What do you think?
Rate this book
Pitlane Lessons: What F1 Can Teach You About Life and Work
From the high-octane, high stakes world of F1, these are the key lessons learned at the top level of the sport – and how to take them out of the pitlane and make them work for you
Foreword by JAKE HUMPHREY, author of HIGH PERFORMANCE
'Marc's lessons ... will change your life' JENNIE GOW, F1 Presenter
F1 teams operate at the highest level of competitive sport. With huge sums of money, global prestige and even lives on the line, they work under constant pressure to survive and succeed.
Drawing on his World Championship-winning experience working for McLaren – one of the most storied and successful F1 teams in history – and his work as a high performance coach and mentor, Marc Priestley shows you lessons learned from and amongst the world’s best. He helps you to think about the challenges you face in work or life the way a world-class F1 team might think about those same challenges.
From conquering stress to building a winning team; from responding to failure to celebrating success – and much more – Marc Priestley takes you inside the pitlane to reveal the secrets of F1 success – and how they can work for you.
‘Marc has dedicated his life to discovering how the experiences of those who have changed the game can help us navigate our own lives’ WILL BUXTON
'A tribute not only to performance, but to the conversations that change lives' ANNASTIINA HINTSA
‘Packed full of great stories, expertise and insight’ JAKE HUMPHREY
Foreword by JAKE HUMPHREY, author of HIGH PERFORMANCE
'Marc's lessons ... will change your life' JENNIE GOW, F1 Presenter
F1 teams operate at the highest level of competitive sport. With huge sums of money, global prestige and even lives on the line, they work under constant pressure to survive and succeed.
Drawing on his World Championship-winning experience working for McLaren – one of the most storied and successful F1 teams in history – and his work as a high performance coach and mentor, Marc Priestley shows you lessons learned from and amongst the world’s best. He helps you to think about the challenges you face in work or life the way a world-class F1 team might think about those same challenges.
From conquering stress to building a winning team; from responding to failure to celebrating success – and much more – Marc Priestley takes you inside the pitlane to reveal the secrets of F1 success – and how they can work for you.
‘Marc has dedicated his life to discovering how the experiences of those who have changed the game can help us navigate our own lives’ WILL BUXTON
'A tribute not only to performance, but to the conversations that change lives' ANNASTIINA HINTSA
‘Packed full of great stories, expertise and insight’ JAKE HUMPHREY
306 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 30, 2025
6 people are currently reading
29 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 21, 2025
Marc Priestley used to work for F1 team, McLaren, and in this book he talks about the learning from F1 to business.
In the grand scheme of things there’s probably no new learning that you don’t already know from other leadership books, but it does give you a real insight into F1 and that’s what makes this book enjoyable.
In the grand scheme of things there’s probably no new learning that you don’t already know from other leadership books, but it does give you a real insight into F1 and that’s what makes this book enjoyable.
Read
October 24, 2025If you’re curious about F1, this book offers fascinating insights into what goes on before, during and after a Grand Prix, as highly talented people with burning ambition and enviable budgets seek to outmanoeuvre each other for a place on a Sunday afternoon podium.
But it is so much more about the life lessons to be drawn from this high-octane, high-stakes environment and applied in our own personal, family and workplace lives.
I’ve long thought of the jaw-dropping reduction in the duration of mid-race pit stops, (45 seconds in the 1970s, sub-2 seconds now) as an instructive illustration of a continuous improvement culture in action (the book includes a gem of a story about a stethoscope’s role in shaving split seconds off the idle time when refuelling was part of the process). And in this eminently readable book (you don’t have to be a F1 geek to enjoy it) there are pointers on celebrating success, losing being a key to winning, goal setting, teamwork and focusing on the right details. The book explores the creation of suitable environments to foster innovation, the north star that an infinite purpose provides, and how luck is generated by being open to opportunities.
Avid book readers will appreciate the chapters on time, not money, being the most precious resource, making the most of limited resources, and the power of storytelling to motivate and inspire.
An illuminating section distinguishes between stress and pressure and how reframing high-pressure moments can turn the terrifying into the exciting, stimulating unprecedented levels of performance.
One lesson I especially wish I could go back and share with my teenage self would be to embrace failure not fear it, to give myself and others the space and freedom to make mistakes without a dread of stigma, and use failure as a learning process to grow, develop and maximise potential.
Whether you are a petrolhead or not, (I’m not), Marc Priestley’s book is packed with sage advice and practical ideas on how to incorporate the experiences of the elite into our everyday lives.
Thank you to Vintage Books for the gifted copy.
But it is so much more about the life lessons to be drawn from this high-octane, high-stakes environment and applied in our own personal, family and workplace lives.
I’ve long thought of the jaw-dropping reduction in the duration of mid-race pit stops, (45 seconds in the 1970s, sub-2 seconds now) as an instructive illustration of a continuous improvement culture in action (the book includes a gem of a story about a stethoscope’s role in shaving split seconds off the idle time when refuelling was part of the process). And in this eminently readable book (you don’t have to be a F1 geek to enjoy it) there are pointers on celebrating success, losing being a key to winning, goal setting, teamwork and focusing on the right details. The book explores the creation of suitable environments to foster innovation, the north star that an infinite purpose provides, and how luck is generated by being open to opportunities.
Avid book readers will appreciate the chapters on time, not money, being the most precious resource, making the most of limited resources, and the power of storytelling to motivate and inspire.
An illuminating section distinguishes between stress and pressure and how reframing high-pressure moments can turn the terrifying into the exciting, stimulating unprecedented levels of performance.
One lesson I especially wish I could go back and share with my teenage self would be to embrace failure not fear it, to give myself and others the space and freedom to make mistakes without a dread of stigma, and use failure as a learning process to grow, develop and maximise potential.
Whether you are a petrolhead or not, (I’m not), Marc Priestley’s book is packed with sage advice and practical ideas on how to incorporate the experiences of the elite into our everyday lives.
Thank you to Vintage Books for the gifted copy.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews