Simon Lazenby: F1 Presenter REVEALS The TRUTH About F1’s Paddock Politics & Journey to the grid
Road To Success with Benedict Fowler
Simon Lazenby: F1 Presenter REVEALS The TRUTH About F1’s Paddock Politics & Journey to the grid
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Concept
Formula One
Formula One is a type of car racing where the fastest cars compete in races called Grands Prix. It's famous for its exciting races and high-tech cars.
Term
Senna and Prost
Senna and Prost were two famous race car drivers who had a big rivalry in Formula One. Their races were very exciting and are remembered by many fans.
Term
Mansell
Mansell refers to Nigel Mansell, a famous British race car driver who won the Formula One championship in 1992. He was known for being very competitive and exciting to watch.
Concept
Formula 1
Formula 1 is a top-level car racing sport where teams compete in fast cars on special tracks. It's famous for its exciting races and skilled drivers.
Car
Geo Prism
The Geo Prism is a small car that was made in the late '80s and '90s. It was popular because it was cheap to buy and good on gas, making it a practical choice for many drivers. People talk about it because it shows how car companies worked together to make reliable vehicles.
Concept
motorsport pyramid
The motorsport pyramid is like a ladder for racing. It starts with small races, like go-karting, and goes up to big events like Formula 1. It shows how drivers can move up to bigger and more competitive races.
Concept
Sky F1
Sky F1 is a television channel that shows Formula 1 races and talks about the teams and drivers involved in the sport.
Concept
paddock
The paddock is the place at a racetrack where all the teams park their cars and work on them during a race.
Concept
safety car
A safety car is a vehicle that comes out during a race to slow everyone down when there's a dangerous situation, like a crash. It helps keep drivers safe until the track is clear again.
Concept
yellow flag conditions
Yellow flag conditions mean that something dangerous has happened on the track, and drivers need to slow down and be careful. It's a way to keep everyone safe without stopping the race completely.
LIVE
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I don't even plan what I'm gonna say when we come on air these days it's just camera goes on to
peak. Hello everybody Simon you are the voice that guides millions of fans through tension,
drama and chaos at race weekends. So what I have been there and done is an anchor I suppose for
best part of a generation. Remember Pat Simmons remember him looking around the first one of
the hardest times to talk is normally when you're stunned and it was Grange on going into that
battle. Yeah but I remember thinking in those 27 seconds how's he getting like that and that's
not survivable. This game that we're in in TV quite a lot of the time it's about survival.
Do you want to carry on doing what you do for the rest of the time?
Simon you are the voice that guides millions of fans through tension,
drama and chaos at race weekends. You're also built up of much more things other than
Formula One that's been part of your story but in your own words who are you and what do you do?
Who am I? Wow that's a deep question isn't it to get started? I think I'm just a bloke who's
trying to feed his family and do it. We have so much good fun doing what we do. I know you're
saying you've just been to see Karun and Ted. Who am I? I'm just part of this SkyF1 team who I hope
bring as much pleasure and insight as we can to the viewers on a week to week basis and love going
around the world doing it with a group of mates. See the wonderful thing about sitting in a van as
we said a minute ago doing a podcast and relaxing is there's no pressure because we can cut part
the edit if we really have to. We're very chilled it's cuts out all the noise of the outside world
but I always think there's something poetic about the phrase pressure makes diamonds.
You've written a whole book called Pressure and you live that every weekend in front of millions.
What does pressure mean to you like after two decades of it? Do you get stressed presenting
in front of all these people live? I get far more stressed doing things like I've done a
couple of best man speeches or speaking live in front of 30, 50 people or maybe 100 or whatever
because you get an immediate reaction. The thing about TV is that I'm there and I'm broadcasting.
I've got a couple of mates next to me who I can always rely on if there's a problem
just to just to chat to bail me out at problems. I've got I'm really good friends with the load
of the crew to the sound guys, the vision and the camera guys who are stood behind the camera.
So it's just like you're broadcasting to those 10 people. I never really think
that there's millions of people watching. I think if you did that you'd go slightly crazy but
it's got to that point where I suppose I've been doing it now for
26 years is it or something like that? Something like what year are we now?
20, 25. I've been doing life sport and I think it's still a massive buzz
but I get nerves before the big ones but only slightly it's like you just get used to it.
