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Bring a little optimism into your life with The Bright Side, a new kind of daily podcast from Hello Sunshine, hosted by me, Danielle Robay.
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And me, Simone Boyce.
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Every weekday, we re bringing you conversations about culture, the latest trends, inspiration, and so much more.
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I am so excited about this podcast, The Bright Side.
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You guys are giving people a chance to shine a light on their lives, shine a light on a little advice that they want to share.
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Listen to The Bright Side on America s number one podcast network, iHeart.
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Open your free iHeart app and search The Bright Side.
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Hey, everyone, this is Molly and Matt, and we re the hosts of Grown Up Stuff How to Adult, a podcast from Ruby Studio and iHeart Podcasts.
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It s a show dedicated to helping you figure out the trickiest parts of adulting.
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like how to start planning for retirement, creating a healthy skincare routine, understanding when and how much to tip someone, and so much more.
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Let s learn about all of it and then some.
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Listen to Grown Up Stuff How to Adult on America s number one podcast network, iHeart.
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Open your free iHeart app and search Grown Up Stuff.
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This is the story of how a group of people brought music back to Afghanistan by creating their own version of American Idol.
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The joy they brought to the nation.
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You re free completely.
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No one is there to destroy you.
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The danger they endured.
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They said my head should be cut off.
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I m John Legend.
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Listen to Afghan Star on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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My dad never let me cry as a kid.
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He said, there s a sign of weakness.
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Don t let me ever see you shed a tear.
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So I remember just holding back.
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Through those difficult times as a kid, holding back most of that stuff.
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In 2020, I cried.
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I hadn t cried for at least, I think, at least 10 years, maybe more.
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So I remember kind of being on my knees thinking, what is happening in the world?
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I ve got to be outspoken.
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I ve got to take that chance.
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Because if I don t do it, then no one s going to do it.
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I don t care if my partners want to drop me, because I don t want to be associated with this narrative.
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Hey everyone, welcome back to On Purpose, the number one health podcast in the world.
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Thanks to each and every one of you that come back every week to listen, learn, and grow.
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Now I know that our community is dedicated to living happier, healthier, and more healed lives.
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And I am so excited to be talking to you today.
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I can t believe it.
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My new book, Eight Rules of Love, is out, and I cannot wait to share it with you.
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I am so, so excited for you to read this book, for you to listen to this book.
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I read the audiobook.
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If you haven t got it already, make sure you go to eightrulesoflove.com.
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It s dedicated to anyone who s trying to find, keep, or let go of love.
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So if you ve got friends that are dating, broken up, or struggling with love, make sure you grab this book.
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And I d love to invite you to come and see me for my global tour, Love Rules.
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Go to jscheddytour.com to learn more information about tickets, VIP experiences, and more.
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I can t wait to see you this year.
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And I love sitting down with people who are dedicated to their own happiness, their own health, their own healing, and doing that for the world through their work.
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And I have to be honest, it s not every day that you get to sit down with someone you admire, you re inspired by, you look up to, and someone who is truly the definition of the word GOAT.
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I m talking about the one and only Sir Lewis Hamilton, seven-time Formula One world champion, someone with over 100 race wins, considered the most successful F1 driver of all time.
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And Lewis s willingness to embrace what makes him different has defined his values and outlook on life.
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And in 2014, those values saw him win BBC s Sports Personality of the Year, followed two years later by a position in Time magazine s 100 Most Influential People list.
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Lewis received both accolades for a second time in 2020, in a year that saw him become a leading voice in the global fight for racial equality.
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In doing so, he was recognized as British GQ s Game Changer of the Year and PowerList s Most Influential Black Person in the UK.
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And further to this, Lewis won the 2020 Laureus Sportsman of the Year Award and most notably was formally recognized with a knighthood in 2020 New Year s Honours for his outstanding achievements and contribution to motorsports,
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on the track and off the track.
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Lewis is also a passionate activist for so many underrepresented groups and communities.
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His Mission 44 is doing incredible work.
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Please welcome to On Purpose, Lewis Hamilton.
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Lewis, thank you for being here.
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Thank you so much for having me.
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No, this honestly is a special one for me.
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It s been one of those ones that, you know, when I first launched the podcast, there were a few names that I wanted to sit down with and you were one of those names.
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So for me, it s a very special moment.
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And for this to be your first ever podcast, which you just told me, I didn t even know.
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And you literally told me this like 10 minutes ago.
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And in my head, I m thinking, wow, thank
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I am so grateful to have that honor, honestly.
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The honor s mine.
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I m really so grateful for everything you do.
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And so I ve been following and listening to you and you sent me the book a long time ago already.
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So I really appreciate everything you re doing today.
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Oh, well, thank you, man.
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Thank you.
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And I m excited to unpack your journey because as we said, because it s your first podcast, people have heard parts of you.
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but we don t really understand the depth and the texture of Lewis Hamilton.
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And so I guess I want to start in a different place and we ll kind of go through on this journey.
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I wanted to ask you, what do you feel is the hardest thing you ve had to do in order to be who you are today?
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I think continuing to have the belief in myself and not letting that veer off since I was young, since I ve been told from my teachers that I would never amount to nothing, the bullying or the things that you face, the adversity you face, the discrimination, and just continue to keep your head up, continue to
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to march on ahead towards your dream and never lose insight in that.
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I think that s definitely for sure the most difficult thing is keeping your goal and your eyes set on that and not being distracted, not giving up.
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I think the easiest thing in life is to give up on whatever you re focused on or whatever you re hopeful for.
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The hardest thing is to keep going, but we have to.
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We have to continue to hold on
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And I would imagine for so many people out there, that is probably the most difficult thing.
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Yeah, I think that s a great answer because I think people look at you and they assume that you never have to make that choice, right?
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They see someone in your position, someone who s achieved what you ve achieved and the assumption can be, oh yeah, but he s the greatest.
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He was just always that way and he doesn t have to make that choice every day.
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But as you said, since the beginning of your life, whether it s childhood, whether it s breaking into a sport that wasn t set up for you,
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There have been so many moments.
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Let s go back to school.
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Let s talk about some of that more in depth, because I feel like a lot of people struggle at school, but you kind of went through a lot of altercations and adversities at that time.
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What were some of the things you were hearing, some of the bullying, some of the racism, the experiences that you had that felt limiting or made it feel like it was easier to give up?
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I think for me, I mean, school was the most, probably the most traumatizing and most difficult part of my life.
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I already was being bullied at the age of six.
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I think at the time that particular school, I was probably one of three kids of color and just bigger, stronger, bullying kids were throwing me around a lot of the time.
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I was always the last picked in the, you know, when you re standing in the playground and you re in the line of when they re picking teams for football, I was always the last one chosen or not even chosen, even if I was better than somebody else.
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the constant jabs, the things that are either thrown at you like bananas or people that would use the M word, just so relaxed.
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People calling you half-caste and, you know, just really not knowing where you fit in.
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That for me was difficult.
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When you then go into like history class and everything you learn in history, there are no people of color in the history that they were teaching us.
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So I was thinking, oh, well, where are the people that look like me?
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And I mean, in my school, there was only around, I think there was around seven, maybe six, seven black kids out of 1,200 kids.
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And three of us were put outside the headmaster s office all the time.
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The headmaster just had it out for us, and particularly for me, I would say.
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So like just juggling all these different emotions that you re feeling.
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Plus I struggled at school.
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I didn t find out till I was 16 that I was dyslexic.
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Fortunately I came across a teacher that was actually caring and took me down that road and helped me discover a little bit more about myself.
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how I can better myself through education.
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But I think that for me was, that was tough.
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Also, because I was racing every weekend, I would leave on a Thursday night, we would travel, you know, pack up the motorhome, we would travel around the country to race.
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race on the weekends.
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And no one else knew, when I d go back to school, all the kids have done normal things on the weekend.
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And I ll come back and say I was racing and people would be like, oh, I ve done that before.
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You know, like at the theme park or something.
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But no one really knew what my goal was and could really, they thought maybe it was a joke.
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You miss a lot of that social interaction also.
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I was put in all the lowest sets at school and told that if you do well you can progress and they never ever let me progress no matter how hard I tried.
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Um, so I really felt that the system was really up against me and I was kind of swimming against the tide, but I m so grateful for that, that journey because that s what built me to the person that I am today.
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But there were a lot of things that I suppressed because I, I couldn t go home and say, Hey, to my, I didn t feel like I could go home and talk to my parents that, you know, these kids kept calling me the M word today.
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I got bullied, I got beaten up at school today.
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I wasn t able to defend myself.
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I didn t want my dad to think I was not strong.
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And so if I had tears, I would hold them back.
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If I had emotions, it would be in a quiet place.
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And it wasn t really till I started racing that I was able to channel this emotion that I had into my driving.
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And it s like when I put this helmet on,
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Superman was my favorite.
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I loved how he fought for the people and I loved how he did the right things and he was a really inspiring character for me.
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But again, no superhero was of color so, you know, but you can still aspire to be someone if they don t look like you, you know.
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And so I remember going to karate, I remember putting this helmet on in racing and it felt like it was my cloak, you know.
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that my superpowers could come out when I was driving and I was battling with these kids and I was doing able to do things that they seemed to not be able to do as well.
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And that was my love.
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Wow.
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Yeah.
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I mean, it s my, mine was opposite.
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I was bullied a lot at school as well.
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I was one of five people of color in my primary school and
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I was also overweight and so I was bullied for that.
