“There's no rulebook for it” – The story behind Lou McEwen’s Formula 1 podium experience

Formula 1 is a team sport, and a few moments symbolise this better than seeing a colleague standing on the podium.

As Lou McEwen takes her seat for our interview, she pauses, taking in the items around her. Among them are the Constructors’ trophy from the 2025 Miami Grand Prix, a large - now empty - bottle of champagne, and several photographs, including one of her alongside Matt Dennington and Nick Martin, her fellow members of McLaren’s Commercial Leadership Team.

She sees most of these items every day. Many of them live in her office at the McLaren factory, while the trophy has a permanent home on the Boulevard. But in this setting, gathered together, they present a rare opportunity for reflection, and the memories come flooding back.

‘How does seeing all of these together make you feel?’ we ask.

“Emotional. It really makes me emotional. It’s incredible… really happy memories, a once-in-a-lifetime moment,” Lou says, replaying the experience in her mind. It has been nearly a year since she became just the 11th woman in history to stand on a Formula 1 podium.

After a brief pause, her focus shifts back to the present.

“Let’s have a conversation about champagne,” she says with a smile.

Watching Oscar lead the Miami Grand Prix, Lou, McLaren’s Chief Marketing Officer, was in the F1 Paddock Club with a selection of our partners when she received a text from McLaren’s CEO Zak Brown on the pit wall. Straight to the point, it read: "If we win, you're up."

For a few seconds, she assumed it was a joke.

“It hadn’t ever crossed my mind that going up onto the podium was something I’d be doing.”

Oscar had led since Lap 14, when a decisive move saw him pass Max Verstappen, and was on course to secure McLaren’s fifth win of the season. His race was looking a lot like the previous two, both of which he had won. For Lou, however, her day was suddenly following a very different path from what she was used to.

“You don’t know if you’re going up until after your car crosses the line first,” Lou continues. “So, it was in the back of my mind that it might not happen, but at the forefront of my mind, was that if it did happen, I didn’t actually know what I needed to do.

“It’s so well organised, but there's no rulebook for it.”

Outside of the racing itself, so much of F1 feels automated. The sport, while often referred to as a circus, is more like a well-oiled machine. Everyone knows exactly where they need to be and when, and what they need to do.

The podium ceremony, however, sits slightly outside that structure.

Every race, there are four people on the podium: three drivers and a representative from the winning team. Sometimes they are high-profile figures such as Zak Brown or Andrea Stella, but often it is an opportunity for other team members to represent the wider team. It’s one of F1’s less heralded, but most meaningful, traditions.

But each person quickly comes to realise there’s no script for it.

“Everyone goes out and makes it look so effortless,” Lou says. She pauses briefly, recalling the questions that ran through her mind as she waited. “I felt an enormous amount of pride, but I didn’t want to let the team down.

“First of all, it’s a really big bottle of champagne, so you’re thinking: will I even be able to spray it? And then there are all the protocols - where do I stand, what do I do? There were quite a few questions running through my mind while I was waiting to find out if it would happen.”

After confirmation of Oscar’s victory, and a few last pieces of advice from colleagues, Lou’s journey began in parc fermé, a short walk from the McLaren garage. She was then whisked away in an electric buggy to the podium, having handed over her phone and anything that could be damaged by champagne.

“There was quite a bit of waiting around, which just heightened my nerves even more.” Fortunately, a familiar face helped to briefly settle those nerves.

“I had a little chat with Jenson [Button], who happened to be down there,” Lou recalls. The pair had worked together at McLaren throughout the 2010s, with Lou originally joining as a consultant in 2014 before becoming Brand Director in 2017. “I asked him whether he had any tips, and he just told me to ‘smile and take it all in’.

Alongside that brief exchange, Lou had also asked Mark Norris, a long-serving member of the team and now our Director of Commercial Trackside Operation, to join her on the journey.

“I really valued having Mark with me. You win as a team, but then suddenly you’re going up there alone to represent everyone. He helped keep my mind occupied while we waited.”

Arriving at the podium, the sound of the crowd grew louder, with fans eagerly awaiting their chance to see the drivers step out.

“We were told to follow the drivers out,” Lou says. “While we were waiting, Lando and Oscar looked at me, and Lando asked, ‘Are you coming up?’ They both smirked. At that point, I knew I was in trouble.

“The fact that it was both of them made it extra special, although it did mean I got double blasted with champagne.”

One by one, the names were called: George Russell, Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri. Then Lou McEwen.

“I remember stepping onto the podium and taking a breath,” she says. “When I looked out, there was this incredible media wall in front of me.

“But I tried not to focus on that. Instead, I looked down and saw a sea of papaya - so many of the team beaming up at me, and the partners I’d spent the weekend with all waving. All I wanted to do was wave back.”

What Lou didn’t realise at the time was just how exclusive a group she was joining as a woman on an F1 podium.

“It was only when I came off and was reunited with my phone, I saw that social media had picked up on me being the 11th woman to appear on an F1 podium,” she says. “I had no idea at the time - I just felt proud to be a team member on the podium.

“It’s an incredible reminder that this sport is changing for the right reasons, and there is more representation now than there was. Hopefully, that is inspiring many young girls out there, and showing them the opportunities that they can have in the future.

“Seeing other people from the industry respond to that and congratulate me was incredible. It’s a moment I’ll cherish forever. And since then, Laura Bowden, our CFO, has become the 12th woman to stand on the podium.”

Picking up the photograph of herself, Matt, and Nick from after the race, Lou also highlights how rare it is to see someone from a team’s commercial or marketing department up on the podium.

“They were really stoked. It was so nice to share it with them. There were a lot of champagne hugs afterwards.

“Again, I had no idea at the time, but I was also the first person from McLaren’s Commercial Team to go on the podium. We race as one team, so I think it meant a huge amount to everyone, and to our partners, to be represented on the podium. They play such a key part in us being able to go racing.”

Any other takeaways? “Turns out, I can spray champagne!” Lou says.

“I’d never practised, but it was actually quite easy. Turns out, it’s pre-fizzed and goes like a rocket. The thing is, though – the drivers have their caps on, so their eyes are protected, but yours are fully exposed. It’s basically like being fire-hosed with champagne straight into your eyes. It really, really stings!

“I remember thinking that I had to open my eyes, but they were just absolutely stinging.”

She lifts the trophy beside her. “I really wanted to be able to hold it by one hand, which is what the drivers did, but you need two hands for it.”

After the ceremony, Lou needed to make a swift exit from the circuit. She briefly reunited with the team before rushing off to catch her flight, still dripping with champagne.

“It wasn’t until around 15:00 the next day that I finally had a shower, and by that point, my hair was pretty matted, and I was absolutely spent!” Lou says, laughing.

At least her hair was free of confetti, thanks to George Russell, who helped remove a piece during the celebrations. “Such a gentleman,” she adds.

“I was absolutely drenched, and my clothes were sticky. But it was one of the most surreal experiences of my life.”

With no time to change, she went straight through security and onto her flight in the same champagne-soaked clothes.

Although she’d have loved a little more time to soak up the celebrations, Lou’s early flight did at least bring forward her reunion with friends and family, as well as those at the McLaren Technology Centre, who had been watching on with pride from home.

“It was quite late in the UK, but some of the team managed to message my husband and daughter so they could stay up and watch it. My mum and dad watched too - they don’t really understand what I do, but they thought it was amazing!

“Returning home, that was when it started to feel a bit more real. And being back at the factory, sharing stories with the team, and celebrating together. Up until then, it had just felt like a dream.”