Behind-The-Scenes of F1 & How Mainstream Media Is Changing Motorsports With Naomi Schiff | LuxeGen Podcast

0:00Welcome back to the Luxury Group Chat. We have a special episode today, hot off the tails of Silverstone last weekend and F1 season. Lola and I are joined by broadcaster, former racing driver and now one of the most recognisable voices in motorsport, Naomi Schiff. What is the most expensive part of the sport? The equipment is one thing, you're paying rent and like use of that car. A test day in an F3 car costs 15 grand. She's here today to chat about her journey into motorsports and her broadcasting career, her opinions on the industry today, particularly with the influx of motorsport in mainstream media.

0:31Have you guys watched the new F1 movie? Lewis obviously helped them get access to everything they needed to. So they were heavily embedded in the sport. It's not like they tried to make a movie from a distance. Like they were actually on the grid. Plus she tells us some behind the scenes secrets and stories. For example, she was on the James Bond movie. Anytime you see Lashana Lynch in the car, it's me crying. And the unexpected celeb fans of F1 that she met. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas. No. And I was like, excuse me, what? It's a good one. Enjoy. Well, welcome, Naomi. Thank you so much.

1:04Thanks for being here. We're going to kick off, as we do every episode, with our outfits. So, Lola, what are you wearing today? I'm actually, I just realised before you said that, I'm full mango today. Are you? Yeah. I think mango is so good at the moment for summer clothes. So this is their summer collection. So nice and in trousers, but I love the, like, thick waistband because getting too full covers it. This little poncho. poncho sort of thing and then little white mango tea underneath and then burks of course because i don't want to wear anything other than burks at the moment are those the ones we got the other day yeah at macarthur glenn very nice naimi what are you wearing today so starting with the shoe i'm wearing adidas japans which are low profile so it gives you the racing feel frankie shop blazer and i think this is just like a zara basic bodysuit then yeah just my accessories my tag watch my favorite accessory oh it's glistening yeah that's it really love zap i am in a tea from the brand called too young for sushi i feel like we keep talking about the fish trend at the moment and i've actually had this very just so it's sardine girl summer apparently it is sardine girl what's the brand called too young for sushi it's very cute it's really it's on instagram they've got some like what does that even mean i don't know i actually don't know what does that What's the like PG, PG what to eat sushi?

2:25I just don't know. But also when I tuck it in, it just says too young. I'm like, yeah, cool. Yeah, love it. Some Zara linen trousers and actually some Zara mules as well. And your necklace. Oh, this is also Zara. God, we've got a lot of Zara wrapping today, but this is such a good find. Actually, they have like a set of three. And I think they come out with this every year with like fun little charms. But it's just a... Love the little chili on it. Yeah. I love the chili. Naomi, we're very excited to speak to you today. We want to start at the very beginning. I hear that you got into racing and motorsports from like a birthday party or something yes how did you kind of get into it and how did you turn it from a passion to your career when I was young I was always very very competitive like from a young age I everything I did whether it was play monopoly or do sports at school I was everything was a competition to me so the inner competitor was always there and from already quite a young age I was competing in the likes of like judo or athletics at school.

3:18I did a lot of swimming as well. And then, yeah, one day I was invited to an indoor go-karting birthday party of a family friend. I love those parties. It was actually the first time I'd ever done it. So I'd never been to an indoor kart circuit. I think when I was really young, I always wanted, like, you know, those electric toy cars that kids get? Yes. That was always like my dream gift. Like I always was waiting for someone to give me something like that. So the idea of driving was always, I guess, something I was somewhat interested in. Then yeah, I got to this indoor go-karting birthday party.

3:51I must have been quite good at it because if I wasn't, I would not have enjoyed it. And then yeah, at the end of the day when they said it was over, I was quite like sad. I was like, no, please, can we go again? And begged my dad to take me back on multiple occasions. And he did, which was really helpful because had he not, we probably wouldn't be chatting here today. um but yeah it was quite quickly after that that you know I switched that from just like a fun hobby thing that I was doing with my dad um to racing yeah it took exactly pretty much a year and I was signed up to my first race that's so quick and how old were you I was 11 so I was 11 when I was like when I went to the party and then like for a year we were training and like going out and driving a bit and then by the time I did my first race I must have been either just about to be 12 or 12.

