so it, it goes far. And it's those connections that I got then that kind of got me into McLaren, and it just snowballed from there. So yeah, I'd say that's probably the best way to go about it, in my opinion. There's no, there's no right or wrong, but...

David McIntosh Jr 52:31 Thanks, Scott, for coming on the podcast. If you're listening to this, this is Scott's first ever podcast. He did a fucking amazing job.

Scott Duncan 52:35 [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 52:35 So big up Scott.

Scott Duncan 52:36 My hands are shaking. [laughs]

David McIntosh Jr 52:38 [laughs] Thanks for coming on. Uh, and good luck for Vegas.

Scott Duncan 52:41 No, cheers. Appreciate it. And it's good to meet you as well.