F1 Explains: How Press Officers tell the story
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Concept
driver announcements
“Driver announcements” are the official news releases when an F1 driver changes teams. The press office coordinates the story so everyone’s message lines up.
Concept
on track incidents
“On track incidents” just means something that happens while the cars are racing—like a crash or contact. The press team cares about how it’s explained so it doesn’t get misunderstood.
Concept
at fault
“At fault” means someone is considered responsible for what happened. In the aftermath of an incident, the press team tries to reflect the correct understanding of who caused it.
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When F1 drivers speak to the world's media after a race...
Kimmy Antonelli, Grand Prix winner, first Italian to win a Grand Prix in 20 years.
How do you put all of that into words?
Yeah, I'm speechless to be fair.
There's always someone standing next to them.
They're wearing team kits, they're usually pointing a phone at their driver.
They're possibly holding a water bottle.
You've probably seen these people on TV.
Kaleen from South Africa is one of many who has told us she has.
She asks, who are they and why are they there?
We have had so many questions about these people.
So let's get the answers.
This is F1 Explains.
Hello everyone, welcome along.
I'm Christian Hugill and this is the official Formula One podcast
which answers your questions about F1, not just what happens on the racetrack,
but off it as well.
You can send us questions about anything, within reason please,
and we will find the right person to answer them.
And we love how fascinated you are with every aspect of Formula One.
This is my fourth season doing this podcast now
and the detail you guys go into, it never fails to amaze me.
Those details include the people you see standing next to the drivers
when they're speaking to the likes of Lawrence Beretto on F1 TV.
Other reporters are available.
The drivers are usually saying something insightful,
like it's a long race or we have work to do
or looking generally cross if they've had a bad session,
you know, we need more pace, that sort of thing.
And standing beside them, listening closely,
is a team press or communications person.
It is a very interesting job done by very interesting people
and we shall now meet someone who has done it.
Sophie Arg was F1 communications director at McLaren.
Prior to that, she was head of F1 communications at Williams.
She has stood next to drivers in interviews hundreds of times.
But Sophie Arg, there is a lot more to it than that, isn't there?
Welcome to F1 Explains.
There is indeed and thank you for having me, it's good to be here.
It's an utter pleasure and I would like to start this interview with a story.
And I was a young presenter and reporter at a radio station in the UK,
working for the BBC.
And I was tasked with finding fun, cool stories about young people.
And being a Formula One fan,
when Formula One was just starting a bit of a rise in popularity,
I thought, hang on a minute, this sport that I love so much
is fundamentally young people doing cool stuff.
So I said, we shall try and get an interview with a Formula One driver
ahead of the start of the new season.
My boss has said to me, great, go for it.
I went onto the internet.
I went onto the Williams website.
I wrote an email and said, there's this new exciting talent called George Russell.
Would he be interested in coming to speak to us on the BBC?
And I got an email from Sophie Arg saying, come to Williams and talk to him.
And Sophie, we've known each other now for around about a decade, can you believe?
I know.
I know.
It's a long time ago.
I remember looking back at those photos and we all looked quite fresh-faced,
including George.
Including George.
Yeah, but that's what we do.
We're here to facilitate.
We're here to help you guys tell the story.
So that's exactly what it's all about.
Right, let's just start with a bit of a broad brush strokes
before we dig into some listener questions.
Sophie, if you could really concisely summarize the role, what is it?
Oh, that's a very good question.
The thing that everyone loves about it is that it's actually really difficult
to summarize what you do in communications in a very simple sentence.
I mean, essentially, you are taking what's happening in the team
and you are translating it into the external world for the fans.
I mean, that is literally the job.
The job is to make sure that people know what's going on in a nutshell.
But how that happens is from being track-sized, from reacting to things,
for organizing interviews, for helping manage the drivers,
helping manage the team principals.
I mean, there's so much we could literally be here for hours
in terms of what goes into that, you know, working with the partners,
working with everybody within the team.
And there's the event, the non-event, everything that's going on.
But essentially, the role is we know what's going on inside the team.
It's our job to help facilitate that information
and getting out to all the fans and everyone that wants to know what's going on.
