WHAT AN HONOR AND PRIVILEGE

At the Miami F1 GP I had the incredible privilege of meeting Artemis II Mission Commander and astronaut, Reid Wiseman. Ironically, the original plan was for me to give Reid a hot lap around the circuit. Unfortunately, weather and schedule changes got in the way. But honestly, after spending nearly an entire day with him, I realized I was the one being taken for the ride!!

Throughout my racing career, I’ve been fortunate enough to meet some truly extraordinary people from many different worlds — athletes, engineers, team leaders, innovators, visionaries. One thing they all have in common is obsession. Relentless passion. The willingness to sacrifice almost everything in pursuit of a dream most people would consider impossible.

I never get tired of listening to those stories.
The setbacks. The failures. The persistence.
Because every single time, it lights a fire inside me all over again.

But meeting Reid Wiseman… that was different.
Making it to Formula 1 is already statistically insane. The odds are microscopic. But becoming an astronaut — and then being entrusted to command humanity’s return to deep space and the Moon — that belongs in another universe entirely.

If you’ve ever watched The Right Stuff, you know exactly what I mean. Reid Wiseman has it.
THE RIGHT STUFF. He is the real deal.

The calmness.
The intelligence.
The courage.
The absolute composure under unimaginable pressure.

Reid stands on the shoulders of the legendary test pilots and astronauts who came before him. The men who strapped themselves to controlled explosions during the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo eras, pushing further into the unknown so humanity could leave Earth for the very first time.

And yet, despite all of that, what impressed me the most about Reid was something completely different: his humility.

No big ego.
No performance.
No need to constantly remind people what he has accomplished.

Just authenticity, curiosity, humor, intelligence and an incredibly grounded personality. In my experience, that is often the true sign of greatness. The ability to keep both feet on the ground… even after you’ve just returned from the Moon 😄

And then there’s Artemis II itself… which honestly makes Formula 1 look like a knitting club in slow motion!

The crew launched aboard NASA’s Space Launch System — the most powerful rocket ever built — producing nearly 9 million pounds of thrust at liftoff.

The Orion spacecraft traveled hundreds of thousands of miles through deep space, farther from Earth than any humans have traveled since Apollo.

During the mission, Orion reached speeds approaching 25,000 mph as it raced through space around the Moon.

Re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere is one of the most violent phases imaginable. The heat shield endured temperatures approaching 5,000°F — roughly half the temperature of the surface of the Sun.

After screaming back through Earth’s atmosphere at hypersonic speed, Orion deployed its massive parachutes before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, where recovery retrieved the crew.

It’s difficult to even comprehend the scale of this mission.
The engineering.
The danger.
The courage.
The human ambition behind it all.

Some people explore racetracks.
Some people explore oceans.
And a very rare few explore the edge of human possibility itself.

Reid Wiseman is one of those people. 🚀

Lucky me that I got to spend a day with him and his bright daughter, Katey.