A natter with Natalie Pinkham

Known to many simply as the person who interviews drivers at the end of the race for Sky Sports F1, Natalie Pinkham is an experienced sports presenter and reporter. Having hosted the Isle of Man TT, Poker and various football shows over the years, she fitted into the Formula One way of life straight away: in 2011 she joined the BBC 5 Live team as their pitlane reporter. A year later she joined the Sky Sports F1 team in the same capacity before adding ‘hosting The F1 Show’ onto the list of things to do in 2013.

Taking a break from a The F1 Show rehearsal she sat down (I assume) to answer a few of my questions over the phone after meeting at the Sky Sports F1 Media Day earlier in the year (You can blame me for any mistakes made during last night’s The F1 Show).

The F1 Show seemed like a good place to start. When does everything come together? Allow Natalie to explain all: ‘Ted and I with our producer Malcolm take a bite to eat and go through the scripts together and then work out what we want to talk about in the talking points and then we’ll go down and I’ll go to make-up in a couple of hours [she phoned me at around 3pm], then we’ll go through a rehearsal, shoot various bits and then sew it all together’. I was surprised to hear that the scripts were all written on the day – I thought that they would be written earlier in the week – but in the fast-paced world of Formula One, news breaks all the time. ‘We have to keep it relevant; if things break overnight we’ve got to be able to react, so it’s better to leave it to the day’. 

A self-confessed petrolhead having grown up near Silverstone, Natalie explains that her brother was ‘car mad’. ‘So’ she continues, ‘I always wanted to spend time with him, so I faked an interest in it [Formula One], and actually ended up falling in love with it as well’.

Discussing this season, Natalie described it as ‘brilliant’ (haven’t we all?), adding that she couldn’t believe that we’re only four races in with a ‘huge saga of the politics off the track as well as well as the racing on it’, adding in that ‘having three winners from the first four races keeps it interesting for the fans too’.

One of the huge sagas of the season so far was the Multi 21-gate as I call it. I resisted the urge to quote something from those comedy t-shirts but I did ask Natalie how it was to be in the thick of it, since she was one of the first to talk to a rather angry Mark Webber, ‘They had the opportunity to share their feelings and to speak about what had just happened, and I just had to ask simple questions and let them go and let them talk’ adding that it was ‘fascinating and there was an incredible atmosphere because people were watching it in real time in front of the eyes of the world, so it was very interesting in terms of the characters of the two drivers and that of their boss’.  

I reminded her that she predicted Jenson Button to win the championship at the media day to a lot of laughter. Aside from telling herself not to make predictions again (don’t worry Natalie, I’ll remind you of it at the end of the season), she defended her choice saying that she thinks he has ‘a win or two in him, but never write anyone off and do that at your peril, because things move very quickly’.  I’m going to make the bold prediction that Charles Pic won’t win the championship this year. 

A feature with Kimi Raikkonen ranks amongst her favourite things she’s done so far this season, explaining that ‘I didn’t sleep for 43 hours straight but that somehow didn’t take away any of the enjoyment for me and it was so different and great to see him in a different context; away from the track and to see him that animated and interested in ice-racing was great as you saw a different side of his personality’.

Before they crashed, Natalie and Kimi on ice. Sounds like an ITV show...

Reflecting on Bahrain and China Natalie said that ‘you go into the likes of Bahrain and China thinking that they’re not going to be the best events to go to but maybe because we went in with fairly low expectations they were actually great’. On the flip side she added that it is ‘fairly disheartening when you’re in places like China and Bahrain and the crowds aren’t there’. 

Europe is her favourite part of the season: ‘I can’t wait to get into Europe. For me that’s when Formula One really comes home, when you’ve got races in Monaco and Silverstone. To see fans come in their tens of thousands is an amazing buzz’.

‘Places like Abu Dhabi are really well laid-out in terms of getting around; they leave no stone unturned in terms of organisation and for what’s best for people who are going to be there. Monaco, is impossibly hard to work out because everything is laid out badly because its obviously around a street circuit; you’ve got the pitlane in one place and you’ve got the paddock and the motor-homes in another, and you’ve got lots and lots of fans, many of them who have been drinking, between you and where you need to go’. Sounds like a logistical nightmare, yes? Er, not quite, ‘there’s a pen where you all go down and the drivers are in one place, but in terms of rushing around if something happens, Monaco isn’t the easiest of places’. 

Natalie in the thick it, getting drivers thoughts to us at home.

On the subject of Pirelli in Formula One, Natalie says that ‘as far as I know, they’re in for the long haul’ adding that it is a ‘constant negotiation in terms of feedback from the drivers and teams and they respond well to that. We’ve seen some very exciting races, so in terms of that, they tick the box for me and the other fans’. 

Not only does she talk about the sport, but she also writes about it for Formula Magazine. ‘I enjoy writing; it’s quite nice thing to do on flights and doing your thoughts and working out what’s go before and what’s coming up. It’s a nice way to reflect on the sport we all love’. 

Natalie runs a charity, The Mirela Fund, which was set up with the intention of building a children’s home for Mirela and her siblings, Mirela being born during Ceausescu’s regime in Romania. Natalie, while on a summer holiday from university went to Romania to help. While she was there, she was touched by a young Mirela and vowed to help her. Ten years later she went back there with a TV crew and tracked her down and made a documentary about it in 2009. ‘A second documentary is being filmed now, and we’re building a children’s home for Mirela for her and her three siblings, plus seven other children. It’s a long, hard process and it’s one I’m passionate about, but I’ll keep working hard at until the job’s done’.  

 

Natalie with Mirela in 2011

Bringing the interview to a close, I asked Natalie for some advice for young journalists: ‘If you’re passionate about something, you should work very hard to make that a career for yourself because it doesn’t feel like work and it feels like you’re following something you love, and that means you’ll do well at it and work hard at it: back yourself, be tenacious’ followed by my new favourite simile, ‘be like a sponge: soak everything up, learn as much as you can as there’s always more to learn and there’s always people who can help you, and work as hard as you can as there’s no substitute for hard work’.

I’d like to thank Natalie for taking the time out from The F1 Show rehearsal to speak to me and answer a few of my questions. You can follow her on Twitter here, find out more about The Mirela Fund here and look at her website here.