Now, the most visible part of your role, I would say,
is, as we've just said, in the media pen.
For those brand new to Formula One, every single F1 pad at Casa Media Pen
is where the drivers come to be interviewed.
The team principals as well, actually, at various points in the race weekend.
And at every point stood next to the drivers,
you see a press officer, a media manager like yourself.
We have had, honestly, Sophie, so many questions on this
in the years we've been doing F1 Explains.
So Paul from the Philippines, Colleen from South Africa,
among many who've said,
when you're stood next to a driver in the media pen,
you're often seen holding phones or dictaphones when they're being interviewed.
Why do you record those interviews and what's done with them afterwards?
It is generally the question I get asked the most as well,
because I think it's that visible role, isn't it?
But it's very much the tip of the iceberg, what you see there.
So yes, you record everything that the drivers say,
and the main reason for that is just for an accuracy point of view.
So if something comes out in the press following that race,
you can kind of trace back exactly when the driver said it,
and if they actually said it,
because a lot of the time stuff gets taken out of context.
And so it's kind of a bit of a protection from that point of view
so that we have the fact that if we need to go to a media outlet
and we need to kind of have the conversation about,
this isn't really representing what was said,
we have the fact available and we know exactly what was said.
So that's kind of the baseline of why you would record it.
But then on top of that, you've sort of spoken to the drivers before about
things that they're going to get asked.
So you're kind of listening to hear what's being said.
You are reacting in the moment as well.
So it sometimes looks like we're kind of just stood there doing nothing,
but actually there's a lot going on in your brain at that point
because you're not only trying to figure out who you need to speak to next,
who you haven't spoken to, what broadcasters are currently live,
who's not live, where the story's going.
Are there any questions that are coming out that you hadn't anticipated?
Are there things being asked of the drivers where maybe they weren't aware?
I mean, they've just been in the cockpit usually for however long.
So there's sometimes things that get asked that they haven't watched back
or they haven't been made aware of.
So you kind of give them a little bit of context if needed.
And then, yeah, you're sort of supporting them through that moment
so that they don't have to think too much.
They kind of just focus on what they're trying to say
and you just kind of help guide them if needed.
But then you have that backup of you record everything.
I mean, you record everything because then you've always got a reference.
And a lot of the time that just sits in the archives
and you don't ever have to use it again.
And that's a good thing if that's the case
because it means everything's being reported fairly.
Well, yeah, and it should be said, shouldn't it,
that if your driver's doing an interview with anyone,
Canal Police, the BBC, you won't have access to the BBC,
Canal Police's system, where that interview goes.
And it might not immediately go on social media or the tele or the radio.
So you can't necessarily see it.
And that's something I didn't realise at first.
So where we see each other, Sophie, is at a race weekend.
Just talk us through what a typical race weekend looks like for a press officer.
Again, I'm aware just describing a whole weekend of your job could take some time.
So again, I feel free to summarise.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So in a nutshell, I mean, it's extremely fast paced
and that's again what a lot of people love about it.
But there is a huge amount of structure around it.
So you will always kind of do the same sort of preparation
in terms of processes going into the race weekend.
Before you even get onto the ground, you know,
you're looking ahead to what interviews you're doing,
what stories are happening, what you need to be managing.
And then when you get there, media day, obviously, first thing you do.
Which is a Thursday.
Which is a Thursday.
Some races, it's a Wednesday, like Vegas, for example.
But like most times it's on a, typically it's on a Thursday.
And there you're just setting the scene for the weekend.
You're, you know, responding to anything that's happened previously,
anything that's happened in between races.
But you're setting the scene for this weekend ahead.
And then when you get into Friday, you know, the track running starts
and it is very structured in terms of, you know,
the drivers would be on track, they'll have appearances,
they've got media that they need to do,
they need to speak about everything after they've done it.
Essentially, you know, they go on track,
they then come and talk about it to the media.
And there's a very sort of structured way in which that happens.
But equally, that's where it's also kind of exciting,
because you don't know what's going to happen.
So you're always having to react to what happens,
but until it happens, you know, you don't know what you're,
you don't know what you're going to be dealing with.
Now, I'm aware that we've only got to Thursday
and my question was, describe your typical race weekend.