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And obviously, you know, my parents are from Indian backgrounds.
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And so they d gone through it much worse than I did when, when they d moved to England.
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But the difference was that I would go cry to my mom and then my mom would come try and save the day in school.
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And that was the worst.
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That was so embarrassing.
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Like your mom s,
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telling the teacher what happened, and then I m like, oh no mum, don t do this.
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And then it s even more embarrassing because the kids pick on you going, oh mum came to save you.
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Oh yeah, yeah, mum is right.
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Yeah, mum is right.
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So that was my version of it.
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I wasn t scared of crying to my mum, but then it had different things.
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But yeah, that s so hard as a kid.
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when you re going through that and you re trying to find yourself, you re trying to figure out what confidence is, you don t even know what that means, you feel like not going to school, but then even though you re saying you found it in racing, I mean racing was similar because you were working class, you re still to this day
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the only working class black driver to do as successfully as you have.
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So not only do you have it at school, you also have it in your passion, like in the thing that is your cloak, is your Superman.
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So how does it feel when you re also dealing with it in that area where you ve discovered what your passion or your interest is at that age?
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What does it feel like when you re getting in that space?
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It s inescapable.
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You know, you use that as an escape, but then you re confronted with it also.
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And so I was just grateful that I had this amazing figure in my dad.
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You know, I got one of my best friends, like his dad was never there.
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I know there s not many people that have separated parents and being shared between parents is not an easy thing.
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You know, some days with your mom and some days with your dad.
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My mom was the soft, loving parent.
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That s where I really, I feel like I learned a lot of compassion and empathy.
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That s where I feel like I get it from her.
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My dad was like that strong, like kind of stronger rock.
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And also just someone that looked like me on, and just, he would say, do your talking on the track.
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Don t be distracted by it.
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Don t listen to what they re saying.
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Do your driving on the track and show, let s just be quiet and walk away as winners, you know.
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So, but, you know, again, like your parents, my parents went through, well, particularly my dad was someone that also faced adversity through his life.
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And he s like, I want to do everything in my power to create a better life for my kid so that they don t feel or experience the things that I ve encountered through my journey.
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And so, but I think for me, it was also difficult having biracial, you know, I m biracial, so having a white mother, for example, and a black dad,
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I knew my dad would understand the racial slurs that are thrown at me.
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My mom couldn t understand it.
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So I couldn t really speak to my mom about it.
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She was loving, but she had never been educated within it.
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She didn t know anything about black history and slavery.
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And so it was a very difficult, but I had love there, which was the most important thing.
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But in the racing, it was like, you know, like kids, you just want to enjoy yourself.
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You want to be included.
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And you know, when you re kind of outcast a little bit,
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It s, um, it s difficult for kids, you know?
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And so that s why today, like I m like, if I m posting something, I hope that when I do click that button, I hope that it is the positive wave for some of the kids out there that are being distracted by all this stuff that s going on around the world.
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Yeah.
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I mean, I was, I was telling you earlier, I was so grateful.
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Came out to watch you in Austin a couple of weeks ago and got to meet your dad.
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And I d heard you talk about your dad in that way before.
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And so when I met him, I was, it was, I was just, you know, it was nice to share that with him.
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And I was just saying how beautiful it is to see your relationship and how it s evolved.
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It s always been that way.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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That s what I thought.
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Yeah.
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How, yeah.
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Walk us through whatever you feel.
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My dad has been like the leader in getting me, you know, he had four jobs at one stage just to keep us go-karting.
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Because when we all started go-karting, most of the people were, majority of the people were from working class families.
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So, but then there are, of course, a few wealthier kids that have slightly better access to equipment and mechanics and all those sorts of things.
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And my dad was my mechanic.
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So it was just me and him on the road and my step-mom Linda, she would be there supporting, making sure that we re fully clothed, making sure that we ve eaten and we re hydrated, all those sorts of things for the weekend, preparing my kit.
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So it was very much a family outing.
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It was a family kind of
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Family weekend, we did it as a family.
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We d travel together.
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My little brother would be on the road with us as well, who s a mega inspiration.
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You ve definitely got to speak to him one day.
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Born with cerebral palsy when I was seven and is a speaker today.
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So he s, and racing, he s done, he s defined all the odds and even though he s seven years younger than me, still very much an inspiration.
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The thing with my dad was, he was my manager all the way till I was like 20.
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We got to Form 1 and he worked so hard.
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His work ethic for me was, that was inspiring for me seeing how hard he worked, the time he gets up in the morning, the little sleep that he would have.
1
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of his day in the garage working on the go-kart, preparing for the weekend, packing up the truck and getting us to where we are, mechanicing, learning to be a better mechanic and still weighing all these different things.
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It was quite phenomenal to see.
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But I think it was difficult for him to then show me love.
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Sometimes you just want a hug from your dad, you know, or when you re facing these things you want to be able to be embraced.
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When I think I got to, when I was 22, 23, it got really intense when I got to form one, because all of a sudden you re thrown into, you go through carting and cars.
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You don t go to school to learn to speak to the media.
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You re literally thrown into the pit.
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And at the time I didn t have management other than my dad.
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My stepmom would book flights and trips, but I didn t have PR.
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I didn t have anybody to help protect me or prepare me for things.
1
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driving, I was good, I would say, but in these things is where a lot of mistakes happened.
1
SPEAKER_00
You ve got the, the kind of all the media attention and you have to, so you re just learning on the go, which is very difficult for a youngster, I think.
1
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Yeah, absolutely.
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And, and also I just, you wanted to try and live some sort of normal, normal life, but nothing s normal for you at the time.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I think for me and my dad, we just were really bumping heads at one stage.
1
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It s like, I really just want you to be my dad so we can, let s go and have fun.
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Let s go and have a laugh.
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But we hadn t had that for a long, long time.
1
SPEAKER_00
And so eventually I decided to part ways from my dad and I was like, I m going to start making some of the decisions for myself and the mistakes that I m going to need to make.
1
SPEAKER_00
And there was definitely a period of time where we spoke less.
1
SPEAKER_00
But we both have worked so hard to come back together.
1
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And we have one of the greatest, you know, he s the first person I want to call when I finish a race.
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Because I know he knows what it s like.
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He was there from day one.
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And so, you know, he s been to the last two races with me.
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He s probably going to come to the next one.
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There s days where I do feel
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like I m not enough.
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There s days where I don t feel like I m good enough.
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And people will be like, yeah, but you ve won seven world titles.
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I m like, yeah, but still there s days where I question, no, you still got it.
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You still, can you still be the best?
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Yes, you can.
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And so I have to just always, I m having that conversation with myself often, but my dad s also there.
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Sometimes I ll say something that s maybe not the most positive and he ll be the one there just reaffirming, no, you ve got this, believe in yourself.
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And it s so important for people to have people like that around them.
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And I support myself, I surround myself with other positive people as well.
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And we continue, I think it s all our job to lift every, as many, you know, everyone up.
2
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Right.
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I want everyone around me to win and, um, and to become the best versions of themselves.
2
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So no, thank you for sharing that as well.
2
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Thank you for opening up about that because yeah, I think the relationships we have with our parents are just,
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so significant when it comes to achievement and success.
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And when you start doing sport at your level, even at an early age, wins and losses starts becoming so important.
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So win and loss is important in everyone s life in the sense that everyone has it in exams and school and things like that, which we ll talk about in a second as well.
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SPEAKER_01
But for you, you re having it
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in a very overt way, like you have one, two, three, and then you have everyone else.
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And how have you kind of worked with that since you were young?
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Because I can imagine that your psychology can become very much like, if you win, things are great.
2
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If you lose, things are bad.
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How have you kind of processed that as time s gone on?
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And was there a time when it was unhealthy and difficult and has it got better or is it something you re always working on?
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SPEAKER_00
So on one side of things, you know, I struggled at that school as I said, so the teachers would write these reports that I was not focused or I wasn t doing well and I remember the fear of that report every year and I d try so hard to do well and then these teachers
2
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I don t know if teachers out there realize when they write those reports, what s happening back at home, whether you have an abusive household or, you know, the stress of that was difficult.
2
SPEAKER_00
I feel in racing, if I could win, I could see a smile on my dad s face and it was really
2
SPEAKER_00
Like, okay, if I do well at this, I know that I ll be accepted, you know, but I got to work double hard to be, I ve got to always be first.
2
SPEAKER_00
I always laugh about the whole, if you re not first, you re last.
2
SPEAKER_00
Cause I m literally, whilst that s obviously, I ve not been first my whole life.
2
SPEAKER_00
First was everything.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah in order to be accepted in order to fit in and maybe to be appreciated Not only in within my relationship perhaps with my dad, but then also around my friends
2
SPEAKER_00
And it wasn t until I got older I realized it s about the bigger picture.
2
SPEAKER_00
But when you have success, it s so short-lived.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s like, it really is really short-lived.
2
SPEAKER_00
You win a race, then you go back home and you have big, as a racing driver, you know, the weekend is so intense, you ve seen it.
2
SPEAKER_00
There s so much energy, so much, it s really, really a stressful environment for everyone that s working within it.
2
SPEAKER_00
Then you go home and there s a huge come down, like one or two days later, and you re trying to balance those emotions, that emotional roller coaster.
2
SPEAKER_00
And learning to kind of channel that and figure out ways to keep it balanced with your routine and those sorts of things has been really key for me.
