The Scot helping drive forward a new Formula 1 team

Allan McNish's first race as racing director with Audi is in Miami [Getty Images] Allan McNish started racing round a track not that long after learning to walk. In the years that followed he experienced the highs and lows of motorsport during a stellar career - winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times but also being involved in a crash in which a spectator died at Donington Park in 1990. Few people are better placed to provide advice and support to a fledgling Formula 1 team like Audi.

In January he was unveiled as head of driver development but he has since accelerated into the role of racing director - starting this weekend in Miami - while continuing to identify the stars of the future. The Dumfries racer started out in motorsport very young [Getty Images] It is all a long way from his home town - Dumfries - where he grew up and attended St Andrew's Primary and St Joseph's College before his racing talent sent him further afield. Speaking from the United States, however, his accent remains largely unchanged from the days he used to kick a football around the playground with his pals.

The 56-year-old said there were now two parts to his job with Audi, with the first - driver development - "a bit like a football academy". The second - that of racing director reporting to team principal Mattia Binotto -covers "everything at the racetrack", from engineering, strategy and the drivers to marketing and communications at the circuit. It is, he admitted, "very wide" in its job description.

McNish said driver development hardly existed when he started out [Getty Images] McNish said his driver development role simply did not exist in this form when he was breaking through in the 1980s, although one local motorsport hero - David Leslie - did take him under his wing. Now it all has a "much more structured format". However, he said the sport remained all about preparation, work ethic and being prepared for setbacks like he suffered in his own career.