4:39Where was it? This was in South Africa so yeah I was born in Belgium and when I was about four we moved to South Africa so that took place in South Africa. You started professionally around that age when you were 12 and how was that sort of how did you I guess progress in that way like how many years did it take to you to get to that level where you were like oh my god I've made it? So yeah it's difficult because when you say professional it's like it's professional karting as in it's like yeah but you know no one's paying you to do it right so it's like it's not hobby level anymore it is like competitive sports but it's not you're not necessarily making a living out of it so it took me well as I said we trained for a while my dad actually bought himself a go kart before he bought me a go kart because it's an expensive sport right so if you're gonna invest in it you want to know that your kid is invested like not well like committed right so I went with my dad so many times and then eventually he realized that like this was not fading like my interest in it wasn't fading and he thought it was a phase and it was yeah I thought it might be a phase right and fair enough because you you don't really know yeah especially when you're so young you're like oh exactly yeah your interests come and go so quickly so like eventually he bought me my own go-kart and then we trained uh up until the first race of the next season which was 2007 was the year I started um and yeah at first I actually didn't want to race like I was really enjoying just driving around and like getting good at it but I always say that it was like a time in my life where like being 11 12 years old you're like becoming very socially aware and like you really just want to fit in and you don't want to like stand out and I remember going to the racetrack and there was no one that really looked like me and I was like do I want to be compared to the boys I didn't really know um the only girl so there was probably like one or two other girls in other categories so not not many at all yeah and I remember when like in that phase of karting there were probably four of us in South Africa as a whole and we were like racing in different regions so it wasn't necessarily that every time I rocked up to the track there was another girl I might have been the only one sometimes so yeah so it's like quite a contrast and it's quite daunting at that age but with a little bit of tough love my dad was like we're just going to sign you up to the first race and then if you don't like it we won't do it again and thankfully I came out of that race with a big smile on my face and loved it so yeah to answer your question it was about a year from the indoor karting birthday till when I was entered into my first race and I raced at club level for the first year but the next year after that I moved straight up to national level so I was competing in the South African championship it always surprised me how young people are when they start like it's actually crazy that you can even drop like even to think of someone like at 12 or 13 being able to drive is crazy so the so the the crazier thing is that when I started, I was very much behind the curve.

7:26I was actually quite old. Yeah, you start a lot younger, don't you? Exactly. So most people nowadays, I think, started roughly six or seven. But in South Africa, there was a category that was even younger. So most of my competitors had started at the age of four. So to think that at 12, your competitors have eight years of experience over you is also just, yeah, the numbers. Yeah, we had met Bianca Bustamante. And she had come on here and she said, when she was three, she was doing it. To be fair, yeah. Yeah, she was super young. And it's so cute. I mean, when you see the kids racing at that age, it is very cute.

7:57But yeah, I obviously was busy doing something else when I was three. You were doing it all, basically. Yeah, I was sophisticated. You were doing judo. No, I think I was probably playing with some dolls or some cars or some toys. Drooling on myself, I don't know. Nothing too sophisticated. Well, what was your kind of biggest pinch me? I mean, you've raced, you've won, you've done all the big things. Out of all of your kind of career, what's the thing that stands out to you of like, I can't believe I actually did that? Pinch me moments I think happen so often now to think like where I started and how hard we worked on getting somewhere in motorsport.

8:29And then obviously things have taken a bit of a turn along the way. But there's a lot of pinch me moments. I would say more so than a pinch me moment. I think something that was really pivotal was when I raced in W Series, which was the first ever women's racing series. Yeah, I think that was really a turning point for me, especially in the way that I see motorsports. and the importance it's given for me anyway into like what's my why and like why am I doing all of this. But yeah, I think probably qualifying to be on that grid. So there was like hundreds of women from across the world who entered and then I think 60 of us were selected for the first phase and then finally it came down to like 30 of us and then 18 of us made it onto the grid.

