The Royal Automobile Club has hosted many important events in the world of motoring and motorsport; when I received an email informing me that the SkyF1 pre-season media day would be held there, I was rather excited. My good friend Jack Leslie had gone the previous year and spent the whole of 2012 telling me about it. So as you can probably tell, I was quite excited at the prospect of spending a morning with the talented team to quiz them and in one of the most important buildings in motoring to boot!
Speaking of Jack, we had planned to meet in a Starbucks prior to the event. I made my way to this Starbucks in plenty of time only to get there and discover the coffee shop had closed two weeks ago. After about ten missed calls, I finally got through to Jack, found him and made our way to Pall Mall. Being the organised sorts we were, we arrived far too early, and to our surprise, our gracious host for the day, Alison Hackney was waiting outside. After being told where to go, we walked into the foyer and was made breathless.
The foyer of the Royal Automobile Club is the most beautiful part of any building I have ever been in; the sheer size of the building dwarfs you and there in the centre – where the club’s logo is – stood a Formula One car and motorbike of John Surtees. Crikey. After picking my jaw up from the ground I carried along to the terrace room where there was a pair of 3D TVs each displaying the final test in 3D – a world first for Formula One – and also numerous iPads showing the SkyF1 app.
Sadly, because of my eyes, I couldn’t tell the difference between normal TV and 3D TV but I was assured that the final test looked amazing in three dimensions instead of two. What I can tell you though is that a) the Dolby 5:1 surround sound sounds better than Paloma Faith belting out ‘New York’ (which is quite a compliment) and that the Royal Automobile Club’s coffees are very good as you would expect.
By this time, it was a little closer to the time that everyone was meant to arrive there, and Sarah from Pitstopradio turned out and immediately answered the question of what she looks like. After a few introductions and generally standing around talking, a few others arrived and we all commented on how underdressed we felt (despite being in suits) and how lucky we were to be there.
An elderly gentleman on crutches then (slowly) walked over and introduced himself as Martin Turner, the producer of the channel. He invited Jack, myself, Dan from The F1 Times and Sarah to sit down and talk for a bit. He gave great insight and seemed to really care about our opinions, answered any questions about the channel. Amongst other things, Martin said that he didn’t want to ruin the spirit of the channel and dilute it by showing series’ other than F1, GP2 and GP3, told us that more classic grand prix are going to be shown this season and seemed pleased with our feedback about the iPad apps. The reason why he was on crutches by the way was because he had a skiing accident a few weeks ago.
The photographer clearly enjoyed his job as every five or so seconds during our chat with Martin a flash went off in the corner of my eye. We were then asked to put on the 3D specs again and stand in a row to have several pictures taken. Amusingly, Jack was asked to point at nothing in particular while eleventy billion photographs were taken. I hope I’m smiling in at least one of them.
Then, out of nowhere a man came and announced that the SkyF1 team were ready for us. After being led through another gorgeous walkway (I promise I’ll stop the interior design talk pronto), a big door opened and sat there were Natalie Pinkham, Martin Brundle, Simon Lazenby, David Croft, Ted Kravitz and Damon Hill. Strewth. I was a little slow on the uptake of finding a seat for myself, but it seemed to work to my advantage: there was nowhere else to go but next to Natalie. I know, such a hardship.
After introducing ourselves, the fun began. After a small silence, someone asked how the team’s first season went. Between the question and the subsequent answer, everyone quickly set up their recording devices. I have never seen so many half asleep hacks prepare Dictaphones in such a short space of time. I meanwhile, pulled out my iPhone and put it on the table. It got a few odds looks at first, but it did the job.
Lazenby, answered first, commenting that ‘the motorsport public demand a lot of content before and after the race’ and also saying that the team came a long way in the first year. Brundle added that because they on air for fourteen hours a weekend that it was a double edged sword; in that they had to produce a lot of content, but didn’t have the time to scurry about looking for information. He added that his work rate was ‘at least five times that of when I was at ITV’ purely because they had to keep on getting the fresh material each weekend, adding that for every minute on the TV that there is at least an hour of editing and filming.
Pinkham added saying that she filmed a three-minute feature with Kimi Raikkonen which needed 45 hours in Moscow. ‘But ‘, she added, ‘If you haven’t heard Kimi laugh before, you’ll get to while watching this’. Why does Kimi laugh? I think it’s best if you find out for yourselves and I don’t spoil the surprise.
