High Performance Racing is here! With Jake, Rob Smedley & Otmar Szafnauer
4/22/202652 min
Jake and Damian discuss a BIG announcement this week... High Performance has a new show, and it's all about Formula One.
Hosted by Jake Humphrey alongside former Aston Martin & Alpine Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer and ex-Ferrari & Williams Race Engineer Rob Smedley, High Performance Racing breaks down F1's biggest stories through the eyes of people who actually lived it.
Jake explains why the audience demanded it, and why no other F1 podcast is made quite like this one — front row seat to the paddock, from team analysis and technical breakdowns to the unfiltered conversations of the pit wall.
You'll also hear a clip from Episode 1 — covering the cancelled races, the Mercedes era question, Kimi Antonelli's talent, and whether F1 2026 has broken its own sport. Plus...can Lewis Hamilton ever become an eight-time world champion? That conversation is waiting for you in the full episode!
Subscibe & Listen on Spotify: https://bit.ly/42lcqYN
Subscibe & Listen on Apple: https://bit.ly/3Qz9ogX
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/highperformance.racing/
Watch on YouTube: https://bit.ly/48NuT3T
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsJake Humphrey· Host0:00
[upbeat music] Hi there. Welcome along to another episode of High Performance. I'm here alongside my co-host, Damian Hughes. Hello, Damian.
Damian Hughes· Host0:08
Hi, Jake. How are you, mate? You all right?
Jake Humphrey· Host0:11
I, I am very well, thanks. I've just got back from a few days in Madrid. Before we go any further, though, let's tell everyone that you've just got back from Japan. How was that?
Damian Hughes· Host0:19
Oh, absolutely amazing. What a culture. What a culture it is. Uh, you know, when you see all the things [laughs] like, uh, like it's always the small things in there that stand out. You know, when you see World Cups where, like, the players tidy the dressing room afterwards- Mm ... and the fans do it on the stadium. Like nowhere in Japan do they have public bins, 'cause you're just expected to take responsibility for your own rubbish, take it home, and recycle it. It's small things like that stand out to me as a sign of a, of a healthy society.
Jake Humphrey· Host0:47
I remember when I used to go to Japan often for the Formula 1, um, the thing that stood out to me was when you're sitting on the train and the ticket inspector walks into the carriage to check your tickets- Yeah ... the very first thing they do is bow to the carriage- [laughs] ... and everyone bows back to them. It's like this l- It's the... There's a level of respect in Japan for other human beings that I think we've lost a bit, um, in other parts of the world. Do you know of, um, do you know the phrase, uh, sonder and what it stands for, Damian?
Damian Hughes· Host1:15
No, go on.
Jake Humphrey· Host1:16
So, um, sonder is a, a neologism coined by a guy called John Koenig in 2012 for a project he was doing called The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. And if I was to define it, I suppose it is this kind of profound realization