Formula 1 Team Radio Behind the Scenes Stories w/ Damien Nolan | On the Go with Elmo

Apr 24, 2025

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Welcome to the first episode of our new On The Go podcast series — stripped down, run-and-gun, recorded in different cities around the world, and still packed with all the good stuff: behind-the-scenes stories, insights, lessons learned, and more. I’m traveling right now and wanted to keep the podcast conversations going, so here’s what we’ve got for you.

For this one, I caught up with my friend Damien Nolan. By day, he has one of the coolest jobs in the world — he’s the Formula 1 Team Radio Editor and Engineer. When you’re watching F1 and those Team Radio messages pop up, that’s Damien and his team. They bring all the behind-the-scenes comms to life. It’s wild how fast they move — turning something said in a driver’s helmet into a broadcast moment in just seconds, reaching millions of people.

By night (and sometimes the same day), he’s a killer session guitarist in the UK.

We talk about what it’s like working inside the F1 machine, how he balances both worlds, and how creativity plays out in high-pressure environments — whether it’s a racetrack or a stage.

Hope you enjoy this new format to keep the convos going while I’m traveling. Let us know in the comments what you think. Let’s go!!

‘Go with Elmo Lovano’ is a weekly podcast where Elmo interviews creatives and entrepreneurs in music on HOW they push forward every day, got where they are in their careers, manage their personal lives, and share lessons learned and their most important insights.

(00:00) INTRO

(00:55) INTERVIEW STARTS

(01:22) DAMIEN NOLAN

(01:33) DAMIEN’S ‘DAY JOB’ AT F1

(01:45) HOW F1 TEAM RADIO WORKS

(05:00) MIX ENGINEERING DRIVER MICS

(09:04) RADIO INSTALLS IN THE CAR

(11:06) ON SCREEN MESSAGES, CONTROVERSY

(13:10) CHANGING TIMEZONES

(15:03) DAMIEN’S MUSIC CAREER

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