9:08So making it onto that grid was definitely something for me that was first of all, I thought it was quite an achievement. But second of all, yeah, it changed the course of the rest of my life. and how old were you when you made it onto the W Series? that would have been 2018 how old would I have been in 2018? wait I was born in 1924 I was 24 wow that's amazing and I mean you obviously now are a huge broadcaster presenter, pundit what sort of made you step back I suppose from being behind the wheel to doing that? I would love to say that it was like a decision that I solely made myself motorsport as you probably know is a very expensive sport and yeah I think I basically I started racing when I was 12 in 2007 and then when I was finished with high school I moved back to Europe to like follow that dream and that passion so I was 18 then and we never really had a lot of money at home so my dad did everything he could to put me through some of my karting but even in karting we already had sponsors and help yeah and then to make that step from go-karts to cars is even more expensive and it was quite difficult for me to get backing in Europe because I was less of a known name so I mean my dad took a second loan on his house to send me racing for a year and the championship that he invested that money in went bankrupt and so we lost the money after like one or two races I hadn't been able to make a name for myself and all that money went to waste which today I like I understand more than I did at the time like what kind of impact that would have not only on me in the moment which is what I cared about at the time but also on my dad and then from there if I'm totally honest it felt like you know when you falling and you're like trying to catch yourself and you're like catching yourself for a while I feel like the rest of my career was just like struggling to get above the water or like struggling to keep on my feet because we just always were scraping for like sponsors here a sponsor there and people will look at sometimes will look at my results and be like oh well what did she achieve or what did she do and I think they don't have an understanding of like how those things work and the fact that I never ever like the from the time I moved to Europe until pretty much 2018 which so that was like a good six-year period I never competed in a full season of anything because we didn't have the money so I was driving like I do a race here in one championship and then like two races in another championship and we were just like always trying to get something going and then eventually I was like scouted by a team that was based in the south of Germany and I got a five-year contract with them which was great but I still didn't do loads of driving because they themselves needed money so they put a lot of paid drivers in the car and when there was an opportunity for me to get and I did so yeah I think it was like a long time coming and W Series was like the last saving grace for me where it was like okay now I can compete at an equal level with you know on an equal playing field I don't have to bring money to this and whatever and then when that sort of when I wasn't on the grid for 2020 in that case which ended up there was no grid because of it so my plan was 2020 I wasn't going to be on the W Series grid but my plan was to try because of the traction that I had in 2019 being in the series I was going to go out find the sponsorship like train prepare myself and I hadn't been in a single season for six years when I raced in W Series yeah so I was like having to like dial out all my GT driving habits and learning as I was going because I had no money to go testing that year.

12:35So I thought to myself, you know what, I'll take a year out, I'll find the money, I'll train and then I'll come back in 2021 bigger and better and faster and you know, everything will be grand. And then obviously COVID hit. So all the drivers who'd been selected for 2020, they were automatically going to be transferred to the 2021 grid because the season was cancelled in 2020 so that grand plan of mine would then have meant that I would have had to be out of the seat for two years which in itself is really difficult to keep sponsors on board when you're not really competing anything and training and training exactly yeah so like at that point I knew like it was really yeah like the end and I wasn't getting any younger so I was 25 then going on 26 probably would have been 27 when I got back in the car and I thought to myself where is this going you know like how much longer am I going to struggle um and then yeah so I was kind of trying to make a decision mind you throughout all of that racing career of mine I was working jobs so I'd learned a lot along the way and I'd managed a race team and done a lot of other things I'd stunt I was stunt driving in movies and I was trying to think like what do I want yeah that's the last James Bond oh amazing no time to die so anytime you see Lashana Lynch in the car it's oh my gosh that is amazing but that's really interesting like I think people obviously know that most sports is a very expensive sport but the fact that you you know had to do other jobs and work about the same time is really interesting I think not as many people know that yeah yeah totally you typically see on the f1 grid like a lot of the drivers had come from quite a lot of well growing up a few haven't but the like difference in just like opportunities are so like varied if you don't already start with money what is the most expensive part of the sport the combination of everything we're like traveling all over the world so there's like big logistical costs there's you're dealing you're not like it's like as if you would go to a lawyer that would cost you a lot of money you're dealing with like highly qualified engineers so like just the time that you have them on track with you costs money yeah so it's like the expertise the the cars obviously the equipment but the equipment is one thing you're paying rent and like use of that car yeah and it's broken down into like what that costs over a lap so a test day in an f3 car costs 15 grand yeah yeah it is wild and i mean that's like with a very like with a good team you can you can probably get in a car for a little less if you yeah you know but if you want to win yeah exactly exactly and that all has an effect and you think like consumption of tires consumption of fuel you've got to pay to rent the track or you know you're not necessarily renting it exclusively but you still pay a fee to be there for the day so that like the money just adds up you've got to get a truck and a truck driver and they've all got to bring all this equipment and it's just like quite a big organization to get to the track which a lot of people don't see now you sort of see the glossy end product of like you know yeah it's like a fashion show almost and they're not saying like no you pay every little bit for it totally yeah out of your own pocket I mean the sponsors help no but look I mean it depends like my dad could only get me through my carting phase and then after that everything was either sponsors or like being a part of a team that were like okay we see your talent we're going to support you yeah but those opportunities come few and far between and then even the money that sponsors are willing to put in it's like they want to return and it's difficult when you don't have access and like all this money and maybe some of your competitors have access to so much more.

16:05So it is, yeah, tricky to, but yeah, so I, honestly, it wasn't my personal decision to end, like end my career. I would have loved to have continued, but I also knew that like I had been trying for a very long time. Like it was 16 years when I stopped and I was like tired. But it's like a very smart pivot because you have all the expertise, you've been there. So now being able to present and be a pundit, like, you know, that's kind of possible. Yeah, well, it wasn't even my, it wasn't necessarily like my idea to present. I was actually working for W Series at the time. So in that year that I was off in 2020, they had asked me to come on board and help them with some stuff.