2
SPEAKER_00
But I think during the last couple, last few years, really understanding that it s about the bigger picture.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m fighting for something far greater than winning a race.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m really fighting for
2
SPEAKER_00
change in the world.
2
SPEAKER_00
We re more divided than ever, I would say.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s devastating.
2
SPEAKER_00
I can t watch the news.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s devastating.
2
SPEAKER_00
There s just so much happening.
2
SPEAKER_00
But there are so many great people out there that are doing really great things, and I want to be a part of that.
2
SPEAKER_00
inspirational energy bubble that people like yourselves are a part of.
2
SPEAKER_00
Because we need to create a brighter future.
2
SPEAKER_00
We need to create better future leaders.
2
SPEAKER_00
Look how bad our leaders are that are in government.
2
SPEAKER_00
We need to be inspired in the next generation of thought leaders that are positive.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, so that s what I m trying to be a part of every day.
2
SPEAKER_00
So I m really trying to focus on my intentions as you were talking about, like setting your intentions each day.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m trying to learn new tools that I didn t have when I was a kid.
2
SPEAKER_00
I didn t know about yoga, I didn t know about meditation.
2
SPEAKER_00
I didn t have podcasts to listen to, good people to listen to and aspire to kind of help me put on the right path.
2
SPEAKER_00
So yeah, we ve got a lot of work to do and there s almost not enough time here on this planet, right?
2
SPEAKER_00
We re here for such a short time really in the scale of the universe.
2
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This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp.
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when we first connected, that was one of the biggest reasons for me that I saw you using your platform for a bigger purpose.
2
SPEAKER_01
I was like, oh, that s fascinating.
2
SPEAKER_01
Like, that s so interesting to me because that s a choice too.
2
SPEAKER_01
I think today we kind of assume that if someone has a platform or if someone s, you know, number one in their field or if someone s got followers that they should talk about stuff.
2
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We kind of assume that anyone who has followers should talk about stuff.
2
SPEAKER_01
First of all, I don t think that s the case.
2
SPEAKER_01
I think a lot of people choose not to.
2
SPEAKER_01
But you were someone that stood out to me massively, where I was just like, wow, this person s really not just winning on the track, but is thinking about how winning on the track transfers to what you can do off the track because of the influence, because of your network, because of your impact.
2
SPEAKER_01
And I find that to be really the missing link for so many people because
2
SPEAKER_01
I always say that your purpose is something not just that makes you happy, it s when you use what makes you happy to serve other people, like when you use it to impact other people s lives.
2
SPEAKER_01
When did that drop for you?
2
SPEAKER_01
Like when did that click for you?
2
SPEAKER_01
Like were you ever,
2
SPEAKER_01
I guess what i m trying to say is there s a transition when you re saying that well you know winning like maybe get the nod from my dad and obviously i was bullied and then i m winning but then i m number one at something like was there a point at which number one didn t satisfy you or was there a point at which the success that came from it or or you didn t actually have to get dissatisfied.
3
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satisfied, you just found that there was a better way to be successful.
3
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Does that make sense?
3
SPEAKER_00
The part that was striking when you re just saying that for me, it was like, I feel like we often live in fear of what people think.
3
SPEAKER_00
How are you going to be judged?
3
SPEAKER_00
How are you going to be received?
3
SPEAKER_00
If you re free outspoken, you re going to lose your job.
3
SPEAKER_00
You re going to be fired.
3
SPEAKER_00
I ve always been
3
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an outspoken person.
3
SPEAKER_00
I think that s just been a quality.
3
SPEAKER_00
I ve never been a follower.
3
SPEAKER_00
I don t like to conform to how people expect, what people expect from you.
3
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As I said, I was having a success and I was like, okay, now I m on the, I m at the top.
3
SPEAKER_00
What can I do with it?
3
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_00
And there are so many causes.
3
SPEAKER_00
There s so many problems out there and there s so many amazing causes.
3
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And which one, you know, there s only one of you.
3
SPEAKER_00
So like, what, where do you put the focus?
3
SPEAKER_00
And that s take, it took a long, long time to really find what that was for me.
3
SPEAKER_00
I think for me, education was something that I felt extremely passionate about because I,
3
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I d been out to India, I d been out into some of the really poorest places like Manila and seen young kids who are like us but begging for food and not having the same opportunities and for me that was, that broke my heart.
3
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and realize how privileged we are and how fortunate we are.
3
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I was like, I want to be working with people out there that are trying to create more, you know, there s over a hundred million kids that don t have access to school or education.
3
SPEAKER_00
So how can I get involved in that?
3
SPEAKER_00
So align yourself with people that do.
3
SPEAKER_00
But I think I was, I was winning and it was giving me that tip of happiness, but then I would kind of drop back down to normality and there was something missing.
3
SPEAKER_00
And it was that purpose really, or understanding what that purpose is and understanding what, why you ve been put here, why you ve been given the platform that you ve, that you ve been given.
3
SPEAKER_00
Why were the only, you know, only people of color this whole time through it all.
3
SPEAKER_00
And,
3
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When I started speaking about diversity, people were like, oh, you want to get more people of color in as racing drivers.
3
SPEAKER_00
There s only 20 of us.
3
SPEAKER_00
So as I know, there s 40,000, 40,000, 50,000 jobs.
3
SPEAKER_00
There s thousands of engineering jobs in the background, and there s such a lack of diversity coming through.
3
SPEAKER_00
I want to be a part of shifting that narrative and shifting that conversation and having people be, question themselves and have those difficult conversations with people.
3
SPEAKER_00
So I first, I just started by having those difficult conversations with my boss.
3
SPEAKER_00
And one of the things he brings up that he said that hit him hard, I said, have you ever thought of as a white person walking into the paddock, into the race weekend paddock and being the only white person there?
3
SPEAKER_00
He s like,
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He s like, I hadn t even thought of that.
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And I said, well, that s what it s like for someone like me.
3
SPEAKER_00
When I m in the room, you noticed, you noticed that out of 50 people in a meeting, you re the only person, the black person there.
3
SPEAKER_00
And it s not because we are less, it s because there are these barriers within society through education that are limiting people to be the best they can be.
3
SPEAKER_00
So my job is to be empowering and improving representation.
3
SPEAKER_00
I m really, really passionate like black equity as well.
3
SPEAKER_00
So that s why I got involved with the Denver Broncos.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_00
And usually when I m in conversation with sponsors or companies, I m like, Hey, so what, how diverse is your team?
3
SPEAKER_00
What are you doing about diversity inclusion?
3
SPEAKER_00
How are you creating a better work workspace for people?
3
SPEAKER_00
That s what I want to be a part of.
3
SPEAKER_00
I, the success can come later and that s, that ll be along the way.
3
SPEAKER_00
But if you re not,
3
SPEAKER_00
asking those questions or you re not tackling those issues, then we re not aligned.
3
SPEAKER_00
And so all of them, pretty much every partner that we have, we have a lot of partners within our team, I ve asked these really difficult questions and they re like, Oh, you know what?
3
SPEAKER_00
But we can do more.
3
SPEAKER_00
I m like, well, let s do it.
3
SPEAKER_00
You know?
3
SPEAKER_00
So I think I ve grown very close with my, like Mercedes Benz and Daimler.
3
SPEAKER_00
They ve,
3
SPEAKER_00
been so open that we changed the car from silver to black in 2020.
3
SPEAKER_00
And as again, I said to them, like the car has been silver forever.
3
SPEAKER_00
It s always been silver arrows.
3
SPEAKER_00
And I was like, imagine if we changed the car to black, what that could, you know, us turning up and arriving is how you show up.
3
SPEAKER_00
And it s how, you know, imagine the message we can send.
3
SPEAKER_00
And we had the black car for the whole year and we didn t even really talk much about it.
3
SPEAKER_00
We just let it be and we won with it.
3
SPEAKER_00
And that s when I won my seventh world title with that car.
3
SPEAKER_02
So that s beautiful.
3
SPEAKER_02
That must ve felt special.
3
SPEAKER_00
It was honestly my whole life flashed by, that last lap in Turkey, my whole life, like all the struggles, questioning whether you were going to make it or not, just all those doubts, all those fears kind of flashed by me, you know, through my eyes and came across the line.
3
SPEAKER_00
And I was like, I did it.
3
SPEAKER_00
And I want the kids out there to know that you can do it too.
3
SPEAKER_00
You know?
3
SPEAKER_00
So that s what I try and like every day, just try to be encouraging of kids.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_02
Do you, do you sometimes feel that we were talking about this a bit earlier that
3
SPEAKER_02
You know in other sports we get to see the emotions and the expressions of players that we love or you know anyone who s on the court or the field or the pitch whereas with you because we don t get to see that in your eyes in your last lap like that we can only hear it today which is why i m so grateful to have this moment because
3
SPEAKER_02
I obviously, whenever I m sitting down with someone who s a high performer like you, it s obvious that there s so much emotion and preparation and power, but with racing specifically, you just don t get to see that.
3
SPEAKER_02
Do you sometimes feel that the only people that can truly relate to you are the people you compete with?
3
SPEAKER_02
Because I feel like it s, like you said, there s only 20 of you that are racing anyway.
3
SPEAKER_02
It s lonely anyway.
3
SPEAKER_02
99% of people in the world have no idea what it feels like to drive a car as fast as you do in the way you do in any comparison.