We'll come back to the rest of the weekend,
but Olivia is one of the people who's been in touch on f1explains at f1.com.
And Olivia says, has there always been a media day during a race weekend
and what happens on it?
Now, you've been touching upon what happens on it there, Sophie,
because as well as the structured stuff that you mentioned,
like the media pen, which is always, always happens on a Thursday,
and then it always happens as well after free practice too,
on a Friday, doesn't it?
But also, that's when a lot of special requests, I guess,
are dealt with and content is gathered,
because if I'm sat at home watching f1TV or Sky Sports coverage,
a lot of that content might have been gathered on a Thursday.
And an interview with a driver that's happening before a qualifying session
as part of a television package might have been gathered on a Thursday, right?
Yeah, exactly.
It's the calmest day of the weekend.
It's the day that you have the most control over,
because you don't know what's going to happen the following days
once you get on track.
If there's been an incident in the garage,
you might not be able to get in the garage for a bit,
because the team are busy.
So Thursday, you know exactly how that day is going to unfold,
and you can do additional interviews,
you have additional time with the drivers,
you can do partner requests, broadcast media,
you can do different things off track maybe around the circuit,
because you can go and walk the track.
And a lot of it's kind of a preparation day as well.
The drivers use it to talk to their engineers
and to kind of get themselves ready for the weekend.
So it's a really useful day.
Like it's been a thing for as long as I can remember.
I mean, you've always, I mean, it obviously makes sense,
you're setting the scene for the weekend,
but it's a useful day to get as much as you can,
as much of that content done,
so that when they do get into the sort of sharp end of the weekend,
they can focus more on the actual job at hand,
and all those nice things that you can kind of see on TV
ahead of qualifying in the race.
You know, you've kind of got them in the bag.
Again, Olivia, you asked, has there always been a media day?
And this is one of the very few times on F1 Explains,
as I say, season four now.
I can't remember ever saying this.
We don't actually know, Olivia.
Me, producer Chris, who is an Oracle of F1 knowledge,
and so if we all got our heads together,
and we've all been looking at,
did media day ever like formally start?
And we don't think it did.
As far as we can work out,
it's sort of just organically started to happen
that as F1 got more popular,
the media got bigger, as weekends got elongated,
stuff started to happen on a Thursday in it,
around 15 years or so ago just started to happen.
But again, so if I grew up watching F1 in the 90s,
I can remember them talking about doing interviews on the Thursday,
so it just started to happen, I guess.
But listen, f1explains at f1.com.
If you know better than us, we'll happily direct it.
Yeah, please let us know.
We have no, I mean, it's always been a thing.
And I think there's always been it, it's been in some form.
I think it obviously became more formalized
because of the amount of teams, amount of drivers,
and amount of media,
because the media's obviously grown over the years,
and the output of that media as well.
You've not just got newspapers printing things
on a Monday morning, looking back at the race weekend.
You now have stuff that's going out literally as it happens.
Yeah, exactly.
So it's definitely become a more structured day
in the last sort of decade, hasn't it?
But I think there's always been some form of media day as such,
just in different guises.
Absolutely. Now let's just take a step back
because we were describing what a typical race weekend looks like.
We sort of covered off media day quite well.
Sophie, talk us through what happens with your job
when cars are on track.
Because I'm guessing that can be a very different job.
You worked at McLaren when they were winning races and championships.
You also worked at McLaren in some really tough times.
How do you respond to what happens on track
and how does that change your job?
Yeah, it's a different challenge,
depending on how things pan out on the circuit.
But you've got information coming in from all angles.
So you can see what's happening on track.
You can hear what the media is saying.
You can see what the media is saying
and how they're reacting to things.
You also can hear the engineers.
So you have a bit more context as to how things are playing out
and what's going to happen.
So you're always kind of formulating in your brain
how this is going to play out
and what you might need to do in terms of
what the media are going to want to know,
the information that they're going to need
and then making sure that everyone is aligned at the right moment.
So everything really kicks in.
In a race, for example,
everything kicks in at the end of that race.
And at the end of that race,
you need to have known everything that's gone on,
anything that could be potentially controversial,
anything that the drivers are going to need to know,
anything that you need to relate to the team principal and vice versa.