16:43And they obviously thought I was quite good at it and had asked me if I wanted to join the broadcast lineup in 2021. And I thought, you know what, why not? Like, I'll give it a try. At that point, I was like, didn't really know where my life was going. Like in my head, I was always going to be a racing driver. And that was like a huge part of my identity. So I was like having a bit of an identity crisis, like what's next? Who am I if I'm not a racing driver? And then this opportunity came up and it honestly just, I want to say like I stumbled into it. Did you know you were going to be good at that?

17:13I would say that I was never like afraid of a camera. So, but at the same time, I think because I was coming from such a naive point of view and that I'd never put much thought into presenting. It wasn't something that I dreamed of my whole life. Like when I first did it, there wasn't like all this weight and pressure on my shoulders because I hadn't built up this moment to be like, I'm finally doing it. So I think right now and now. And I think that I kind of eased into it because I didn't understand the gravity of it. If anything, like later on, I went. Oh, shit. This is for real. There's like millions of people on the camera.

17:52So, yeah, it came it came quite naturally to begin with. And then, of course, when you step up, then you know that like you're working with the best in the industry and whatever you want to like live up to people's expectations. And you realize that there's tricks to the trade that I had to learn and all that stuff. But yeah, it's been a learning curve for sure. And I've enjoyed it a lot. You touched on this before, but you were obviously one of the only women and the only woman of color on the track at that level at that time. And still now you're one of the most visible women of color in motorsport.

18:19Do you feel that sense of, I guess, responsibility, pressure? Like, can you speak to that a little bit? Back to where I was saying that W Series for me was very pivotal. Like motorsport can be a very selfish sport, right? There is a big team behind you that make things happen and you can't achieve the results you do without them, 100%. But at the end of the day, you're the person in the car. You're the person who stands on the top of the podium. You're the person who collects the trophies. And it can be quite a selfish cycle. And it becomes all about like collecting these trophies and I did this and I did that.

18:49And that's great, right? We all love sport. We all put a lot of effort into it. We're not knocking anyone. But when I raced in W Series, there was actually an event at Brands Hatch where they brought down a group of girls from an organization called Goals for Girls. Who all come from like difficult backgrounds and all have like not all of them necessarily were from minority ethnic backgrounds. But a lot of them were. They came to the track and they saw us racing in W Series. And they were all so surprised first and foremost to see women racing. yeah but the majority of the girls who were from minority ethnic backgrounds all came to me and they were like but how are you doing this like as if it was even more shocking that a person of color could be racing you know and that for me was a real like coin drop moment in my career where I remember as I was saying when I was young I would go to the track and people didn't look like me and I was quite lucky that the year I started racing in 2007 was the same year that Lewis started racing in f1 so whilst he wasn't exactly like me i had someone in the sport that i could identify with as like an identifiable role model and i knew that that was important for me you know at the time when i was young so obviously i'm at this track on this day and all the girls are like shocked and leaning towards me and are clearly very inspired and i thought to myself oh wow like i could be that person for someone like maybe this there's a bigger picture here we were talking about this earlier that motorsports has come such a long way I mean even just with more women representation um but also the the younger fans the mainstream movies like Tate McCrack doing music videos I know right but like with all of this conversation and this kind of spotlight what's your opinion on it all I'd love to know I think F1 Liberty Media have done an incredible job because when I was young and I was racing I can't like I don't remember any time my girlfriends were interested in coming to a race or interested in what I was doing.