3
SPEAKER_02
Do you sometimes feel that the only people you can relate to are the people that are racing against you and then do you kind of feel, is there a loneliness in that experience or is that kind of like a power in that as well?
3
SPEAKER_00
definitely the other drivers, I do feel that there s more, we have a lot more in common than we think, but we re so competitive.
3
SPEAKER_00
And a lot of us have our defense, like you want to beat the guy, but then you like the guy, you might like the person outside the car, but you can t show that.
3
SPEAKER_00
Like there s this whole,
3
SPEAKER_00
psychological battle you re having with yourself and getting away with yourself a lot of the time.
3
SPEAKER_00
So I really feel like as an older driver, I m trying to be more like reaching out to youngsters and, um, because they re the future, you know?
3
SPEAKER_00
Um, and I m excited to see some of these younger drivers that are coming through are so, so talented.
3
SPEAKER_00
I don t know if they ve got the best structure around them.
3
SPEAKER_00
Like I may not, like I didn t necessarily have the ultimate structure that I perhaps have now.
3
SPEAKER_00
So just try to be a kind of a positive light to them.
3
SPEAKER_00
But naturally none of them are black and none of them have necessarily faced the same as me, but they ve faced their own challenges and things about respecting that within everybody.
3
SPEAKER_00
And I ve tried to be, create allies necessarily, like in having the difficult conversations with some of them.
3
SPEAKER_00
I mean, I m so grateful for, I ve had a couple of them that really took the knee with me in 2020.
3
SPEAKER_00
Just on that, you know, my dad was, going back to how my dad, my dad like never let me cry as a kid.
3
SPEAKER_00
He said, there s a sign of weakness.
3
SPEAKER_00
Like, don t let me ever see you shed a tear.
3
SPEAKER_00
So I remember just holding back through those difficult times as a kid, holding back most of that stuff in 2020, I cried.
3
SPEAKER_00
I hadn t cried for at least, I think at least 10 years, maybe more.
3
SPEAKER_00
It was, there was a lot of bottled up stuff that came up that I had not realized that
3
SPEAKER_00
I didn t even know about suppressing a pain or a feeling.
3
SPEAKER_00
So I remember kind of being on my knees thinking, you know, what is happening in the world?
3
SPEAKER_00
I ve got to, I ve got to be outspoken.
3
SPEAKER_00
I ve got to take that chance because if I don t do it, then no one s going to do it.
3
SPEAKER_00
If I don t, if I don t take the knee, if I don t let people like me know that I care and I hear you and I m with you and I m going to do something about it, I m going to risk it all.
3
SPEAKER_00
I don t care if my partners want to drop me because I don t want to be associated with this narrative.
3
SPEAKER_00
I don t, I m like, and I literally let go of all the fear and that s why I went, came so forward with it.
3
SPEAKER_00
And I know it s not easy for everyone to do that, but I just want to really try to encourage people out there to be themselves, to speak out if they ve got a problem.
3
SPEAKER_00
If they re seeing something within the working environment or experiencing something, you ve got to be outspoken about it.
3
SPEAKER_00
And there s a right way to do it.
3
SPEAKER_00
The first day I was going to take the knee, I remember I didn t feel like I could tell my team.
3
SPEAKER_00
I felt that they wouldn t understand how important it is for me to do this this day.
3
SPEAKER_00
So I remember I had my Black Lives Matter shirt hidden and I just wore it out there and I went ahead with it.
3
SPEAKER_02
So no one knew?
3
SPEAKER_00
No one knew.
3
SPEAKER_00
Wow.
3
SPEAKER_00
But everyone, uh, the sport had built, had made all these t-shirts like, um, we race as one slogan.
3
SPEAKER_00
And they gave these t-shirts to all the, to everybody.
3
SPEAKER_00
I was like, I m not wearing that.
3
SPEAKER_00
That s not what this is about.
3
SPEAKER_00
And so this is what I m doing.
3
SPEAKER_02
And this was around George Floyd, right?
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_00
And afterwards my team were like, well, why didn t you, if you just told us we could have prepared better.
3
SPEAKER_00
But I had this fear that there would
4
SPEAKER_03
try and stop me perhaps.
4
SPEAKER_03
But that was just a fear.
4
SPEAKER_03
They ve been massively supportive through the whole thing.
4
SPEAKER_03
My hope was that kids would be watching me like, what is that?
4
SPEAKER_03
Why is he taking a knee?
4
SPEAKER_03
What does that shirt mean?
4
SPEAKER_03
What is going on, dad, mom?
4
SPEAKER_03
And then the parents being in an awkward position having to explain it maybe.
4
SPEAKER_03
But I think what was really encouraging for me, I think,
4
SPEAKER_03
When we started really getting into the whole diversity inclusion, we did the research, there was only 3% out of 2,000 people in the team is 3% diversity.
4
SPEAKER_03
So since then, we ve been on this mission.
4
SPEAKER_03
The team have started new projects.
4
SPEAKER_03
We ve discovered that the sport generally hires from one group of universities, which is not diverse.
4
SPEAKER_03
And if there are any young black students that go there, they re twice as unlikely to be hired when they come out compared to their counterparts.
4
SPEAKER_03
and also paid less.
4
SPEAKER_03
So there s all these things that perhaps people didn t know.
4
SPEAKER_03
That s the Hamilton Commission, right?
4
SPEAKER_03
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_03
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_03
And that just was interesting to experience that now.
4
SPEAKER_03
Now we re working on like a diversity charter that all the teams have to be a part of.
4
SPEAKER_03
And it s not mine.
4
SPEAKER_03
It s for the sport and it s to encourage those teams because there s still not any diversity within, you know, if you look at Ferrari, they don t have hardly any.
4
SPEAKER_03
There s most teams don t.
4
SPEAKER_03
But when I go back to my team, to the factory, normally in our marketing department, wasn t very diverse initially.
4
SPEAKER_03
And I walked in after the pandemic and I started seeing such a more diverse group of people.
4
SPEAKER_03
I was really quite emotional because I was like, Oh my God, I m starting to see change.
4
SPEAKER_03
But you don t see that on TV.
4
SPEAKER_03
So when I talked to the bosses of the sport, I m like, Hey, you know, there s all white men facing and me facing the camera at the start of the race.
4
SPEAKER_03
Where are the women?
4
SPEAKER_03
Where are the people of color?
4
SPEAKER_03
We ve got to be showing so the young kids are watching and they re like, oh, there s a place for me there.
4
SPEAKER_03
I can be there.
4
SPEAKER_03
I can be an engineer.
4
SPEAKER_03
I can be a mechanic or whatever it may be.
4
SPEAKER_03
And even for young girls, oh, I can be a racing driver or an engineer or strategist or whatever, you know?
4
SPEAKER_03
So representation is so, so key to inspiring the young youth.
4
SPEAKER_06
especially in these industries that they already have less access to, right?
4
SPEAKER_06
Like that s the point that it s not just, it s not just representation because you want them to even have the opportunity.
4
SPEAKER_06
It s the fact that there s just no access point, which is what you re trying to create.
4
SPEAKER_06
I think what s, what I find really
4
SPEAKER_06
beautiful about you doing it is you re doing it though when you re like I m having all my emotions come up at the same time as trying to be a voice for other people and when you re saying like I m taking a knee because I know I have to make a stand externally but internally you re taking a knee because so much of your own stuff from years ago is coming back up like that must be quite hard when you re
4
SPEAKER_06
That strikes me as something that s really inspiring about what you did is that you were going through your own healing at the same time as trying to do healing for the world.
4
SPEAKER_03
There is so much healing to do, right?
4
SPEAKER_03
And I was completely oblivious that I needed healing.
4
SPEAKER_03
I needed to really peel back some of those layers.
4
SPEAKER_03
I think for people that tune into racing, you mentioned earlier on, but when we arrive, everything s set up, there is work that we re doing in the background that naturally people don t see.
4
SPEAKER_03
They just see a show.
4
SPEAKER_03
But there is an unbelievable amount of work that goes on in the background.
4
SPEAKER_03
When I talk to people that,
4
SPEAKER_03
talk about how much weight you lose, but they re like, yeah, you just sit in the car and you drive.
4
SPEAKER_03
There s this huge psychological and emotional rollercoaster that you re going through that it would be really hard for people to comprehend.
4
SPEAKER_03
And you would mention about all these other athletes, you see their faces in other sports, you can t see because we ve got a helmet on, but you go through this rollercoaster ride in the race and then you get out and the camera s right in your face.
4
SPEAKER_03
You re not prepared for that, your emotions are shot, particularly if you failed or feel like you failed.
4
SPEAKER_03
and you don t always answer the right way.
4
SPEAKER_03
If you wear your heart on your sleeve, people don t necessarily like that necessarily always.
4
SPEAKER_03
People take advantage of that.
4
SPEAKER_03
So then you build up all these protection mechanisms that s not necessarily you at the core, but what would be the safest thing for you?
4
SPEAKER_03
You know what I mean?
4
SPEAKER_03
Like I read something the other day about
4
SPEAKER_03
It s like three steps of you and there s one, the one of which you present who you present, then it s you and who you are to you and your family and friends.
4
SPEAKER_03
And then there s one, the part of you, the real you that no one ever gets to see.
4
SPEAKER_03
And I think just today in today s world, it s so vicious on social media.
4
SPEAKER_03
It s the media can be, you know, can really tear you apart.
