Gary Paffett
Accelerate high-performance teams with Gary Paffett, speaker and motorsport leadership expert. Gary works with organisations to optimise team cohesion, strategic decision-making, and resilience under pressure, delivering championship-winning insights as two-time DTM Champion and Formula E Racing Director.
Suffolk, United Kingdom
Enquire Now
Send us your event details
.svg){kind=icon}
Gary joined DTM as a Mercedes-AMG factory driver in 2003, achieving over 185 starts, 23 wins, 48 podiums, 17 pole positions, and 14 fastest laps, and securing championship victories in 2005 and 2018. He served as a test and development driver for McLaren-Mercedes and Williams in Formula 1, later competing in Formula E and major GT endurance events.
Transitioning into management, Gary has held leadership roles as Sporting Advisor, Team Manager, and Sporting Director with Mercedes EQ, NEOM McLaren Formula E, and Extreme E, before joining Cupra Kiro in 2025. He works with teams to cultivate resilience, focus, and alignment under pressure, emphasising data-driven marginal gains, strategic decision-making, and collaborative performance optimisation.
Gary translates elite motorsport experience into lessons on high-performance teamwork, incremental improvement, and mental resilience, helping organisations explore how elite strategies and continuous refinement can be applied to business performance, innovation, and leadership.
Attendees gain insights into building cohesive, results-driven teams, a deeper understanding of the value of incremental improvements, and the know-how when it comes to applying a high-performance mindset to strategic challenges.
Book Gary to share expert perspectives on leadership, performance, and collaboration in competitive environments.
Topics, Sessions And Talks
Gary Paffett explores how elite teams operate under intense pressure, drawing on his experience as a long-standing team captain and racing director. He examines how trust is built, communication is sharpened, and diverse specialists are aligned around a single goal. Gary illustrates these principles with examples from DTM, Formula 1, and Formula E, showing how high-performance environments foster cohesion, resilience, and collective success, offering practical lessons for organisations aiming to improve collaboration and operational efficiency.
Gary Paffett examines the power of incremental improvement, demonstrating how small, data-driven adjustments across people, processes, and performance can compound to deliver a decisive competitive advantage. Drawing on his career in DTM, Formula 1, and Formula E, he highlights techniques for refining strategy, optimising engineering, and enhancing team output. Gary emphasises the importance of attention to detail, consistency, and continuous measurement, revealing how marginal gains translate into tangible performance outcomes in high-stakes, competitive environments.
Gary Paffett focuses on the mental resilience, focus, and decision-making required to perform consistently at the highest level. Drawing on his experience in elite motorsport, he explores the pressures of competition, public scrutiny, and rapid decision-making, showing how mindset shapes results under extreme conditions. Gary shares methods for maintaining clarity, composure, and determination, offering insights into sustaining performance, managing stress, and cultivating the psychological strength necessary for leadership, teamwork, and long-term success in high-pressure contexts.
Looking for a custom keynote or workshop designed around your company’s goals and culture? The expert will create a tailored, interactive session that aligns with your objectives, values, and strategic priorities. From leadership and innovation to wellbeing and collaboration, each experience is built from the ground up to deliver measurable impact and lasting change.
.svg)
Book
.svg)
.svg)
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about booking an expert speaker, facilitator, host or entertainment for your event.
- If you'd like to book one of our expert speakers, email us at hello@peptalk.com, send us a chat message or give us a call, and we’ll help you out.
- We’ll take your event details — topic, audience, budget, date, and location — and create a custom speaker proposal for you within 48 hours.
- If you already have someone in mind, that’s okay too; just let us know their name! Even if they aren't listed publicly on our website, we have a huge network and work with almost everyone.
- Once you've reviewed our speaker propsal and have selected and expert shortlist, we'll double check availability and fees with your chosen expert.
- You're welcome to have a chemistry call with the speaker before making the final decision, too.
- Next, we'll send out contracts to confirm the booking. One of our experienced event producers will liase with both you and the talent on the finer details, and arrange travel if necessary, taking the stress off your plate.
Not necessarily. While the speakers listed on our website may not have worked with PepTalk in the past, they are recognized professionals in the industry and known to engage in similar events and engagements. We work with a wide variety of speaker agents and talent agencies to ensure we have the best selection of speakers, hosts, comedians and entertainers available.
We do not accommodate requests for birthday messages or any other personal, non-commercial contact with the speakers, comedians or entertainers.
We work with speakers across a variety of fee ranges, giving you the flexibility to choose someone who fits your event's needs. Virtual keynote fees in the UK and Europe typically start at £2,000, while in-person top-tier speakers can reach £25,000. In the US, virtual in-person fees range from $5,000 to over $100,000, depending on the speaker and format, such as after-dinner talks, conference keynotes, Q&As, or podcasts. Comedians generally start at £1,500 or $2,000 for a 20-minute set.
Our goal is to help you find the speaker who best matches your event’s goals and budget. We take the time to understand your event, objectives, and audience to recommend the right fit. The most expensive option isn’t always the best one, and our priority is finding the ideal speaker or expert for your needs; not the highest-priced one.
Reach out for personalised recommendations and detailed information on specific speaker fees. We’re here to offer a tailored service and are always happy to discuss your unique requirements!
There’s no additional cost for our services beyond the speaker fee — simply contact us to find the right speaker for your next business or team event. We can also work with your corporate procurement team to negotiate favourable long-term rates, simply email hello@getapeptalk.com for more information.
Partnering with PepTalk means elevating your events with our curated roster of top motivational speakers, industry experts, delivering punchy keynotes that leave a lasting impact. From talent selection, to contracts and logistics, we handle it all. We have global expert network, with over 3000 speakers from over 33 countries on our line-up.
We also provide a full range of talent, from event hosts and moderators to interviewers and corporate entertainment, ensuring your event’s success from start to finish.
PepTalk workshops are interactive learning experiences for leaders at all levels, blending theory with practical insights from industry experts. These programs, led by experienced facilitators, are designed to drive real mindset changes and equip participants with actionable skills. Workshops can be customised to meet your organisation's specific needs. Explore our workshop examples and contact us today to learn how your team can benefit.
If you notice something that needs attention or have any queries regarding an expert speaker profile, feel free to email us at experts@getapeptalk.com, and we’ll be happy to assist.