Allan McNish looks back on his first Formula 1 weekend with Audi as Racing Director

With Jonathan Wheatley leaving Audi suddenly in March with Aston Martin reportedly his final destination, the German team has moved to fill the gap left by the departure of their former Team Principal, placing McNish as their Racing Director.

McNish, a Le Mans Champion and former F1 driver, has been involved in the Audi F1 project for some time, most recently managing their driver program before being promoted into the racing director role.

“Well, I'm actually more nervous now than any time before," he told the media at the Miami Grand Prix. “You know, I've been at the circuit a few times—it's not the first time, so I understand the ways of the world, so to speak. Clearly, we've got a lot of experience in different areas of the team, which is good.

“On the other side of it, I knew quite a lot of the things that we were needing to work on [operationally]. But it was the biggest event that the team has had from marketing and communications with events downtown, so there was a whole load of other stuff apart from what was going on in here as well, for some pop-ups and other things.

“So it was actually across many areas more than necessarily just the Racing Director operational aspect of it, which is what you have to do in the role. But it was good," he maintained.

McNish added that he has racing in his blood, which is what drives him every day in his new role. He said: "Look, I live to race.

“I've lived to race all my life, since I was 11 years old. It's what I love, it's what gets me up in the morning, it's what's the passion.

“But when I say I live to race, I don't go home happy unless we've won, and I know that that's not always the case because, in racing in your career, you lose more than you win. That's just natural statistics, apart from maybe one or two.

“The reality is that this environment is my life; it's my career, it's my hobby, it's my passion. It's always good to be here.

"The alternative's not," the Scot concluded. (Reporting by Agnes Carlier)