4
SPEAKER_03
And you build up, you know, like when you make a mistake in something you say in the media and you re ridiculed for it, you never do it again.
4
SPEAKER_03
So you build up and you get more and more in your shell and you become harder for people to really relate to.
4
SPEAKER_03
But I think for me, what I ve realized in these last few years is really peeling back those layers.
4
SPEAKER_03
And letting people know that I grew up in a council state.
4
SPEAKER_03
I ve lived on the sofa with my parents.
4
SPEAKER_03
We ve had those struggles.
4
SPEAKER_03
The successful people out there, you see, they too have had those things where we need to show the young kids who are going through that same thing that, oh, if he can get there or they can get there, then
4
SPEAKER_03
it must be possible for me too.
4
SPEAKER_03
And like being shown your right vulnerability, that s something that I really struggled to do for a long, long time.
4
SPEAKER_03
And like today, that s something I think I m a lot more open than I ve ever, ever been.
4
SPEAKER_03
I m not living in fear every day.
4
SPEAKER_03
And that s like the most, that s the most empowering thing I think for me personally.
4
SPEAKER_03
I m living a much happier life because I m a lot more open.
4
SPEAKER_06
Yeah, it s liberating.
4
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, absolutely.
4
SPEAKER_06
Yeah, it s liberating when you finally feel like you re not trapped.
4
SPEAKER_03
Or hiding.
4
SPEAKER_06
Yeah, or hiding, yeah, or hiding.
4
SPEAKER_03
My favorite quote is from Maya Angelou, when she said, we are all powerful beyond measure.
4
SPEAKER_03
And that really hit home also for me, that that s my favorite quote because, and I have it tattooed, because really we are so, we do limit ourselves.
4
SPEAKER_03
We get in our own way, right?
4
SPEAKER_03
Along with the other things that get in our way.
4
SPEAKER_03
A lot of our fear stops us from driving forwards, from progressing.
4
SPEAKER_03
And that s why I like, I do the craziest things.
4
SPEAKER_03
I jump out planes.
4
SPEAKER_06
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_06
You ve done what?
4
SPEAKER_06
80 jumps?
4
SPEAKER_06
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_03
Like I just, just, I love challenging myself and doing things, even though there s maybe fear there, but overcoming that fear is like, it s the best feeling when you overcome it and you realize that shit was all just a bunch of nonsense in your head.
4
SPEAKER_03
I want to encourage.
4
SPEAKER_03
So all my friends, I m like, let s go and do this today.
4
SPEAKER_03
They re like, are you crazy?
4
SPEAKER_03
My dad, I mean, I think as a kid, my dad was like, is he really my son?
4
SPEAKER_03
Because I wouldn t do any of these things.
4
SPEAKER_03
And even still today, I still find that he s actually done skydiving with me.
4
SPEAKER_03
My dad, he said he would never do it, but he did it.
4
SPEAKER_04
When you find that bright spot to help you get through your day, it s powerful.
4
SPEAKER_05
That s where The Bright Side comes in.
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A new daily podcast from Hello Sunshine that s bringing you a daily dose of joy.
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Listen, both Danielle and I are reporters.
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We ll talk through it all together.
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Listen to the bright side from Hello Sunshine every weekday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Hey everyone, this is Molly and Matt and we re the hosts of Grown Up Stuff How to Adult, a podcast from Ruby Studio and iHeart Podcasts.
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It s a show dedicated to helping you figure out the trickiest parts of adulting.
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Like how to start planning for retirement, creating a healthy skincare routine, understanding when and how much to tip someone, and so much more.
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We re back with season two of the podcast, which means more opportunities to glow up and become a more responsible and better adult, one life lesson at a time.
4
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And let me just tell you, this show is just as much for us as it is for you.
4
SPEAKER_01
So let s figure this stuff out together.
4
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This season, we re going to talk about whether or not we re financially and emotionally ready for dog ownership.
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We re going to figure out the benefits of a high yield savings account.
4
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And what exactly are the duties of being a member of the wedding party?
4
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All that plus so much more.
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Let s learn about all of it and then some.
4
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Listen to Grown Up Stuff How to Adult on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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A new season of Bridgerton is here.
4
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And with it, a new season of Bridgerton, the official podcast.
4
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I m your host, Gabrielle Collins.
4
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And this season, we are bringing fans even deeper into the ton.
4
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Colin Bridgerton has returned from his travels abroad.
4
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Is Betrothal written in the stars for the eligible bachelor?
4
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Meanwhile, the ton is revealed.
5
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reverberating with speculation of who holds Lady Whistledown s pen.
5
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We re discussing it all.
5
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I sit down with Nicola Coughlin, Luke Newton, Shonda Rhimes, and more to offer an exclusive peek behind the scenes of each episode of the new season.
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Subscribe to catch a new episode every Thursday.
5
SPEAKER_02
But driving 200 miles per hour is probably one of the scariest things that you do all the time.
5
SPEAKER_02
Like that s, not for you anymore.
5
SPEAKER_01
No.
5
SPEAKER_01
Well, the thing is I never had that fear as a kid.
5
SPEAKER_01
And I was just never, you know, I think if you go on a ski slope and you see these kids coming by, the kids are generally fearless, right?
5
SPEAKER_01
But I think as you go get older, you start, you hurt yourself a little bit, you start protecting yourself more and more, but I just don t have that.
5
SPEAKER_01
I think, I feel like that was something that just wasn t necessarily put in me.
5
SPEAKER_01
I m terrified of spiders.
5
SPEAKER_01
That s the only thing.
5
SPEAKER_01
But when I m doing 200 miles an hour, that s actually when I m most at peace, I would say.
5
SPEAKER_01
It s like I m flowing.
5
SPEAKER_01
That s my element.
5
SPEAKER_01
And that s why I love doing what I do.
5
SPEAKER_01
It s going to be really, really hard when I stop racing.
5
SPEAKER_01
I ve been doing it for 30 years.
5
SPEAKER_01
I m 37 and I ve been racing 30 years.
5
SPEAKER_01
And when you stop, what s going to match that?
5
SPEAKER_01
Nothing s going to ever probably match being in the stadium or being at the race and being at the pinnacle of the sport, being at the front of the grid or coming through the grid.
5
SPEAKER_01
That emotion that I get there,
5
SPEAKER_01
when I do stop, that will be a, there ll be a big hole.
5
SPEAKER_01
So I m trying to generally focus on things, find things that are going to replace that, that are also going to be just as rewarding.
5
SPEAKER_01
And that s like mission 44 for me, meeting kids at schools, having these conversations with families and parents who clearly are going through difficult times and want to create the best opportunity for their kids, encouraging them that like, okay, I ve been there too.
5
SPEAKER_01
Look where I got.
5
SPEAKER_01
So you can get there.
5
SPEAKER_01
It s just got to work through it.
5
SPEAKER_01
That s for me, that s way more rewarding than winning the race.
5
SPEAKER_01
So much more.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_02
I m so grateful and I m so happy that everyone s getting to hear this.
5
SPEAKER_02
I felt you re the only, and I know you re talking about when that happens, but it s brilliant that you re planning already because you can see how so many athletes mentally
5
SPEAKER_02
when they know their career has somewhat of a shelf life or a somewhat of a time span, like it s so hard.
5
SPEAKER_02
It just completely, but I remember you re reminding me of when I had the fortune of sitting down with Kobe Bryant and I sat down with him when he d already retired, when I interviewed him.
5
SPEAKER_01
So great.
5
SPEAKER_01
I m so jealous.
5
SPEAKER_02
He was one of those people that was not upset being retired.
5
SPEAKER_02
He loved it because he knew that his mission for him was to make these short movies and make all these sports based content to inspire kids to tell their stories and to help them find better stories.
5
SPEAKER_02
And so it s exactly what you re saying, where he wasn t, he s one of those people that I ve met.
5
SPEAKER_02
He was not sad about, he was so happy.
5
SPEAKER_02
He was so pumped.
5
SPEAKER_01
That s what i m working towards.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah because he knew that he had a mission and he had a purpose and he d gone and won an oscar for a short movie that he d made and you know he was creating content to inspire kids and that s where his heart was and of course watching his daughters play and so.
5
SPEAKER_01
I m super inspired by him.
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_02
But yeah, like when you said that, that s what I remembered.
5
SPEAKER_02
And he was in the same boat.
5
SPEAKER_02
He was like, I d always wanted to script write and never had time to script write.
5
SPEAKER_02
He said, I was always playing basketball.
5
SPEAKER_02
And he goes, but then I started script writing and I got a coach and then I was writing and getting better as a writer.
5
SPEAKER_01
No, because I think when I ve spoken to other athletes, we focus so much on that.
5
SPEAKER_01
being the best you can be.
5
SPEAKER_01
And that one thing that the other things that you also love, like if it s playing an instrument or if it s writing scripts, like it all falls, everything falls away.
5
SPEAKER_01
And, um, how can you compartmentalize staying in the, in the zone and the focus lane, but also building up some of those other skills and discovering other passions.
5
SPEAKER_01
You know, people s, you ve heard people tell LeBron, shut up and dribble.
5
SPEAKER_01
Like,
5
SPEAKER_01
that s, there s a lot of people put you in a box and say this, you can only do one thing.
5
SPEAKER_01
But as I ve seen and spoken to some people that are active and retired, a lot of them say when, particularly when they re retired, that they, everything kind of fell apart.
5
SPEAKER_01
Like everything fell to the ground.