Lewis Hamilton was a hot topic; with Pinkham stating that ‘he always wears his heart on his sleeve and you can really see the emotion in his face’. Lewis’ dog was also high on the agenda with David Croft stating his dislike for dogs. Brundle added that since moving to Mercedes, Lewis has ‘opened up a lot’ but added that ‘if his car isn’t fast then it probably won’t stay that way’.7
Brundle confirmed that he will be driving another Formula One car this season for a feature, in a similar way to that of a feature where he drove a Ferrari. Originally, he wouldn’t expand on it, but after a bit of a probing from yours truly (see, I am a journalist), he confirmed he would be getting some lappage in the Red Bull RB7. He then stated his desire to join in with a practice session after that to raise the game further, claiming that he has got insurance for it. I said that it would be a whole new meaning to the term ‘pay driver’.
Another feature for this season will be getting team principals on the line during the race to add further insight into the commentary. Crofty confirmed that the team principal would be placed in a quiet area so we don’t just hear the sound of 22 V8 engines but some words too.
The team were united in looking forward to Austin this season with Pinkham adding that they’re looking to ‘get going again’ after a ‘fairly long winter’. Simon Lazenby’s wife clearly agrees with as she allegedly wants him to go. Croft also reminded us that the channel has Monaco as an exclusive this season, and that they can do a lot of things with Monaco as an exclusive. I’m not sure what he means there, but I imagine it’ll be something more interesting than David Croft: A tour of the Monaco sausage outlets.
Brundle also confirmed that access to the teams is a lot easier now than when they started as teams are now ‘knocking on our doors to get features done’. He says that this is crucial as there are more and more split TV deals in various countries and with the drivers constantly being in demand.
Formula One, is of course a yearlong adventure and the media, just as well as the team members spend an awful about of time away. Aside from Simon’s wife who can’t wait to get rid of him (apart from Monaco; ‘we get told when they can come…’), how do the SkyF1 lot cope with spending a chunk of the year flying around the globe? Well, if you’re David Croft, you bring your kids to the Abu Dhabi grand prix; ‘it’s half term’ he explained, ‘my wife and kids are coming out to enjoy the grand prix’. Natalie also got married last year halfway through the season but shrugged it off saying she ‘dipped in and out around then’.
Ted says that his kids have got into a routine of saying goodbye at the airport and then watching him work on the TV, to which Crofty added an amusing anecdote from a few weeks ago whereby his four year old son came bursting into the living room while he was deep in conversation with Martin Brundle, only for David not to respond as he was actually in Barcelona commentating on the testing at the time!
Towards the end Brundle got a little confused with his job title and role; I asked who in an open question to the team whether McLaren were right to sign Perez to replace Hamilton to which I got ‘Who do you think then? Oh wait, that’s my job? No it’s yours?’ before actually answering my question saying that Perez was the right choice but adding that McLaren will struggle in qualifying trim.
It seems that the team don’t know everything that’s going on with each other. Jack asked about the Twitter Grand Prix being run by the channel this season and got answered with a load of confused faces before Natalie admitting that it is a fairly new thing and to keep our eyes peeled for more information.
And the tips for the title? Mainly Alonso and Vettel, although Natalie did say Jenson Button, which I’m holding her to (you can thank me in November).
Afterwards, the entire team stayed behind to chat to each of us on a more casual one to one basis. During this period, it confirmed my first thoughts that they are all – without any doubts – down to earth, likeable and friendly. Camera buttons pressed and our final goodbyes said, it was time to leave the most wonderful building I’ve had the pleasure to be in for a morning.
My huge thanks to the SkyF1 team for putting on such a great event in a brilliant location. Special thanks to Natalie for being especially lovely and saying yes to an interview request (look out for it in the coming weeks) and for saying that yes, I can come karting to them at their next charity doo. I’m a tad lucky, aren’t I?
And I’ll end this with a great conversation between Jack and Ted:
Jack: ‘I’m a huge fan of yours Ted. Can we have a picture please?’
Ted: ‘Me? I’m getting a fanbase here!’
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1 comment:
Fecking brilliant! I'm jealous!
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