Because when you see kind of comms people
having to have these little conversations
with the drivers before they do media,
like it's not like there's anything sinister going on.
It's genuinely, they don't have the context
that even you as a fan have got watching the race.
They haven't seen this all play out.
They have their experience of it from sitting in their car
and what they saw happen.
And then they're about to go on the world's media
and be asked to talk about it.
So imagine you throwing yourself into an interview
and you're going to be asked about something
that you've actually not really seen.
So this is all going on in your head
in terms of the preparation you need to do.
There's also now the element of social media.
So from a comms perspective,
you're constantly talking to your social teams
because they're also talking about the race as it unfolds.
And you need to make sure that they're not putting something out there
that is inaccurate because they don't always have
the same information and context as you do in comms.
So you have to make sure there's a lot of moving parts
aligned and up to speed.
And also you're not just talking to your social team, are you?
Because I know that's where we've spoken during a race
where if something, I don't know, for example a driver has broken down
and people are speculating as to why,
that's sometimes where somebody like me covering the race
might drop you a text and go, well, what happened to your driver?
And you say, oh, no, it's an electrical issue, etc.
So you're constantly talking.
Just before we go for a break, Sophie,
you mentioned there that it's not about telling the drivers
not to say this, that.
But I guess there has to be an element of protecting these drivers.
The immediacy of media in Formula One is quite amazing.
You can step out of the car and immediately in the pit lane
be grabbed by a journalist, by a presenter.
I sometimes find myself saying, look,
don't forget drivers have come out of an unbelievably
high pressure situation with adrenaline pumping.
There must be times where you have to sort of say to them,
okay, they might be furious if an incident happened.
They might be gutted if they've lost out on a race.
They might be full of euphoric highs
and the emotions are going the other way.
I'm guessing there must be moments where you have to sort of say to them,
okay, let's take a step because we don't want to be saying
something that you're going to regret at this point.
Yeah, exactly.
I mean, they're human and emotions run high,
like you say, either way, good or bad.
And you do have a duty to protect them in that situation.
And if something has happened that hasn't gone their way on track,
like I say, the pressure of that situation,
it's kind of on you to get them to just step away and go,
okay, let's just talk to me about what happened.
Talk to me about what you want to say.
And then let's work out the best way for you to articulate your point.
And I think it's helping them in those moments
because essentially, you want them to be the best version of themselves.
You don't want to tell them what to say.
You don't want to say, just don't talk about this.
They have to acknowledge reality.
If something's happened, getting them to stand in front of a journalist
and just pretend it didn't also doesn't reflect well on them.
So yeah, I think there's definitely an element of protection,
but also just helping, again, give them that context,
give them that understanding and also just have a minute
because sometimes all it takes is you just need to decompress for a minute
and then you can kind of go, okay, I can see the bigger picture now.
And then it's kind of better for everyone
because the media also then get a better answer and a better response.
And Sophie, you mentioned earlier that part of your job is dealing with,
as you called them, partners, but sponsors or advertisers to the team.
That's something we take very seriously in the world of podcasting as well.
So we'll pause now for some messages from people
who would like you to spend your money on their goods and services.
Back in a moment.
Welcome back to F1 Explains, where this week we are digging into the role of press officers,
media managers with Sophie Og.
Sophie was the F1 communications director at McLaren prior to that.
She was head of F1 communications at Williams.
Sophie, I don't mind telling you that I did have to go back to my notes
for your exact job titles, which I could never remember,
which is a consistent thing in Formula One.
Everybody has incredibly complicated job titles.
It's a joy interviewing a team principal because you know what that is.
Anyway, moving swiftly on, we will now speak about an F1 Explains superfan.
Ryan from New Zealand has several questions and also says,
Hello guys, you officially took my number one spot in my 2025 Spotify Wrapped.
Thank you for making my commutes and downtime,
as well as ironing in the garage.
So much more interesting.
Ironing in the garage is an interesting place to do the ironing.
Sophie, why do you do your ironing?
You're asking me the question like I do much ironing.
I was going to say you.
Sophie has someone to do her ironing for or I reckon.