20:45Today, all of my girlfriends love Formula One. And so just to see that direct change in my own ecosystem is amazing. But yeah, it's opened up like our sport, which sometimes can be quite difficult to reach or get to because it's behind like quite a big barrier. It's opened it up to the world. And I think Liberty Media have done, as I said, an incredible job of changing the way that they approach an audience drive to survive obviously played a huge role in you know the the change in audience and the demographics and we can't like honestly I think I can't you can't quantify how much of an impact that that's had on the sport but drive to survive on its own is not enough right we need to be able to convert those drive to survive fans into formula one the sport fans yeah and have them stay on board so like i obviously work with sky sports and we think a lot about how we can change our content to make it more interesting for a wider range of audience because of course in the past your traditional motorsport fan was like a middle-aged white man like from a middle-class background and today that's changed a lot of course now it's the girlies yeah i mean yeah we've got it catered to the girlies and whilst that's not I wouldn't say the struggle but that's the challenge because you've still got a traditional motorsport audience that are still 100 dedicated to the sport and we don't want them to feel like what's happened to our sport right I was saying earlier yeah that obviously the drivers aren't as keen on drive to survive and they've kind of hinted I mean Max has definitely said it like clearly I was wondering like earlier is it a positive and negative I understand the positive is you've got the girlies involved we're all watching but a negative for those like traditional fans who now like just look at the races like a fashion show or just a tiktok round like do you think it's kind of like equal for the og viewers 100 i think if anything the og fan is still the fan that we cater the most to like the sport hasn't changed fundamentally when lights go out on sunday with the same stuff we're talking about the same topics it's still strategic it's still technical we're still bringing that kind of um that content and that information to the audience as we always have but i think often change is met with resistance and it is daunting to people when they feel a sense of ownership over something but we've ultimately opened it up to just a much wider like okay everyone's got their lane right you've got your traditional motorsports fan you've got your girlies you've got your girlies who are really technical you've got like there's there's literally a lane for so many different people our challenge as broadcasters is to make it interesting for everybody you know that traditional motorsport fan is still a huge part of the audience and it's probably still the most committed part of the audience and so you you can't forget them you've still got to cater to them in the way that you had in the past but what can we add what can we tweak like what graphics can we put on screen that make that technical element more understandable for someone who's new to the sport definitely had a lot before like when I first watched drive to survive which is how I got into it like I'm not an OG watcher um but I did get a lot of like boys or men coming up to me being like but do you even know what like DRS means like you just watch drive to survive like you don't really know and I'm like no actually because yeah it's my stepping stone but it got me to understand what actually is going on in the race of course and you're right like sky like puts on screen like kind of like understanding about tires and like I wouldn't have really got that from drive to survive like it is just like clear now which I think is the like important thing for like people our age so of course and look I think if you don't know what DRS is that's okay yes thank you you know like you don't need you don't need to know you don't need to know what DRS is to care about a sport and as you say it's just an entry point and you it's a point of interest that you have and And over time, you will find out with D.R.S.

24:46It's like, that's okay. You don't need to prove yourself to anyone. Sport, it's an experience, an independent experience for each individual. The way you consume your sport can be completely different to the way I consume sport and the way you do and where people would put us into one box, but we're completely different individuals. So you do you. That's the beauty of it, really. Have you guys watched the new F1 movie? I have not yet. Of course. Okay. for any of our viewers listeners that maybe don't even know what it's about what's the story like what is it what are we covering in this movie Brad Pitt who is like we're covering Brad Pitt no no that's the it starts with him and his band he basically used to race like really really young and he stopped when he was like young because of a crash he had some big crash this isn't a spoiler is this a true story as in is he no this is not based on a true story okay his teammate mate basically approaches him because he's in a load of debt and his team is really struggling comes to him being like I need you to race and he's like he goes to this test day and they've got a really young rookie there too who's like who is this old guy trying to take my seat like get him out he basically joins the team because his knowledge is like amazing about cars it's like everything he's ever known like whereas this rookie doesn't really know as much and basically it's actually quite sweet at points but also kind of confusing they kind of like lift each other up help each other in the race but they also have like this massive rivalry between each other yeah like the other driver's damson idris so it's damson and brad and okay yeah the dynamic is interesting if you've watched snowfall like i i loved seeing him with a british accent it was really nice because snowfall he had an american yeah i think it was great fun seeing all the like drivers have their appearances now and again love oh there was some cameos yeah yeah yeah yeah so they spent two years yeah you would have been there yeah yeah i mean i was looking for myself everywhere when i was in the theater like where am i i know i was in the back of that shot yeah actually there's a race where they are um doing the national anthem at the british grand prix and this was two years ago and i was wearing a bright pink suit and i was like if i'm not going to see myself in this shot because as sky like we always stand right behind the drivers when they do their national anthem and you can i'm very very very blurred or you can make out literally all you can make out is like a blurry pink doll but i know i know that was me um but so yeah they came behind the scenes and i think lewis obviously being you know i think he's producer on the movie yeah loved his bit of tension right yeah and so lewis obviously helped them get access to everything they needed to so they were heavily embedded in the sport it's not like they tried to make a movie from a distance like they were actually on the grid in silverstone yeah actually took the start with the drivers i thought they were maybe being like sets and like creating it sort of separately but they were physically there they were physically there they had their own garage they had their own pit wall yeah they were fully embedded in into the f1 experience so i think they tried everything they could to make it as authentic as possible i know there were colleagues of mine like bernie collins she's an ex aston martin strategist and she was also a race engineer she was on board with them as a consultant helping carrie who's basically technical director in the movie which i loved who was a woman exactly totally so she was helping her like just from tiny little things like her notepad on the on the pit wall she would ask bernie like what kind of notes would you typically have so that i don't just put random information on this so they really really did their due diligence you know like they they were very detail oriented i think to be honest it exceeded my expectations.