If you could pick like just a couple of bullet points and you understand why in a minute of like
your top moments like pinch me like how the hell have I been here? What would they be from those
27 years? 2021 was one of them. I just remember Crofty just wrapping up that race after him
and Brunner had called it and thinking what the hell am I going to say now? And you're right for
once I was like well you know you've got to start with controversial end but I still remember it
like it was yesterday because I think we were all aware of the kind of scale of how controversial
it was. I still by the way don't think it's a conspiracy. Sorry Hamilton fans it was and it
was a refereeing error but one day they'll unpack it. I think one day when everybody's out of the
sport maybe with a bit of time and space everyone's going to have the opportunity to understand that
more completely but I think that's the seminal moment of my broadcasting career in terms of how
you know just how seismic it was. So you growing up if we shoot back 27 years and I put that Simon
opposite me in the van and I explained to him that you'd be broadcasting that moment and sat down
with all of the drivers and talking through what's going on in chaotic dramatic and exhilarating
races not only that you'd have covered Rugby which is a huge passion of yours and done all of these
things what would that Simon think to me telling him that? I don't know I think the thing with these
is they always happen in stages so I still gotta say I've talked about it a little bit about when
I first started I went into TV because my sister was working on a thing called the Big Breakfast
back in the 90s having a great time organising you know competitions with two people hitting
each other around the face with haddock I think on a dead haddock on a beach. Sounds like Fawie
Teller. Yeah it was a little bit weird but she was having such a good time doing it that I thought
I just want to get into TV I was trading commodities at the time and I was you know shit at it basically
and I just saw right what can I do and I'd always kind of been asked to you know host I think I
hosted the rugby dinner when I was at school or whatever and I just I was one of those personalities
I suppose that people just thought well give him a go to it. Is that because you were the biggest
personality in the room? No I don't think I'm actually it's really weird I'm I'm not I actually
get and crew will tell you this I get massively socially embarrassed if someone is being loud in
public I'll be under the table can't stand it can't stand it you know sometimes that's you know
when you're traveling through airports with Cofty it can be a little bit like that sorry
Cofty but no it's it's it's I don't know I just I suppose or maybe I'm I am reasonably outgoing
but I got that I got that kind of bug to do these things and started off I got a bit of work experience
in in Sky I was making the teas and coffees and then had a really good boss called Martin Turner
who gave me an opportunity to do some reporting and then I did reporting for a couple of years
and then went into the boss's office and just asked can have a go at presenting and I think he
kind of looked me up and down and went well he's got enough balls to come in here and ask me if I
can have a go and in that day in those sort of days Sky was I don't know it's really young company
so they gave people opportunities he didn't need to have a broadcast media degree or anything like
that I mean I studied biology at university so I had no I had no training really and they just
trained you on the job but where does the balls to do it come from so many people miss so many
opportunities by not doing something not saying the thing because if you don't ask you don't get
is the old saying so but where does that come from you can't just do that overnight it's got to be
grown I just think it's just like thinking if you want to if you want to progress in life
you've got to kind of take control of um your own destiny that sounds a bit cheesy but you've
got to you've got to give it a go right if you I've always been taught by I suppose it comes
from you your folks just give it a go you know give it your best shot if it fails then you know
you've tried but if you don't try you don't know so that's kind of stuck with me I think
do you come from like a family of rugby lovers uh my dad yeah played rugby um and then yeah coached
me a bit when we're at school and stuff like that he yeah he loved he loved rugby uh my mum
loves it as well that's that's the kind of background and I think that that that essence
of team sport um has been always I mean I grew up crawling around on you know the bar floors where
my dad was you know having a couple of drinks after rugby you know a meadhurst rugby club and
you know he cheesed only in crisps and nicking pipes of coke off of other of other kids as we're
all sort of enjoying that we got to know that that rugby is the the ultimate team sport or I
thought it was until I got involved in formula one and you realize just the size of these teams
and I think that's what we've kind of tried to foster in in the sky team is make sure that it's a
a really good team no egos get too big for it and I think that that I hope that comes across
on screen is that we're all mates and that's because we're a team and we operate as a team and
we're only as good as some of our parts which is the same as any rugby team or any any sports team
right do you think rugby is one of those sports that makes people so much tougher than most others
though um I don't know about tougher he's changed though I'm worried for rugby because
you look at what's happened to Lewis Moody for example just recently he's just been diagnosed
with ALS which is like MND that Doddy Weir had that that sadly got him and I worry about the
future of that sport just because of the knocks and the impacts and of course it's tough um
but it the thing about rugby that makes it or I thought was the ultimate team sport is you can
be any shape or size and you've got a role in a rugby team you can be the little chippy one like
me and you can be the scrap half or you can be the big unit that you know is stocky and is a is a
pro yeah my dad was a front row forward he was a hooker so he's uh kind of he grew up the cold
face of it and I think we kind of all learned from there when did you open your eyes to your
first Formula One race do you remember something in your earliest years that was like the most
significant oh you seem that I mean I remember obviously remember Sen and Prost but I think it
was Mansel in 92 just I've we get accused you know we're a British broadcaster we are broadcasting
primarily although we are broadcasting to people around the world we are first and foremost broadcasting
to a British British audience and I always grew up extremely patriotic so it was Mansel
and then it was Damon and I was lucky enough and have been lucky enough to be friends with Damon
since we started doing this which is which is great and we made a film together which is brilliant
so I think it was yeah that I think it was the 90s really when I was a teenager watching
watching Mansel and Damon but let's not skip over that you made a film Hill the documentary
that going from a position of watching something on tv admiring what they do admiring their skill
their ambition their dry the tenacity to sort of working alongside them do you get any sense of like
imposter syndrome or how the hell am I kind of here I think all sports presenters probably get
that if you've not been a sportsman yourself so I was just a you know a keen amateur sportsman
everything I've ever done I can't can't profess to be especially anything but I've always been
all right at most sports and I had it when I was growing up in when I started on Sky Sports News
and then I did overnight crickets with some of my heroes I love cricket so you know Phil Tuffin I
was great you know Clive Lloyd and these guys won't mean anything to you but as a as a cricket fan
in both them all of those guys David Gown working with working with them and footballers on Sky Sports
News that I grew up with you kind of you get used to it because they become part of the media and
stuff and I have imposter syndrome and I'm talking to current players or current drivers because
they're in it and we are there to get opinions out of pundits with regards to how they are
performing so you feel a little bit like I'm an imposter here but as soon as they come to the other
side or they retire a lot of the time they become one of us and they're part of our world and I
think therefore you don't feel like you're an imposter anymore I think that's really interesting
there because even in the two years I've been interviewing people and people from around the
kind of F1 space as well I have found that having a conversation with somebody that's left F1 this
is kind of away from the broadcast in space your team principals drivers etc is so much easier than
someone that's currently in it because I've never seen a sport where they have such a like a wall
up and what they can say which makes your job extremely difficult right is that it was it
very different to rugby um I think it changes I think you get the three phases of a driver's
career right so the first couple of years they come in they really get to talk to the media and
people like us it's like you know they're trying to build their profile they're trying to become a
name they're also trying to deliver on the track but they're open to doing bits of media look at
Max for example I remember we were doing all gnats and and Jody were doing knife throwing with him
in Budapest and you see some of the early videos of him and Daniel and he was really open to the
media all right and then and it's not just him by the way I'm just talking about all of them then
they get their first big contract and they've said okay right I need to make a career out of this the
next sort of three or four years and I see it happening to land now into wasca you know there's
world championship on the line now so they become more serious and they become more closed off because
people want more of their time and then you get to superstar status which is Fernando Lando Max
multiple world champions and it's on their terms they they'll talk to you if they want to talk to you
in terms of an immediate perspective but they don't need to they kind of they don't need the media
anymore it's about them protecting and doing what they want when they want really so that brings me
on quite neatly for a second to choose a word that matters most because so many people obviously
think of everything in the current you present in the current you're live but there's so much more
that goes on from years they say you work five years and become an overnight success yeah there's
so many things that you do you plant seeds to be able to get the conversations get the information
and get someone to open up in the present but i'm going to give you five words yeah and i want
you to choose the one that stands out to you the most based on what you do that's kind of like the
most important one is reputation mm-hmm two is pressure three is access four is authenticity
and five is trust what do you think matters the most if you could keep one as a superpower it's
your number one uh authenticity or trust i mean i very very almost similar things if you're authentic
people will trust you so they're kind of one and the same for me i have people tell you i'm i'm
useless on social media and all that sort of stuff it's not for me leave your ego at the door and
try and uh just be as as real as you can i mean obviously you're a version of yourself on tv
probably have my telephone voice on people that know me outside of formula one would uh
would say i'm completely different off camera to one camera it just didn't yeah there's certain
ways and certain things you can say on camera but certain things you can't so you know you are a
version of yourself but that doesn't mean that you're not still being authentic i think i think
you said something that will open a lot of people's eyes there because certainly the perception from
a fan yeah is that current drivers especially the superstars for instance have always hated the
media will always hate the media absolutely to test doing interviews to test being on camera
you're all a bunch of idiots it's part of the thing that they just don't want to do and that's
kind of the perception i feel from a wider audience rather than that real core audience in the middle
but then that's not the case then their first couple of years you don't don't see coming through
they're the people that are desperate to build that whole profile and that shows how much that
whole profile matters to a team because maybe that's kind of part of the lando oscar situation i think
i think lando has become much more aware of what the media is saying about him and judging everything
that comes out of his mouth it's really difficult i can't imagine what it's like fighting for a
world championship but i know that i did the lie detector with lando there is no there's been no
better guest than lando on the lie detector and i think if you put him in a space he's still the
same old lando but right now he's got his game face on more than ever he's feeling the pressure
more than ever that's only going that way as we come to the last what we've got six races left
and three sprints something like that he is trying to win a world championship and got everyone
questioning everything that comes out of his mouth but he's a he's a great lad so is oscar
but at the moment they've got bigger things to worry about than the media they just need to
focus on the job at hand and i think that's the thing which is slightly unfair because you think
they've changed they're behind closed doors and with their with their teams they probably haven't
but to us they just they've i think they've shut up shop a bit more because they're focusing on
something that is bigger than them to all my loyal listeners listening on spotify apple and
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streaming platforms beyond hundreds of thousands of monthly listeners thank you so much for listening
to this episode of the podcast and i really hope to bring you some more inspirational guests soon
as you mentioned like you've got a job to do when you go there and you your friends would maybe
identify you as two different characters between the simon on screen and the simon off screen when
it comes to asking something to a driver and you've got to be the simon on screen how often do you
that you didn't have to do some of those situations you know it's not want the people want to ask that
you're asking it to in the flesh but you've got to do it because you are the simon on the spot
i don't know it's just part of the job you get those like i really don't want to be asking you
this please see through that i don't want to be doing this do you but i've got it no i think that
i think 27 years of doing it means that you can compartmentalize it you can go right okay
this is the question you've got to ask and you can try and frame it as politely as possible
leave it to the m with toto or leave it to nico rossberg because he's going to come straight in
with and give it as as blunt as you like but uh no i think we we try to ask the right questions
if they're tough they're tough and that's that's the essence of what we do do you think that's
a really important part about having a mixed team though you talk about team you talk about
who you've got on that broadcasting space and i love watching it i love all the different segments
like millions of people because as as much as people throw a comment in there as i don't like
this person i don't like this person i don't like this segment we still watch yeah if you're
giving it your watch time there's something about a film that pulls you in yeah a piece of content
and tv when you do say like i could just show it to nico do you notice that the drivers that have
become presenters are the ones that will kind of ask the unfiltered questions no issue whatsoever
um because jack theonerve's really outspoken as well and they are and i like the fact that we've
got someone our team now that are unfiltered right and i don't think they're trying to be
controversial for being controversial sake it's just you're right they they have a certain perspective
on it that is a prism of how they've looked at it through their through their through their own eyes
and you i mean jack has very strong opinions nico has very strong opinions all a lot of
most of our pundits have very strong opinions i think nico and jack in particular are um
they just tell it as it is and how what they believe and if you don't like it fair enough
they don't seem to worry too much about what people are going to say in the comment section
i think that can be a limiting factor these days is that people are worried about the
comeback because there's an immediate comeback but if you don't look at social media and you
themselves i think one thing i really wanted to relay or add value to this conversation from
from your story is when we think of different sports yeah how someone could get into a different
sport a lot of the time they would potentially be easier to access than formula one there's even
some olympic sports that if people train for five six years if they're in their 20s they'll
they'll be there by the time they're in their late 20s with f1 it all starts if you're going to get a
really earlier as early as humanly possible now a lot of those drivers have gone on to be
commentators and people in the media yeah but there's so many people that are starting formula one
pages podcasts doing reels my friend bella's always in the plane doing awkward interviews or
getting something out of someone and i think that having someone like yourself to have a conversation
with today really gives those guys hope that's not necessarily had a seat in those cars before
has that ever bothered you at any any point have you ever felt like oh i don't quite have that
bit to be able to talk about is it just that your job is to lead the team yeah to present
and point to the right people that do have that yeah i mean i my if i'm doing my job correctly
you almost you don't notice me and that sounds like a weird thing to say but it's the truth
i think this this game that we're in in tv is all quite a lot of the time it's about survival
it's about basically doing a job that you love and staying around as long as possible and
not annoying people watch it's watch you do it so for me it's it's it's a case of we have got
world-class guests you know you've got you got brundle right you've got nico you've got we did
have daemon you've got jack villner you've got jamey chadwick who's coming who's been brilliant
got bernie collins who's absolutely sensational all these people have been there and done it and
i haven't but what i have been there and done is been you know an anchor i suppose for the best
part of a generation maybe two generations now so i know that it's their opinion that counts
it's their opinion that matters not mine so that's that for me if i do my job correctly it's getting
the opinion out of them and generating debate between them so that's that's the key thing are
you also involved a little bit deeper than the camera lens in planning what conversations you're
going to have planning who's going to be the people that interview a certain person obviously
there's a bigger beast at play here this is sky sports yeah but like what do you think that you
do that necessarily people wouldn't see through the lens well i mean we ultimately we work with
producers to shape what it looks like so i think we drive conversations we talk to the producers
we've got a really good team behind the scenes so we have an on-site producer who's there to
to grab guests manage the floor and bring people to us and then we have somebody in the gallery
who is the producer and puts the running orders together now i'll feed into those running orders
and say i think we should be doing this then we should do that then what's the priority the
story it's just because i think a lot of time um you know in front of camera or leading the show
means that you understand what a story is and which is the most which is the story that you need to
give the most priority to um so that's that's what we do we're it's a really um open and honest group
and we we're very transparent we discuss everything beforehand we have it got a bit it got a bit
chaotic we used to sit around and we'd have our production meetings and remember pat simmons came
in i love pat and he was remember him looking around the first one of our production meetings
like is this some sort of joke no this is like the tv a tv production meeting it is nothing like
an engineers meeting so it's like a forum but this forum could go down rabbit holes
if someone had an opinion we'd end up talking about something which was completely left field
but ultimately we pulled it back to what was the essence of the running order but we learned from
him and now we do all of our production meetings on headsets and only one person can speak at the
time so we're a little bit more like an engineering team which i think was one of the best things that
we did as a group so that we could remain focused you know a load of creatives arguably with adhd
or all sorts of things going left right and centre going all over the place is is not as focused let's
say as an engineers meeting so he answers that some of those other personalities because we always
kind of imagine that individuals like yourself dominantly team are going to be the only people
that ever make it in front of camera but i've i've learned from doing this that there's all
kinds of personalities they're a little bit more turned tone down a little bit more subdued
but often so many people that are like that relate to them because they like that on camera
and i typically find that those individuals are exactly how they are off camera how they are on
camera which is what i learned with Ted last week just off to the post office when he turned
up to the van but i suppose doing those meetings in that way gives the voice to the guys that might
not be able to bark as loud at the table like Ted can bark Ted Ted know though Ted's very i mean
we we're all strong personalities Ted will speak up when he's got stuff to say we all do it's an
open forum um you know that i've been really impressed with Jamie coming in really straight
off the bat speaking up and saying i've got an opinion on this and she's she's really learning
very very sharp girl learning very very quickly how to um to get her voice heard Bernie is just
amazing puts puts her she sends notes to the group beforehand about what's going to go on in terms of
strategically what what it looks like over the weekend so she's feeding in from an engineer's
point of view Martin Brundle is obviously hooked in right to the the center of the sport so he
knows exactly what is going on and he'll feed in what he needs to feed in when he wants to feed it
in so that we're all aware of what's at stake with the bigger picture crofty's never short of a world
you know what you're gonna get with old crofto um and he's you know he's brilliant at what he does too
so um everyone has a voice um in in the sky of one uh sphere and everyone everyone's voice does get
so speaking of voices one of the first conversations i've read on this podcast
and it included formula one was with jay come free and i remember him talking about it was over
two years ago now those moments before you go live those few seconds before you go live so
do you want to give the audience 30 seconds to a minute of what happens before you go live your
books called pressure yeah and i think there's no more high pressure moment than the moment
that you're about to go three two one yeah go um so we get lined up so we generally these days
will be out on the grid um and it's the driver's track parade and we we got everything i when i
first started this job i frantically scripted because you know you're you're new into the sport
you wanted to make sure that you knew exactly what you're saying when you were saying it
have my questions lined up but as you move through it and you become it becomes part of
your consciousness you know we are we live it right we talk to people all the time we know
what's going on in the sport um i rely on what's you know what's up here i don't really have scripts
now so i don't even plan what i'm gonna say when when we come on air these days it's just
camera goes on speak and i think that's one of the hardest things as a presenter to let go of is
the reliance on scripting your words knowing what you could say but it's such a
an uncontrolled environment the paddock that i quickly learned that it's not like
being in a studio where you have a controlled environment you have uh it's quiet you might
have autocue if you if you're doing it we got rid of that we never had autocue on this from the
from the first first time we did it and i quickly realized you can't you can't script anything
because anything could change at any at any moment so therefore it's just have all the
information be as prepped as you can up in your head and then be reliant on your on what you've
got and what you've learned so i don't panic um if i've learned that if stuff goes wrong you've
got to kind of laugh it off and you know if you're relaxed then the audience is relaxed i suppose
because one of the hardest times to talk is normally when you're stunned yeah and you talk
about avidabi 2021 but one of the biggest moments for me yeah when i look back as um a fan of of
what like stuck with me like an image or a vision that i will just never forget and it was grojong
going into that bad yeah like that was i remember and it was watching it on this very ipad yeah on
the kitchen side as i was being dragged out the door to go somewhere for me i thought i had to
watch the highlights later had a whole family my last family talking to me like we were about to
come out and it just happened i just is that even at home it just went silent like just staring at
the screen how sensitive do you need to be in those moments afterwards not knowing what's
going to happen well i mean that that was crofty marty's job really because it was in race and so
i actually talk about it first chapter of the book is about the medical car because it was
drion roberts and alan van der merver um who were in there and they were in the the medical car
following and then they could see something happen so they they cut that first couple of corners
in Bahrain that you can do because there's a catch road a safety road down down the side that
that they're able to get there quickly and i remember watching it with damon and karoon and
we're in uh it's like you know you know where you were when princess diana died if you're you know
old enough for that or september the 11th just things that are could be tragic but are very
seminal tv moments and certainly in our sport we'd never seen anything or i'd not well i had
seen jules bianchi which was i suppose the most difficult thing that we've i've had to broadcast
but that one because he got out in the 27 seconds or whatever it was we just like it was a miracle
but i remember thinking in those 27 seconds how's he getting out of that that's that's not
survive survivable and i think damon who'd obviously witnessed a lot of tragedy through his dad and
teammate event and senna was also oh that's not good and we just sat there like you did and we
were stunned we just couldn't believe what we're seeing and then when he when he got hoisted out
and dr roberts kind of went into the flames really bravely and grabbed him and and he kind of jumped
over the the armco that he appears like a tin opener we're like wow that is just unbelievable
it was i know i know i know how you felt we were all the same if if you're not religious it makes
you question it for a minute doesn't it yeah so with moments like that is that what makes you
though ball in love with f1 at the same time because or even though it's such a tough point to talk about
it is just flabbergastantly amazing stuff that is ghastly amazing whether it's near tragic or not
happens and that's that's a hook that's something that grabs us the sport right is it that stuff
that almost makes you in disbelief about going racing well i mean it i think the thing is