Anywhere in front of a TV.
Yeah, ironing in the garage is interesting.
Anyway, I've been sidetracked.
Ryan, thank you for listening.
We very much appreciate it.
Ryan sent several questions on this.
And as an F1 Explains superfan, we shall answer them all.
Ryan says, Sophie, is there any collaboration
between the different teams press offices
to ensure consistent messaging,
especially following a major on track incident between drivers?
That's a very good question.
Yeah, it's an interesting one as well because I think like all roles in the team,
you know, you are, you do talk to your equivalents in other teams.
Everyone does it from the, you know,
the drivers obviously talk to each other,
but all the way through to logistics, team managers,
you know, everyone will talk to their equivalents
because it's a useful thing to do to be aligned.
I think in terms of collaboration, in my experience,
I don't think I've ever collaborated as such in those moments,
but you definitely do align on things.
Maybe not on track incidents.
There's definitely alignment around sort of race weekends, media events,
you know, you never want to clash in terms of what you're doing over a weekend
with media, for example, and car launchers.
And there's probably a lot of collaboration actually around driver announcements.
So for drivers leaving one team and going to another,
that's one place where you really do collaborate
and you do make sure that that is sort of handled respectfully, should we say.
But in terms of on track incidents, I think you would talk.
So if there was something that was particularly heated,
I would sort of reach out to colleagues at other teams,
but you wouldn't necessarily try and script anything as such
in terms of that kind of collaboration.
I think the only times I've ever really reached out to teams
when things have happened is if maybe the other team or driver
has put something on maybe social media or the driver said something
that isn't actually quite accurate and is maybe not representing
what happened in the right way.
I think your focus in that moment is more just
ensuring that your own driver has the information
and what they're saying and how they play it out.
And in your mind, you know immediately if it's someone's at fault
or if someone's made a mistake.
So I think your focus at that point is on your team,
but I would reach out if we felt there was a need.
And the other team would as well, you don't want it to become unnecessarily big.
No, sure.
And I do remember things like I mentioned,
we first started speaking when we were talking about a young George Russell
as he was coming up through the ranks.
He made his debut in 2019 alongside Lando and Alex Elbon.
I can remember an event years later with the 2019 rookies
where Lando was there, George was there and Alex was there.
And I guess for things like that, you'll all talk to each other
and things like that or when drivers do features with a driver
they may be friends with who works for another team, for example.
Yeah, exactly.
It's good and it's everything's like elevating the sport.
So there's a vested interest from everybody to do things
that help benefit the sport as a whole.
If you need to step back and protect your own team and your own driver
then you will do because that's the job.
But you also have the context of knowing what's going on.
An on-track instrument is always a really interesting moment.
I think if it's an on-track instrument with another team,
most of the time the drivers are pretty good.
They know how to navigate the stuff.
They also don't want to, they kind of move on quite quickly.
If it's an inter-team thing, that's maybe when it's a little bit more challenging.
Actually, you've come on to Ryan's second question here.
Ryan's second question feeds into exactly what you're saying.
So apologies for interrupting.
But Ryan said,
how much autonomy does a driver have to speak to the media?
Are they coached or are they required to give scripted responses?
Yeah, I mean, this is also a thing that I think gets asked a lot
because if drivers look like they're being scripted, people don't like it.
And at the end of the day, they're not scripted.
We do guide them.
We give them key messages.
We give them context.
But authenticity is so, so important.
Like they need to speak in their own voice.
They are human beings and they need to be able to speak.
I mean, I know different teams will take very different approaches
into maybe how much autonomy that they will allow them to have.
But essentially, your goal is to support a driver
to be the best version of themselves, right?
So they want to kind of convey their message,
whether it's a positive or a negative message.
You know, there's always a good way to articulate it
to get your point across,
even if there's something that you're saying that's maybe,
yeah, not particularly positive.
There's usually a reason for them doing it.
So kind of helping them articulate it in a way
that people can kind of understand where they're coming from.
That's kind of where you would guide them.
And I think it's different guidance depending on,
you know, if they are doing a launch at the start of the season,
then yeah, there's certain key messages they need to hit
because they are the spokespeople for the team.