28:28I don't know if I unfairly had low expectations because like it kind of like we're in the sport, we live it, we live it, we breathe it, we're in it all the time. Like in my head, I was like, how is this ever going to live up to what Formula One is? You know, how do you replicate this? So I'd set the expectations low and I think that they did a fantastic job in conveying the sport. I think the only two things that I thought I didn't personally love so much was the portrayal of women in the movie. Can I just say, and this is having not known very much, I love the pop culture tea. Simone Ashley apparently just got like completely cut out of the movie.

29:06Yeah. And do we know why? Do we know what the storyline is? I think because they didn't want to run with another like sort of relationship line. Oh, it was a very mad storyline. I don't know what her original character or storyline was supposed to be. But from what I hear, it's also the movie is already very long. and I think that they felt that in the end her storyline maybe wasn't that necessary. She was another love interest. They've got a woman who's on the pit crew and like one of their lead mechanics. So they did put women in like those front facing positions. But the part where it felt a little flat for me was that the mechanic, like in the first scene we see her is like making mistakes and like fumbling things and they kind of had to like build her confidence.

29:48And then with Carrie, she obviously has the love interest. Spoiler alert. Yeah. She has like a bit of a one night stand with Brad. It could have been any woman in the movie. It didn't have to be the technical director. But in any case, so that was one thing that I think I didn't love. I think there's a responsibility to make the woman in the sport look serious. Yeah. Maybe that would fall flat a bit. She was such a girl boss in the beginning, Carrie. And then like Brad was trying to convince her on a date. and she was like, no, not unless you like drive faster or win. And then they, I think they kind of lost it.

30:22They made her look a bit more, I don't know, vulnerable. Also, she was taking a lot of advice from him, which like, hear me out. Racing drivers do have a lot of input and they have to do a lot of feedback with their team, but she's supposed to be the technical lead and the technical director and she's like taking all this advice from Brad. I'd love to know from everything you've seen, racing commentary behind the scenes, where do you see the opportunities for growth and involvement with the sports so like what could evolve to take it to the next level i mean all these things we've been talking about and to be honest i don't think that there's anything wait i'd have to actually really think if there was something i felt that still wasn't like untouched and and not being worked on because i think as a whole whether it's something that seems on the surface quite small like a driver's parade with the lego cars did you guys see that i loved this yeah it was hilarious and the drivers were actually having the time of their life oh my gosh they had the best time ever i think it was the best driver parade we've ever seen yeah they were they were buzzing they were buzzing but like just little things like that that are again putting the sport in like some of the spaces you maybe least expected like now all of a sudden there's viral videos of like lego and the lego is such a household thing that like most people you know have played with lego bricks and so that kind of thing is is great like everyone are really trying to be a part of like the wider like cultural zeitgeist and like showing up in places where we haven't seen it before um f1 academy is doing so well so again from the female perspective there's always room for change and for things to get better but we've got such positive momentum and brands are getting on board like really cool brands as well charlotte tilbury i mean so many there's so many wonderful brands on board f1 is ticking like so many different boxes but of course like we still want to see direct impact of like having still a more diverse paddock and that's not necessarily just female it's also like more people of color more people of you know different abilities different abilities like we want the paddock and the sport to represent society you know when or reflect society i should say a little bit more but again as i say they are working on a lot of those things so it's really positive to see it's actually come such a long way and that you know generally you don't think there's too much more that it needs to and you can really feel that like the the push is not necessarily just coming from f1 like the teams are buying into it the broadcasters are buying into it like everyone is sort of carrying their weight a little bit but of course like this is a change that's going to take time it's not going to happen overnight but it's good to see like we're in a very positive space i'd love to know from both of you any predictions or thoughts ahead of the new regulations coming for the 2026 season and who you're backing who i'm backing it's always mclaren okay always and i just love oscar i love lando too but oscar's something so sweet like just like root for him he's just so cool like yeah nothing ever faces him like he could win or lose and his face would be the same yeah and i mean obviously he's really passionate about it but he's like very very he's like a duck yeah like on the surface you don't see anything and underwater yeah he's probably paddling but um it's interesting I went to a car track in South Africa quite recently and all the kids love Oscar yeah like I was so surprised by that because I would have thought like Lando is maybe like a more of a flamboyant character but Oscar's got all the kids on on side they love him I think maybe because he was so young when he like got onto the f1 grid that a lot of people like see themselves in him yeah and he's just kind of like he's not too aspirational he looks just like kind of a chill guy that you want to hang out with just like a normal next-door neighbor kind of guy exactly but yeah I mean look the kids out there are spoiled for choice today I mean there's so many amazing young drivers who have six rookies on the grid this year and like Antonelli who's yeah I mean I just it blows my mind that he's going from like standing on the podium at a race to then rocking up at school the next day to do his final exams.