5
SPEAKER_01
They had nothing to back it up with and they hadn t discovered what they re doing next.
5
SPEAKER_01
So then they go through this emotional journey of discovery, but it takes time.
5
SPEAKER_01
So I m like trying to learn from those things.
5
SPEAKER_01
and applying them and find the other things that I m passionate about.
5
SPEAKER_01
So I generally feel today that I have lots of things in the pipeline that when I do stop, it s gonna be like so grateful, but I have something better that I m moving on to.
5
SPEAKER_01
But I have no doubts that me and my dad will always have to go to the go-kart track or something.
5
SPEAKER_01
I m always gonna be competitive.
5
SPEAKER_01
That s literally a strain in my DNA that s just never gonna shift.
5
SPEAKER_01
We re competitive at everything.
5
SPEAKER_02
I m happy to hear that.
5
SPEAKER_02
It s, it s, it s, I m sure that s refreshing.
5
SPEAKER_02
It s great for people to also hear that even to inspire young people or inspire anyone who s got to a place in their career where they know that there s a certain moment where things are going to wind down, but then they re going to transition.
5
SPEAKER_02
I think, I don t think we celebrate the transitions enough in life and life is made up of transitions.
5
SPEAKER_01
Absolutely.
5
SPEAKER_01
And people think that it s maybe less or something, but it s, it s, it s not about that.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, exactly.
5
SPEAKER_02
So it s fascinating.
5
SPEAKER_02
You found that.
5
SPEAKER_02
What are some of these, like you said, like I m doing, you know, I ve been doing jumps, I ve been doing this with my friends.
5
SPEAKER_02
What are some of the routines that you put into place to help you manage your mindset?
5
SPEAKER_02
Because I feel like
5
SPEAKER_02
You said that being at 200 miles per hour for the duration of a race is like being in flow for you.
5
SPEAKER_02
That means you re extremely comfortable with your own thoughts, extremely comfortable with being in a high-stress, high-pressure environment, but being just with your own self.
5
SPEAKER_02
Talk to us about how you... I mean, it sounds like that s always been the case, but what have you done to become more and more comfortable with that?
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, I think naturally there s a natural ability, right?
5
SPEAKER_01
But being able to focus for an hour and 45 minutes without making mistakes.
5
SPEAKER_02
That s literally insane.
5
SPEAKER_02
It s unbelievable.
5
SPEAKER_01
Dealing with the pressures.
5
SPEAKER_01
A friend actually asked me last night, because I talk about
5
SPEAKER_01
We lose a lot of weight in the race.
5
SPEAKER_01
Sometimes you can lose up to 10 pounds, like four kilos.
5
SPEAKER_01
And people are like, whoa, I need to be a race, particularly in America, they re like, oh, I need to be a racing driver for the weight loss.
5
SPEAKER_01
But with this question that my friend asked me the other day, it s like, where does the weight go?
5
SPEAKER_01
Because my suit doesn t, because afterwards I weigh less, but I m like, so it must evaporate somewhere.
5
SPEAKER_01
So I ve got to figure out where all that weight actually truly goes, because it obviously is in sweat.
5
SPEAKER_01
That s like messed my mind up now.
5
SPEAKER_01
But the suit definitely is obviously a little bit heavier, but it s about gaining tools.
5
SPEAKER_01
And I think as when I was younger, I didn t have, I knew how to arrive at the race.
5
SPEAKER_01
I channeled this emotion that I had through whatever those difficulties were into my driving.
5
SPEAKER_01
So I was laser focused.
5
SPEAKER_01
Like if you watch a video of me when I was five years old on Blue Pizza, you ll see I m just laser focused.
5
SPEAKER_01
But being able to control emotions, being able to be calm and present, staying centered, there are loads of obviously different methods that people can use.
5
SPEAKER_01
The things that I try to, that I ve started to incorporate over the years more in my life, things like stretching, things like yoga and meditation has been a real
5
SPEAKER_01
So that for me was something that I never thought that I kind of turned a blind eye to it when I was younger.
5
SPEAKER_01
I thought that s not going to be helpful.
5
SPEAKER_01
But being able to sit still for a second and listen to the noises around you and understand you won t tap into that kind of inner child or whatever it may be.
5
SPEAKER_01
That s, for me, been taking that moment for yourself each day, treating yourself with love and being kind to yourself, you know, because I think for a long time I wasn t kind to myself.
5
SPEAKER_01
And that s been a process.
5
SPEAKER_01
Doing things, being purposeful and having real set intentions each day.
5
SPEAKER_01
no matter how big or small.
5
SPEAKER_01
And, you know, I wake up, I m looking in the mirror, brushing your teeth, then stop for a second, say, okay, this, today s going to be the day.
5
SPEAKER_01
Today s going to be great.
5
SPEAKER_01
Um, and no matter what your face was, you know, just whatever you come out with.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_02
Talking to yourself.
5
SPEAKER_01
Also, speaking to people, I think, is very important.
5
SPEAKER_01
I think as a kid, as I said, I didn t feel like I could speak to people.
5
SPEAKER_01
I didn t feel like I could tell my mom about these experiences.
5
SPEAKER_01
I felt embarrassed.
5
SPEAKER_01
I couldn t tell my dad.
5
SPEAKER_01
So I thought he would think less of me.
5
SPEAKER_01
I couldn t talk to any of the teachers, couldn t tell most of my friends, most of them.
5
SPEAKER_01
weren t particularly of color.
5
SPEAKER_01
So, but finding, learning to be open and speak to people, find someone to speak to, whether it s a therapist or whatever, that s, that s been a huge help.
5
SPEAKER_01
I don t necessarily have a therapist as such, but someone that I m able to then just have shoot the shit with basically.
5
SPEAKER_01
and confide in and trust.
5
SPEAKER_01
Like trust has been something that I ve never had.
5
SPEAKER_01
I didn t trust anybody through those experiences I had as a kid.
5
SPEAKER_01
And it s been very, very hard to build trust with people.
6
SPEAKER_00
But creating allies finding things that are that you have in common with people like my boss for example him and I just Breaking each other down and then just having realizing that was similar in many many ways, but also very different But that s not what should divide us.
6
SPEAKER_00
We can then be allies.
6
SPEAKER_00
And so that s why we re working on being the most diverse team we re working on and
6
SPEAKER_00
pushing, we have, we ve started Ignite, which is about getting, you know, improving that pipeline of, into motorsport for people, um, from underserved communities.
6
SPEAKER_00
And there s so much work to do.
6
SPEAKER_01
You re doing it though, man.
6
SPEAKER_00
I m trying to, I m trying to, and you know, to the point you were asking earlier, like, has, has enough been done?
6
SPEAKER_00
Absolutely not.
6
SPEAKER_01
In the industry.
6
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
6
SPEAKER_01
It s in like, you don t feel that.
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
6
SPEAKER_00
And it s not only in the auto industry, it s everywhere.
6
SPEAKER_01
And is that your goal, to sort in the industry and then expand out, or you re starting across the board anyway?
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, yeah.
6
SPEAKER_00
Well, with the team, we started an organization called Ignite, which we both fund, and that is focused on the sport, motorsport in general.
6
SPEAKER_00
But Mission 44 is focused on a much, you know, societal challenges and barriers and education.
6
SPEAKER_00
And that s focused in the UK at the moment, but I want to bring that over to the States.
6
SPEAKER_00
Absolutely, man.
6
SPEAKER_00
You know, hopefully by at least 2024.
6
SPEAKER_00
Also just been to Africa.
6
SPEAKER_00
And there is so much beauty there.
6
SPEAKER_00
And I really, really want to have an impact, you know, really want to help there as well.
6
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
6
SPEAKER_00
Um, we will continue to expand, but we re one of the, one of the few black founding nonprofit organizations in UK and with, um, black CEO, for example, a very diverse group of people.
6
SPEAKER_00
Um, and just having those conversations with people, just what a diverse workforce means and how that can benefit you when you have people from different backgrounds all coming up with a diverse, um, diverse thought and creation.
6
SPEAKER_00
It s, that s how you have more success.
6
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
6
SPEAKER_01
It s a no, it s a no brainer when you hear it and you re just like, wow, that makes so much sense and creativity is better and you d be able to come up with far more innovative ideas and you ve got so many more cultures now being celebrated, involved.
6
SPEAKER_01
And I feel like it s, it s interesting to me that the world hasn t caught on with that yet.
6
SPEAKER_01
Like it s, it s interesting that even despite there being progress, there s not enough progress, but
6
SPEAKER_01
What, what is the block?
6
SPEAKER_01
Like, what is the stop?
6
SPEAKER_01
Is it a mindset?
6
SPEAKER_01
Is it just habits and laziness?
6
SPEAKER_01
Like, what is the actual, like, if you got to the core of it from everyone you ve been speaking to, like, what are you, what is the issue?
6
SPEAKER_01
Is the issue that
6
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
6
SPEAKER_01
Is the issue just laziness and just, oh, this is the way things have always been?
6
SPEAKER_01
Or is it, or is there actually like a set up?
6
SPEAKER_00
I don t have the answer to it.
6
SPEAKER_00
I, I ask that question all the time and I come up with lots of different theories in my mind.
6
SPEAKER_00
Um, sometimes I m like, maybe people don t just don t care.
6
SPEAKER_00
Um, maybe people s problems are so big that they don t have time to focus on other things and it s hard enough just to do the thing that you re focused on or just overcoming the issue that you re overcoming.