If it's them responding to something
that's actually happened to them that's on the track,
you know, they have to be able to speak to an extent,
their own feelings and their own experience.
And actually, if I can answer a little bit of Ryan's question as well,
the majority of my work before Formula One in sport
was in football or in soccer, if you're in the USA or wider.
I would definitely say that Formula One drivers
are given way much more autonomy
than a lot of the football clubs and football players I worked around.
There's definitely a willingness for F1 drivers
to be individuals and to talk and to show their character.
I think that's something F1 drivers
are encouraged to do more than other sports.
I would argue as well is part of the reason
why Formula One has had its upsurge in popularity in recent years.
But because people like to see these guys sense of humour,
they like to see these guys personalities.
Yeah, exactly that.
I mean, it's what everyone wants to see.
You know, you want to watch the driver talking
and feel like you're listening to the driver talking.
So, you know, you don't want them to look scripted,
you don't want them to look like they're just a corporate machine.
A lot of these guys are pretty young
and you want to see that personality,
but you just have to make sure that you protect them where needed
and give them guidance where needed.
But it's got to be them.
It's got to be authentic.
Otherwise, yeah, why would you follow?
And final question in the Ryan from New Zealand section.
This is the thing.
If F1 explains his number one and you Spotify route,
do you get your own section, guys?
So, get listening.
You know, Ryan says,
how did you get into your role
and what sort of background do you need to become a press officer?
Great question.
We get asked a lot about getting involved in Formula One
and this podcast, Sophie.
Yeah.
I mean, there's so many different routes
and to try and put my 25 years of motorsport
into a very quick sentence for you is quite challenging.
But I mean, I came in with no connections.
I had no motorsport connections, whatever.
And I just fell in love with it as a teenager
and then reached out to a local racing team
to starting some work experience when I was 15, 16.
So, I started by washing wheels, polishing body work,
just literally doing anything to be around the industry itself.
Originally wanted to be an engineer or an aerodynamicist.
Pivoted away from that slightly
and obviously went down the PR route.
But I didn't really know what role I wanted in motorsport
until a little bit later on
and then just got experience through agencies,
small race teams, junior Formula
and kind of then worked up to going to Williams in 2010.
And it was all through contacts that I made in those roles.
But it all started by me literally
just finding a local race team up in Yorkshire,
ringing them up and saying,
can I come and do some work experience for free?
And I used to go and help out on race weekends.
So, I think there's like I said,
there's so many different routes you can get in now
and there's so many different ways.
But it's that experience.
And the one thing I always say to people
is don't wait for things to come to you.
Make them happen because that's kind of how I started.
I literally just picked up the phone and said,
can I just come and be around it?
And then from then just worked up.
And it is, it's all about the people.
It's all about the connections you make.
But you don't have to have them to start with.
You create them, you make them,
you reach out to people, you start being visible.
You kind of show them what you can do
before you almost have the job.
It's always that age old saying, isn't it?
It's like sort of do the job that you want,
not the job that you've got
and kind of keep just showing people that it's,
you know, it's something that you've got a passion for
and be prepared to work hard as well.
I think that's a lot.
It's an easy thing to say,
but I think it is, everyone's so accessible now.
You can get in touch with people so much easier.
I mean, I had newspaper clippings on my walls
of like anything I saw in the newspaper trying to track down.
And I have letters from F1 teams that I wrote to
when I was like sort of 17, 18,
because, you know, the only contact I had for them
was a postal address.
You know, now just reach out and get experience
and just start doing stuff.
Just start getting experience
in the role that you want to do,
but also in the industry itself.
And it doesn't necessarily need to be formula one.
I think a lot of people fix eight on,
you know, it has to start with formula one.
There are so much motorsport out there.
I mean, I did 10 years of like junior formula,
international racing, single-seaters,
full touring girls, all sorts of stuff.
And a lot of those contacts are still people that I talk to now
or they're journalists that cover F1.
So just, yeah, just kind of look at all the avenues in.
And don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it
because that's the big one.
There's excellent advice.
And you reminded me actually of Laura Winter
on this podcast last season, Sophie,
who said exactly the same about other forms of motorsport.