34:22How old is he? He's 18. And so the regulations, what are the changes happening before the 2026 season? Oh my gosh, it's a very, very big change of regulations. So every couple of years, every four or so years, the regulations change, technical regulations change, which I think sometimes is a little bit of a shame because we're getting to a place, like we started this set of regulations that we're currently on in 2022. and the racing like clearly red bull got off like on a flying start yeah and then mac spent a couple of years like winning everything by a margin and slowly but surely because of the law of diminishing returns like all the like if they were at the limit as red bull all the teams slowly like getting closer and closer and eventually like mclaren got there and have actually overtaken them and the racing today is so interesting last year was so interesting and now we're going to start all over again it's like kind of like you go back to the drawing board but because it is like the pinnacle of motorsport and it's all about technology and innovation and a lot of these teams are representing their road car brands like they want to show why they're the best at you know like creating the next best thing um so yeah so this time around we have a really big power unit change.

35:37So we're going into like Formula One have a big goal to get to net zero by 2030. So this year already we've got fuels that are more sustainable. And so obviously we're heading in a much more sustainable direction. So essentially we've got this massive power unit change next year, but there's also a lot of chassis changes. So I think it's possibly one of the biggest rule changes we've seen in a long time. And I think it will, yeah, from what I'm hearing it's a very big challenge for the teams and it might change things up a lot which is kind of nice to know that like yeah I just really want to see like Abu Dhabi no offense but 2021 all over again all over again like I just want to see that I remember that was that season was great it was amazing Abu Dhabi unfortunately was such a shame of a result because yeah just the way things went down it just well the rules changed was obviously like everyone felt like Lewis was robbed.

36:34Yeah. And rightfully so. But then also I feel really bad for Max because he wins his first world championship and it'll forever have like... They have a cloud, yeah. Yeah, although like the whole... They came into that weekend on equal points. So either way, they would have been deserving winners, you know? So real shame. But the season was great. It was an amazing season. It was such a competitive season. Yeah. And then the couple of years after it was a bit slow because Max was just dominating the field. Yeah. So this could shake things up basically. Yeah. No, I think it'll be a massive shakeup.

37:03And I think the engines are obviously going to play probably the biggest role. You've got like Mercedes engines or Mercedes power units, which are used by quite a lot of teams. So like McLaren use a Mercedes engine. Williams use a Mercedes engine. Aston Martin do as well. And then Red Bull are creating their own motor. So this is their last year with Honda. And from next year, they have their own engine. So Red Bull powertrains. Wow. I wonder how that's going to turn out for them. Yeah. I mean, I think that they have been working on this project for a couple of years already. So the thing is in the sport, there's such a big transaction of personnel and like key people.

37:37And I'm sure that there's expertise of people from Honda and other teams and power units, manufacturers that are coming on board for Red Bull. Like, I don't think that they're coming into this. Not blindsided. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I think they're prepared. But of course, it's a big challenge for everyone. It's like, it's a huge change this year or next year. so yeah it's going to be interesting to see where people stand and there's a lot of conversation about where max is going to go exactly that's what what do you think um i think that he would be foolish to go anywhere until we know what's going to happen next year because literally i think it could completely change the results next year could be completely like we will have no idea until we watch exactly what is going to happen so if he's got a contract at red bull if there's no real reason to leave like being unhappy there then i would say he should stay and wait to see what teams can produce next year because he basically can pick where he wants to go.

38:31Yeah, I think he can really pick. When this goes live, it would have just been Silverstone. So this goes just after. But retrospectively or in the future looking at it as we're filming before, what are you looking forward to? What is your day kind of looking like? Who are you looking forward to see? In Silverstone? Yeah. So honestly, Silverstone is one of my favourite events on the calendar. It's not necessarily one that I always say to people like go and visit because I always love a race that's near like a great city um but I have to say because Silverstone's a little bit like remote they do such a great job at like entertaining fans who are on site I mean you've got incredible lineups in the fan zone we've got Ray performing on Friday night.

39:14Sapna you should go on holiday don't be there. Oh gosh I think it's going to be great and also I think for us and when I say us I mean Sky as a broadcaster it's really where we meet a lot of our fans like it's as I say like a lot of the time you're just talking to a barrel like a camera and you don't think of the two other side of it yeah three plus million viewers who tune in and so it's nice to put faces to to those people and to meet the audience which is really lovely and yeah there's just such a buzz about it I mean we've got a lot of British drivers on the grid so the fans are just like really invested um in their drivers and their British drivers so yeah it's just a lot of fun it always produces great racing so I'm excited for the race a lot of things go down at the British Grand Prix exactly it's all the tea I remember being in the paddock and I'm like I'm never having loads of time in the paddock because I'm running from like one broadcast to like another or like one location to another and this kid comes up to me when I say kid I mean he must have been like 15 or 16 and he approached me and he was like oh my god Naomi I just wanted to say like I'm such a big fan of yours and like my parents are such a big fan of yours and I was kind of like okay cool like thank you so much and like you know like it happens but I was also in a bit of a rush so I was like cool cool like I just didn't know like did he want a picture or like where was the conversation going so so he's like yeah like every Sunday like we tune into the show and we just love to see you and like my parents just love Formula One as well and like blah blah blah and he's going on and on and then he's like about to whip out his camera and his parents rock up oh my god who are they Catherine Zeta-Jones and michael douglas no and i was like excuse me what okay oh my god that's a good picture right busy anymore you were like i'm gonna stay i mean i still did have to run but in my head i was thinking like again back to this point that i've said that you know we broadcast down the barrel you don't think of like the homes you get into or like the who these people are that are watching you on air and to think that katherine zeta jones and michael douglas are fans of mine did not register to me.