that it's the same when you're going down the motorway if there's an accident there's always
cues on both sides because people rub a neck and that i don't know if that's it it's not a good thing
but it certainly attracts people to the sport in that the element of danger it's like gladiators
isn't it in the old days in Rome people went to watch because there's a kind of macabre fascination
about it and i don't think that that's i don't think it's a good thing but i do think it's one
of the appeals of the sport is that every time they go out they're putting their body on the line
talk to me about the whole race weekend so like for that weekend for example or any other one
talk to me about what happens from getting there to leaving because it's mental right it's full
on you almost have to like cut your communication with your home life off a little bit at the pace
it operates like what do the evening look like because as much as you have some great conversations
and laugh in front of camera i bet the diamonds are sometimes yeah yeah in the evening so yeah
weekends we still managed to have a proper laugh i mean we really do it's good fun um
particularly on the double headers so sunday after so we've got austin then into mexico
that monday tuesday wednesday and austin will be a proper laugh there might be some golf there
would definitely be a few beers it says here we you know we're we're a bunch of mates and that's
that's all of the crew and you know everyone in front of the camera and behind the camera so we'll
definitely go out and and have have a bit of a laugh between things but then when it's time for
work it's serious and when i first started doing this job there was a lot a lot more time off you
weren't at the track for as long but now it really is leave the hotel at 7 7 30 get back 7 7 30
quick change go for dinner repeat so there's not a lot of time particularly sprint weekends and
austin's one of them um so yeah there's there's there's time and space to enjoy yourself but
you're knackered by the end of the weekend but do you find that those evenings where you go out and
you all discuss and debate probably and yeah and all have different tips of opinion does that add
to the stuff that you do on camera because you might get a different perspective that someone
said the night before do you find that yeah i mean you go if it's if it's controversial you won't
mention it on air probably if it's too too you know you know things you like you can when there's
no cameras rolling you can discuss what you want and say what you really think and we've all got
our own opinions on you know drivers and team principals and teams and the politics of the
sport and how much does that vary within within the presenters in the camp quite a lot does that
yeah i think so i mean we all have yeah we just we have our favorites but on screen we don't and
i think we have our we we try that it doesn't permeate onto what we're saying but i don't
think that that's and it's not by the way limited to those at the front it's we've got opinions on
you know who's going to be in the racing bullseat next year we you know that will
that will vary we've got an opinion on who's going to be if anyone wants to go to the second red bull
say whatever it is i mean i wonder actually next year if it'll be different i think i just think
this set of regulations has played into max's hands so much and they'll all be on an even footing
that whoever joins him next year it's not three years of development of a car down the direction
that max wants it's it's i think they'll both be feeding into it to start with but obviously max's
voice will be heard um louder but they better get it right red bull otherwise he will be off many of
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what's your favorite max moment from your book or something you talk about because max you talk
about opinions yeah i feel like max is one of these people that i've witnessed that so many
people wanted to not like max yeah after 2021 yeah and when he was growing up and when he very hot
headed and they try and hold on to it but every every year the more it ticks away people are oh
he's just i'm fucking unbelievable and they just you know any sane person can't look at it any
difference so like what what for you's been like a really pivotal moment you've witnessed with your
eyes um i max is head and shoulders the best driver on the grid currently right in my opinion
but he's also the thing that you don't see with max so often or whatever the perception might be for
me he's one of the most honest drivers out there and i and i i for one have nothing but the greatest
respect for him i think that he's super down to earth considering who he is he really has clung
on to who he was and you don't get that from all of them he might be tough in front of the camera
sometimes but that's because you get that if you're a four-time world champion you get that
with everything that's that's happened at at red bull and after 2021 but i've got nothing but respect
for him i think he's just incredible favorite moment it's like it when he when he's independent
he's honest he does not shy away from the tough question and if he thinks that you know someone's
asking him a question that he deems as stupid stupid he'll call out with bollocks he'll go oh it's
you know what yeah and that sometimes will draw with people everyone go oh you max blah blah
nah he's just he's just straight up honest racer do did you guys find yourselves on the
off weekend you must talk about it watching the Nurburgring yeah i mean it's incredible isn't it
and would you have normally watched that if max wasn't there no i mean no because with the the