Also other sports, you know,
you can get experience in other sports
and look to move across.
And Sophie, it's what I've got a lot to thank you for
because I'd say go back nearly 10 years now.
I think you were one of the first.
I was the same, you know, my story.
I had no motorsport connections whatsoever.
And I again was firing off emails to formula one teams
as a young journalist saying I want to cover formula one.
And Sophie, you were, I think, the first to come back to me.
So thanks, mate. Appreciate it.
You're very welcome.
And it's the one thing I always say as well.
And the biggest piece of advice that I got given
is it's really important to celebrate everyone else's success.
And you want to see other people do well, you know,
and responding to you as a case in point of fact, you know,
it helped you.
But celebrating other people's success
doesn't limit your own success.
And I think that's one thing in this sport
that people need to remember
because essentially it is a team sport
and we all need each other.
And it's better if we all work together.
So, and that example is exactly why, you know.
It's lovely words, Sophie, lovely words.
And right, two questions to end on Sophie.
The first one is a slightly cruel one.
But I think you'll understand why I ask it.
Now, I, as I said, can vouch personally for the fact
that you like your drivers to be open.
You like your drivers to be honest.
There must be times, though,
where there are things that you don't want to be
in the public realm maybe at all or maybe quite yet.
Are there ever examples of that where you are having to say
to people that we don't want people to find out about this
just yet?
And how do you deal with that?
Yeah, and that comes back to relationships, isn't it?
It's about people in the sport.
It's really important, especially with the media.
It's important to have respect.
And I think I've always worked on the basis that,
you know, I respect everybody is doing their own job.
You know, media want to get stories out there.
But equally, you all need each other.
And it's those relationships that you lean on in those moments.
And it's the same thing that I always say about,
you know, media want access when you're doing well.
But if you give them the same access when you're doing well,
that you give them when you're not doing well,
you kind of hope then that they'll still talk about you
if you're not doing well.
As much as, you know, you will kind of help them out
when you're in a situation where actually you've got,
you've kind of got more to offer them.
And I think, yeah, it's genuinely the relationships.
And I have, I've had some many conversations over the years
where media will, I mean, it's a,
the paddock is one of those environments
where things don't stay quiet for long.
Things are known.
Oh, people love a gossip.
Everybody loves to have a gossip.
And it is, it's almost impossible to,
we always say it's impossible to announce anything new.
But I think where you have those respectful sort of
relationships with the media, you know,
the journalists will come to you and they'll say,
look, we've got this story, we know this is happening,
or we know this is going on.
And then again, it's, sorry, that was the cat jumping up.
I'm actually, I'm actually going to leave this in the edit, Sophie,
because Sophie was saying beforehand,
my cats come towards me whenever I'm talking.
And we've got right to the end of the podcast.
And was that, was that a cat jumping off the desk?
That was a cat jumping up onto the cupboard above me.
So it may come down again before the end.
What's the cat's name?
This one is Molly.
Thanks, Molly.
Molly, Molly's interrupted, Sophie.
Sophie, you were saying?
Yes, I was saying, so yeah, you journalists will get wind of things.
And that's when you lead on those relationships.
That's when your relationships really are the one thing
that you need in this role in terms of that,
that sort of working respectful relationship with the media.
Because you can, you can sometimes offer something else to say,
look, we'll give you this exclusive if you hold this,
or you're just speaking to say,
actually, there's a reason why we can't say this now.
There's a reason why we want to say this at this point.
Work with us.
We'll give you more if you kind of hold it and work with us.
And then you'll kind of work with the journalists
on what that story is and how those things come out.
And sometimes it, you know,
sometimes journalists will just write things
and things will get leaked because they want that.
But for the most part,
the ones that you're going to be working with
and have been in the sport for a long time
and they understand it and they have that kind of mutual respect,
you can find a way through it.
And it is tricky, but like I say, that's where it's really important
to have that mutual respect.
And it's very important in this role
to be able to cope with the unexpected,
including cats doing acrobatic moves
in the middle of answering questions.
And you passed the test with flying colours, well done, Molly.
Sophie, this has been really interesting on to end
with a fantastic question from Rachel from Cork in Ireland.