41:17I was like, how is that possible? That is so cool. So that's a real like pinch me moment. I'd love to know your advice for any, I mean, our podcast is, you know, for the girlies, any young girls getting into motorsports or even just getting into watching it and, you know, being involved. What would you say to them? Don't let anyone tell you what you can and can't do or like how you should or shouldn't show up in a space. Do you, if there's something that you love about a sport or anything really in life, like back that up with hard work, dedication and don't let anyone tell it like don't let anyone put a ceiling above your head like the the world is your oyster and I think that's so cliche to say no it's so true like the world will put so many barriers in your way like do not be one of them yourself like you've got to convince yourself and back yourself that you can do whatever you want and then the rest you'll take in your stride that is very good advice we're gonna do a bit of a quick fire now do you want to fire them off yeah okay best race you've ever done I would say 24 hours of Nürburgring.

42:14Okay. Favourite track racing or reporting? Favourite track racing, I would say Spa or Sepang, which is in Malaysia. I love both those tracks. And favourite track reporting, I would, oh gosh, the list is long. How are you going to make me decide? Based off of last year's Soli, I would say Mexico City. Good one. Yeah. Yeah. One career or life decision that didn't go to plan but ended up being the right one? Retiring. Retiring for motorsports. Most stressful live tv moment so far i once at the british grand prix choked on a bug live on air so british did you like cough loads or were you trying to like i was like yeah then i was hoping the cameraman and the soundies would understand that there was a breakdown and like pan away from me and i was like mid-answer as well oh no yes it wasn't even like I was just stood there.

43:09I was mid-answer and I don't know what kind of insect it was. Did you address it? We kind of had to. We kind of had to. We had to, but yeah, mortifying. Pre-show hype song. I used to always have a pre-race hype song. Now I'd say anything Burner Boy or anything kind of music. I just saw them. Most underrated F1 driver right now and your favorite? Most underrated? um I'd probably say Gabriel Botoletto just because he's a rookie on the grid and I think he's got a lot of talent but he doesn't necessarily have the equipment to always show it off Isaac Hadjah's been doing a great job and that's why I'm saying he's not underestimated because we've seen some great things from him this year and your favorite of all time oh gotta say Lewis I don't think that's a secret to anyone though like I'm not really supposed to have favorites or like I would say when I do my job I'm able to be totally non-biased but he was my hero growing up Yeah.

44:06Can't ignore that. Yeah. Favorite paddock fit you've ever worn? You know, I have to wear five, oh no, four outfits every race weekend. Really? Yeah, because we start on a Thursday, so. Oh, so one for media day. One for media day. And I think like I usually ramp them up. So Thursday is quite casual. Then every day gets a little smarter. Do you go like suiting? Do you go like. Yeah, I mean, it's a tricky one because you want to be comfortable. You want to be like appropriately dressed for the environment. you're like I'm not on a red carpet or whatever so I still want to look good and I want to feel good in what I'm wearing but I like I'm not allowed to wear open-toe shoes I'm not allowed to wear heels yeah because we're in like a working environment in the pit lane or on the grid you're not allowed open shoes or heels so I wear a lot of boots trainers and now thank goodness ballerinas have come back in yeah because like now we've got more options of closed-toe shoes um but yeah so I it's a lot of outfits to have to go back through in my mind but not the pink suit in the back of there's probably like two that stand out in my head when I think of it now last year in Monaco I wore this really nice Jean-Paul Gaultier suit I like Monaco because it's like I like a race where you can have a bit of a theme for the weekend the classy theme yeah yeah and then I once wore this like just to um double denim like skirt and jacket combo and it was just really cool I just felt really cool when I wore it so there you go love thank you so much Naomi for all of that and guys don't forget that we film all our podcasts ahead of to YouTube if you want to watch it and see what we're wearing and don't forget to subscribe wherever you listen to your podcast and we'll see you very soon bye