6
SPEAKER_00
So how am I going to have more time to,
6
SPEAKER_00
to speak about these things.
6
SPEAKER_00
Why should I take the risk and risk my next step?
6
SPEAKER_00
So I feel like it s about learning to be selfless, right?
6
SPEAKER_00
Which is difficult to do if you re not loving yourself and not in a good place.
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
6
SPEAKER_00
So I think it all comes to us at hopefully a time, a certain point in our lives.
6
SPEAKER_00
Um, but also, you know, we live in a time where like social media is so it s such a dangerous, it s such a powerful tool, but it s also can be so dangerous and so dividing.
6
SPEAKER_00
And I see people out there today and there s people that I admire that I m that, that I would follow.
6
SPEAKER_00
And I d be like,
6
SPEAKER_00
How are they projecting something that s not necessarily helpful for you, for people out there?
6
SPEAKER_00
How are they projecting they re not using this platform to be more inspirational or be more positive?
6
SPEAKER_00
And there s those that are, but then you can t judge you, so that s their journey.
6
SPEAKER_00
All you can continue to do is try to, you know, with that Maya Angelou quote, it s about being, shining your light as bright as you can possibly get it, and hope that by doing it,
6
SPEAKER_00
you, I think you automatically, uh, encourage the people around you to want to do the same.
6
SPEAKER_00
And I never truly understood that till I see the team that I work with, how we all inspire each other, how with this year, for example, we ve had the, you know, 2022 has been one of the hardest years for us as a team.
6
SPEAKER_00
Um, as we didn t build a great car and we had our struggles,
6
SPEAKER_00
as many people do, and how we ve had to all come closer.
6
SPEAKER_00
And the relationship I ve had with people, like I ve worked with this team for 10 years, and there s conversations we ve had this year, people have opened up like they ve never opened up before.
6
SPEAKER_00
People have cried, like it s been...
6
SPEAKER_00
It s been beautiful to see.
6
SPEAKER_00
And I feel like we re a far better team than we ve ever been before because we re living with intention.
6
SPEAKER_00
We re actually talking about impact.
6
SPEAKER_00
Everyone in the team has gone and had diversity inclusion training.
6
SPEAKER_00
No one s been kind of like, I m not going through that class.
6
SPEAKER_00
Why do I have to go and learn what diversity and inclusion is about?
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I m white, it doesn t impact me.
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You know, people are like, I understand it doesn t, I wouldn t necessarily notice it, but I want to understand it more so I can be better in my work and environment.
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SPEAKER_00
It s been unbelievable.
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SPEAKER_01
That s amazing.
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Also leaders within our sport are now, we are on a road to being a more diverse and more inclusive sport.
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But I think my job is to continuously make sure that the effort that we re putting in now doesn t kind of fall away and become kind of, you know, just because it was trending.
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, yeah, that is actually something that s on the top of the list.
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SPEAKER_00
Sustainability is on the top of our list and that real true core values.
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SPEAKER_00
We don t go out of our way, you know, cause a lot of people, it s very easy to kind of be led by money or success.
6
SPEAKER_00
Um, but making sure you stick to your core values is so true.
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SPEAKER_01
It goes back to what you said though, that that s what real leaders do.
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Like leaders don t,
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Follow what s trending leaders are focused on transformation and then they re dedicated to transformation and they re going to keep doing it until they see a change where his followers follow trends.
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SPEAKER_01
And it s not trending now doesn t matter will focus on something else but you know it obviously it s so clear just listening to you today and it s amazing because i m so glad i had this opportunity to talk to you because i can hear just how.
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deeply dedicated you are to this and how it s at your core.
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It s like, it s everything that comes out of your pores today is just, you know, which is, which is really special to see a value being embodied.
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SPEAKER_01
Like to empower other people, you have to embody the value first.
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SPEAKER_01
It doesn t just, you don t just go around empowering people.
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And so to hear how your soul and heart is like completely a sponge for this stuff and then to wanting to go and share it with the world, it s really remarkable, man.
6
SPEAKER_00
Thank you.
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SPEAKER_00
I mean, I m by far perfect.
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SPEAKER_00
And I think it s not about being perfect, it s about just every day, one step at a time, trying to be better, trying to do more.
6
SPEAKER_00
And I m learning a lot about myself.
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SPEAKER_00
I had to break myself down in order to be able to be better.
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SPEAKER_01
What do you mean by breaking yourself down?
6
SPEAKER_00
Well, just when you, when I told you about like all those barriers you put up over time to protect yourself and then kind of like knocking those barriers down.
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SPEAKER_00
Yes.
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And it s enabled me to connect with more people.
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SPEAKER_00
It s enabled me to realize my place in the world and I don t feel like I don t belong anymore.
6
SPEAKER_00
I feel like, uh, you know, I ve got a place and I ve got a purpose and that s, and I think a lot of people are struggling to find that purpose, but it s okay.
6
SPEAKER_00
You ll, you will find it.
6
SPEAKER_00
Do not give up.
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SPEAKER_00
Keep getting up, you know, like just keep saying those things to yourself and you will eventually find it and you know You re already living in your purpose and having such a huge impact on so many people, you know telling stories Which is it s amazing to see I started this production company inspired by like Kobe and so many out there but stories for me storytelling I d watch a lot of movies that I know about you, but
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SPEAKER_01
Yeah, I love movies, especially sports movies.
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SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
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SPEAKER_00
Like when I go home, I ll like, I, you know, order takeaway or make myself some pasta or something like that.
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SPEAKER_00
And then I put the plate in front of me and I can t eat till I found something to watch.
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SPEAKER_00
Like my, my escape is watching the movie and I always like to find something hopefully inspiring.
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SPEAKER_00
But the reason I created this production company is because
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you know, until recently we didn t have any people of color as superheroes.
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We, I think the stories, storytelling is so, so important for people out there for inspiring people.
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And, and I want to make sure that in, in everything that I do, every project that I work on is with a diverse workforce.
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SPEAKER_00
Like I m doing this for one movie with, um, Brad Pitt and,
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Joe Kaczynski and, um, but my job is to make sure that it s diverse behind the camera as it is on screen.
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SPEAKER_00
The story is empowering and uplifting.
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SPEAKER_00
Um, it s not, there s no BS in terms of the racing and hopefully one kid will watch it and more and feel empowered to go and do something great.
6
SPEAKER_00
Guess what, Bango?
6
SPEAKER_00
What s that Will?
6
SPEAKER_00
So iHeart is giving us a whole minute to promote our podcast part-time.
7
SPEAKER_00
I know, that s why I spent my whole week composing a haiku for the occasion.
7
SPEAKER_00
It s about my emotional journey in podcasting over the last seven years, and it s called Earthquake House.
7
SPEAKER_01
Mango, I m going to cut you off right there.
7
SPEAKER_00
Why don t we just tell people about our show instead?
7
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, that s a better idea.
7
SPEAKER_00
So every week on Part-Time Genius, we feed our curiosity by answering the world s most important questions.
7
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Things like, when did America start dialing 911?
7
SPEAKER_00
is William Shatner s best acting work in Esperanto.
7
SPEAKER_00
Also, what happened to Esperanto?
7
SPEAKER_01
Plus, we cover questions like how Chinese is your Chinese food?
7
SPEAKER_01
How do dollar stores stay in business?
7
SPEAKER_01
And of course, is there an Illuminati of cheese?
7
SPEAKER_01
There absolutely is.
7
SPEAKER_00
And we are risking our lives by talking about it.
7
SPEAKER_00
But if you love mind blowing facts, incredible history and really bad jokes, make your brains happy and tune in to Part Time Genius.
7
SPEAKER_01
Listen to Part Time Genius on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
7
SPEAKER_02
When the Taliban banned music in Afghanistan, millions were plunged into silence.
7
SPEAKER_02
Radios were smashed.
7
SPEAKER_02
Cassettes burned.
7
SPEAKER_02
You could be beaten or jailed or killed for breaking the rules.
7
SPEAKER_02
And yet, Afghans did it anyway.
7
SPEAKER_02
This is the story of how a group of people brought music back to Afghanistan by creating their own version of American Idol.
7
SPEAKER_02
The danger they endured.
7
SPEAKER_00
They said my head should be cut off.
7
SPEAKER_02
The joy they brought to the nation.
7
SPEAKER_03
You re free completely.
7
SPEAKER_03
No one is there to destroy you.
7
SPEAKER_02
I m John Legend.
7
SPEAKER_02
Listen to Afghan Star on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
7
SPEAKER_04
Absolutely.
7
SPEAKER_04
I love that.
7
SPEAKER_04
I m so glad you re doing that because when you said do I like movies, the movie that came to my mind was Race.
7
SPEAKER_04
Have you seen Race?
7
SPEAKER_04
Of course.
7
SPEAKER_04
The story is unbelievable, but when you watch the movie as well, it s unbelievable to see what Jesse Owens did, to think that he had to go
7
SPEAKER_05
I can t even imagine.
7
SPEAKER_04
I can t, you know, you just can t imagine if everyone s not seen the movie, you have to go see the movie.
7
SPEAKER_04
You have to go and see it.
7
SPEAKER_04
It s just one of those movies that s like, how do you do that?
7
SPEAKER_04
Like, how do you go and race in Nazi Germany?
7
SPEAKER_04
Like I have no idea.
7
SPEAKER_05
It must have been terrifying.
