West Cork's Michael makes tracks in the world for Formula One

Growing up on a farm in West Cork is about as far away as you can get from the highly-pressurised environment of a pit lane on a Formula One race day. But for 32-year-old Michael Manning, trackside control engineer with the Infiniti Red Bull racing team, it proved the ideal grounding for a life less ordinary

Last August, just a week before his countymen from Cork would vie to lift one of the biggest trophies in Irish sport in the form of the Liam MacCarthy Cup, a former Valley Rovers underage player stood triumphant on one of the biggest stages in world sport.

Michael Manning stood out a bit on that Formula One podium in Spa in that his face was the least recognisable.