Lovely part of the world.
I went on stag do there once.
Lovely part of the world.
Do excellent whiskey, which I enjoyed responsibly.
Anyway, Rachel says,
when the race podium finishers have sprayed the champagne,
speaking of enjoying responsibly, and taken the photos,
do they go straight to the press conference and media
or do they get a chance to dry off or change?
Great question.
Yeah, really good question.
And it depends how much you are expecting that podium
as to how much preparation you will have in place.
So, yeah, that was Molly jumping down.
There's Molly jumping down.
Thank you, Molly.
Perfect, perfect.
Yeah, so they do have an opportunity to change
and they'll go back to the cooldown room.
So the cooldown room, which you actually see on TV now,
you see them sort of chatting away,
so they will have spare kits in there.
They'll meet their driver trainers.
So their driver trainers will basically take their kit
and when they come off the podium, they can change
because they'll probably be ridiculously sweaty
and ridiculously sticky by that point.
So it is nice to have a change of clothes.
However, if you are potentially not expecting that podium
and you haven't gotten to the process of doing that,
then you may not have a change of clothes.
And that's when you often see drivers that they weren't
expecting to necessarily finish on the podium
or they haven't had a podium for a while.
When they do go to do media, they will still be very sticky
and you can kind of tell because it's not very easy to hide it
if they are kind of covered in champagne.
But at that point, because it's something
that's maybe not expected, they don't mind it
because it's kind of just adds to the moment.
But yes, for the most part, they are all very prepared.
And this is where I learned that champagne absolutely stinks.
It was doing an interview.
Stood next to you, Sophie.
When I was interviewing Zach Brown, Zach had just been sprayed.
I didn't realize that champagne once dried to a human.
It's dry.
It gets.
It really has torn me down.
And I told Zach on the television that he smelled
and he laughed and didn't mind, fortunately,
but he didn't mind.
Yeah, in those moments, you don't tend to mind.
Absolutely.
Sophie, thank you.
This has been fantastic.
Was somebody stood next to you holding a phone
during this interview or was Molly the cat doing it, perhaps?
No, I feel like I should have had somebody here
just for the moment, but no, I'm all good.
Sophie, this has been brilliant.
I think so many of our listeners have asked about this.
I think this has been a real fascinating insight
into some of the bits of Formula One you don't normally get to see,
which is exactly what we try and do on this podcast.
So, Sophie, you are one of Formula One's best humans.
I really appreciate it coming on F1 Explains.
Thank you, Sophie.
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
An absolute pleasure.
Keep your questions coming.
They can be about any aspect of Formula One.
If you're more new to us, as I say,
sometimes we do talk about the more on-track stuff,
but you can ask about any aspect of F1 on or off track.
Just email us f1explain2f1.com.
You can write your email in words
or you can send us a voice note.
Check out the latest episode of F1 Nation on this feed.
Of course, Tom Clarkson and his guests have raised previews
and raised debriefs.
And don't forget our other official Formula One podcast,
F1 Beyond the Grid for interviews
with some of the biggest names from in and around the sport.
We are back with new episodes of F1 Explains every Friday.
So, until then, we'll say goodbye.
Bye for now. See you next week.
About this episode
Press officers and communications staff are the people “standing beside them, listening closely” as drivers speak to the world’s media after races. They translate what happens inside the team “into the external world for the fans,” often in the media pen, while recording interviews for accuracy and context. The work ramps up at the end of a race, coordinating across track, engineers, and social teams—correcting inaccuracies and guiding drivers with key messages, not scripts. The episode also follows post-podium routines like the cooldown room and spare kits.
Original notes
You've seen them standing alongside F1 drivers in TV interviews. They're holding phones, recording every word the driver says. Who are they and what are they doing?
F1 Press Officers and Communications teams arrange the interviews you see and hear every race weekend. They're the link between the team, the drivers, the media and fans around the world.
Sophie Ogg, who was formerly F1 Communications Director at McLaren, joins Christian Hewgill to explain what's involved in the job: dealing with media requests, working with adrenaline-fueled F1 drivers and reacting to breaking news - all with the aim of letting fans know what's going on inside a Formula 1 team.
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