7
SPEAKER_04
Terrifying.
7
SPEAKER_05
And you know, there s so many great stories like that, that are out there that need telling, continuously telling.
7
SPEAKER_04
Yeah, 42 is another one.
7
SPEAKER_04
Yeah, 42 is awesome.
7
SPEAKER_05
Yeah, 42 is such a great movie.
7
SPEAKER_05
But yeah, there are these really unique people out there.
7
SPEAKER_05
I think for me, being in this sport, being the only one and being the first, that has been lonely.
7
SPEAKER_04
Yeah.
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And that has been really, really a difficult thing to kind of understand and through my life.
7
SPEAKER_05
And there are many, many people like Jesse, for example, being the first and only.
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SPEAKER_05
At the time, you know, I ve taken huge inspiration from him.
7
SPEAKER_05
Nelson Mandela was like, he s one of my biggest, biggest inspirations.
7
SPEAKER_05
So, so fortunate to get to meet him when I was, I was like 23 or something.
7
SPEAKER_04
Oh, wow.
7
SPEAKER_04
What was that like?
7
SPEAKER_04
Yeah.
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SPEAKER_05
Ah, it was mind blowing.
7
SPEAKER_05
I mean, when you, when you then got to form one and you have the success, all these things come and you don t even, you ve dreamed of being a racing driver, but you didn t dream that all the other things, of all the other things that come along, like meeting other unbelievable people.
7
SPEAKER_05
I went to Nelson Mandela s 90th birthday in London.
7
SPEAKER_05
And I was sat on his table in this huge room full of like Bill Clinton was there, like Denzel Washington was there, Oprah Winfrey sat right next to me, like all these people that you would never ever in a million years dream of think you would ever get to meet.
7
SPEAKER_05
And then you discover they re also just human beings with feelings and with emotions and with their own challenges.
7
SPEAKER_05
But I was so young at the time it was, I don t even recognize myself when I look back at me seven years ago.
7
SPEAKER_05
I see a shell of me and I think I look today and see myself and know myself so much more.
7
SPEAKER_05
And that s, again, that s an empowering experience to be in.
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SPEAKER_05
But I went into the room and met him and he sat in his chair and it was like walking into, I was like God or like a king, you know, and his silk shirt was, his aura was something, you could see his aura, his smile, he was beaming.
7
SPEAKER_05
That was the most, probably the most impactful day for me as a youngster.
7
SPEAKER_04
Wow.
7
SPEAKER_04
Lewis, it s unbelievable talking to you.
7
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I mean, what you ve achieved on the track, off the track, and now I m even more excited to see you continue to achieve as your journey continues, because I m going to say this, and I don t say this often, and I genuinely, and my team can vouch for it, and everyone else can listen back to any episode.
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SPEAKER_04
I think you re one of the most on purpose people I ve ever interviewed.
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SPEAKER_04
I appreciate that.
7
SPEAKER_04
Genuinely, like it just, there s nothing else that comes from your being apart from what your purpose currently is with Mission 44.
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SPEAKER_04
And, and it s, it s really remarkable to meet someone who s so on purpose.
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SPEAKER_04
I don t, I genuinely don t have that experience.
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SPEAKER_04
And the only person you reminded me of was Kobe.
7
SPEAKER_04
He had it too.
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SPEAKER_04
When, when I was around him, there was no,
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SPEAKER_04
There was nothing else.
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SPEAKER_04
It wasn t like he missed anything.
7
SPEAKER_04
He was at peace.
7
SPEAKER_04
It was peace with purpose, you know?
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SPEAKER_04
And you have that same aura and spirit from at least my experience.
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SPEAKER_04
Thank you so much.
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SPEAKER_04
That s so kind of you.
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SPEAKER_04
Yeah, and I really mean that.
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SPEAKER_04
I really mean that.
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SPEAKER_04
It s incredible.
7
SPEAKER_04
So we end every episode with a fast five, which means every question has to be answered in one word to one sentence maximum.
7
SPEAKER_04
Okay.
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SPEAKER_04
And we ask these same questions to every guest that s ever been on the show.
7
SPEAKER_05
I should be prepared for that because I ve seen you.
7
SPEAKER_04
The first question is, what s the best advice you ve ever heard or received?
7
SPEAKER_05
I think it was literally my dad, never give up.
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That s been like the slogan in the back of my mind every single day.
7
SPEAKER_05
The other one would be just that you always be learning.
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SPEAKER_05
And that s what I learned from Nelson Mandela.
7
SPEAKER_05
He was like, I m 90 and I m still learning today.
7
SPEAKER_05
I was like, what can you tell me?
7
SPEAKER_05
It s like, I m still learning today and it s okay to be learning.
7
SPEAKER_05
You re always going to be learning something new and growing.
7
SPEAKER_04
Wow.
7
SPEAKER_04
That s beautiful.
7
SPEAKER_04
I love it.
7
SPEAKER_05
It s not really like wow, but like, you know, it s pretty basic.
7
SPEAKER_04
No, but it s not.
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SPEAKER_04
It s, it s powerful knowing he said that.
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SPEAKER_04
Yeah.
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SPEAKER_04
As in the fact that he said that on his 90th birthday.
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SPEAKER_04
At 90, yeah.
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SPEAKER_04
That is powerful because.
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SPEAKER_04
Yeah, that s true.
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SPEAKER_04
It s a long way to go.
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SPEAKER_04
Yeah.
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SPEAKER_04
It s like a lot of people, I feel like a lot of people feel by 90, especially him, he has so much wisdom to share.
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SPEAKER_04
Yeah.
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SPEAKER_04
But the fact that his wisdom was, I m just learning.
7
SPEAKER_04
That s, I m still learning.
7
SPEAKER_04
That s pretty cool.
7
SPEAKER_04
All right.
7
SPEAKER_04
Second question now.
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What s the worst advice you ever heard or received?
7
SPEAKER_05
Give up.
7
SPEAKER_04
It s just the opposite, yeah.
7
SPEAKER_05
Yeah, literally the worst bit of advice.
7
SPEAKER_05
And it wasn t, I mean, it wasn t necessarily advice, but when I was younger, there was other parents of other racing drivers I was racing against.
7
SPEAKER_05
I remember this one guy and he s like, you just don t have it.
7
SPEAKER_05
You should just give up.
7
SPEAKER_04
Their parents were saying that?
7
SPEAKER_05
The parents, the grown man in his forties or fifties told me that.
7
SPEAKER_05
And I was eight.
7
SPEAKER_05
Told you?
7
SPEAKER_05
Told me, yeah, to my face.
7
SPEAKER_05
And I remember just being so like, what am I supposed to do with that?
7
SPEAKER_05
What do you mean give up?
7
SPEAKER_04
What was the reason?
7
SPEAKER_05
I would imagine because I was beating his kid.
7
SPEAKER_05
Maybe, I don t know.
7
SPEAKER_05
I never really thought of what the reason would be.
7
SPEAKER_05
And the same with teachers, you know.
7
SPEAKER_05
What is this crap?
7
SPEAKER_05
You know, you re terrible at this.
7
SPEAKER_05
You re never going to go to the next set.
7
SPEAKER_05
You re never going to amount to anything.
7
SPEAKER_05
Why are you even here?
7
SPEAKER_05
I had a parent, I had a teacher tell me that.
7
SPEAKER_05
And wow, it broke me down so much.
7
SPEAKER_04
Question number three.
7
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How do you deal with loss and how do you deal with the win?
7
SPEAKER_05
I think success is, as I mentioned to you earlier, short-lived.
7
SPEAKER_05
Success is, there s a lot less learned in success.
7
SPEAKER_05
It s like the tip of the iceberg.
7
SPEAKER_05
It s the losses and it s the failures and it s the continuously, just the perseverance that you needed, that you need to do.
7
SPEAKER_05
Like, I love that image of the iceberg where you see the sea level and the iceberg on the top that everyone sees.
7
SPEAKER_05
Below is what people don t get to see and it s relevant for every single person out there.
7
SPEAKER_05
It s finding your core, it s letting yourself know it s okay to feel the pain, it s okay to accept your failures and put it on you.
7
SPEAKER_05
It s like it s just another notch on your belt that is gonna make you stronger and just knowing that that is the case.
7
SPEAKER_05
I ve failed so many more times and I ve succeeded so many more.
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SPEAKER_05
and that people don t even know maybe necessarily about or see.
7
SPEAKER_05
And still today I m making those failures, those mistakes and or making mistakes.
7
SPEAKER_05
But I know that that s, that s a part of the journey.
7
SPEAKER_05
That s, that s what I m then harnessing and that s what s making me stronger.
7
SPEAKER_04
All right.
7
SPEAKER_04
Question number four out of five, uh, what s something that you thought you valued, but you don t value anymore?
7
SPEAKER_05
your material stuff.
7
SPEAKER_05
At some stage in your life you realize they re not important.
7
SPEAKER_05
And we live in such a materialistic world.
7
SPEAKER_05
So learning to detach yourself from that and know that it s moments with special people, it s moments with your family, with your loved ones, with your friends, that are what you get to take with you when you stop.
7
SPEAKER_05
You know, when life comes to an end, right?
7
SPEAKER_05
I truly believe that it s those memories that are what
7
SPEAKER_04
Yeah.
7
SPEAKER_05
Memories of you also, which lingers, not what you had or what you were able to attain.
7
SPEAKER_05
So I think that was something that took me a long time to