thing with us is that when we come back all the focus is on our family because we're away so
much so i think that's that's the thing when we come back i'll watch the f1 races that i'm not
doing because that's part of the job you know i'll watch other bits of motorsport if you know if
i've got the time in between kids parties and ferrying them to sports events but you've got
to be very present for the family when you come back but the reason that that resonated with people
is because he's gone away he's done that like he goes away in sim races and he just turns his hand
to it and he's unbelievable and now of course i think he's going to step up the levels so i think
the next time he goes out and does a race it's one step up isn't it so i think there's a little
bit of it wasn't the strongest field comparatively of what we're doing in that nls race but he just
wants to be the best of whatever he does and that's what's just so cool about him isn't it in in a
world where i wonder how much kelly appreciates him disappearing off for the weekends when he's
he doesn't you know he just wants to race and that is so clear to see but people that didn't
want to race or didn't care about racing have suddenly fallen in love with it after drive to
survive yeah you got the drive to survive era you guys must talk about it you can pick a drive to
survive fan out in the fan base versus somebody else but what i'm wondering is we often look back
at moments like that without realizing at the time how big a change they actually are and when i was
watching max in that nls race i thought is this the moment that all of that fan base discovers
that there's other racing out there do you think max is going to do that for motorsport um i i think
he could he could help do it i think the thing the the thing is it's like all sports these days
is a little bit saturated i think in that unless you are
watching the top level of a particular sport week in week out when have people got the time
to to do it you have to be you you've gotta be committed you've gotta be completely committed
to it you you've gotta you know how much tv can anybody watch i mean i'm saying that and i'm on tv
and i'm hope we're not doing our product down but f1's the pinnacle and everyone's
heading to that pinnacle so i hope it does encourage people to watch other forms of the sport
but ultimately for this to grow you've gotta you've gotta it's stripped all the way back to
karting isn't it you know and it's about numbers into karting it's about following the pyramid
all the way through and i think the thing that will help other um other series within the motorsport
pyramid is just seeing that that pyramid can lead to the the top level it's a little bit like the
football pyramid i go and see a fc wimbledon right they were in you know division two league two
and now they're in league one there's a clear pyramid all the way up and i think that that's
one of the things that's the motorsport there's all the different kind of series but if it if it
all feeds into the pyramid with something at the top it makes it easier for people to understand
i think that's one of being one of the issues is that you know you might you know it's where the
gt racing British touring cars that's that's separate to that it's separate to the the single
seat a pyramid like that you've got a kind of i think um it's just a question of of you know
i suppose feeding into those series and making sure that you can see
you know that there is a route to the very top what was one of the most surprising things about
writing a book that after doing it you think crikey like i didn't expect to either discover this or
think about this or enjoy doing x or maybe not enjoy doing it like what was something that's kind of
stand out to you plenty of it's hard it was just time consuming i mean it's it's like scaling a
mountain so um i'm very lucky got to speak to some fascinating people and that's one of the
reasons i did it was actually and it sounds don't need to sound cheesy but i the reason i i decided
to write a book was to help learn myself because there are so many roles that feed in it's like
the human engine of forming one is the way i kind of described it is that people from drive
to survive understand the team principles and they understand the drivers but the other roles
are arguably equally as important if everybody is like sky f1 if you're only as good as a sum
of your parts so if you're a race engineer you've got to be the best race engineer you know if you
same with performance engineers same with a performance coach same with a chef you know
everyone is striving to be the very best within that paddock and i suppose it i wanted to kind of
shine a light on some of the kind of unsung heroes and heroines because there's so many people in
the paddock and they never get a chance to tell the story well you were quick to mention the safety
car drivers earlier but grove john's crash yeah who do you think some of those unsung heroes are
well i mean yeah i mean obviously the medical car they do an incredible job um
that's the fia side of things but then you've got it honestly i interviewed about 40 people
for the for the book and i did this sat down for an hour recorded it on zoom got a transcription
thing to you know transcribe what they're saying and then kind of just distill what they're saying
into i don't know however many words it was per chapter three to five four thousand words per
chapter just to give you an essence of what they do so we did the promoter from we did stewart pringle
from from silveston to understand how they put on the british grand prix then we did
he's our ollie bearman's performance coach but a guy called martin pool and and what he did
with nico holkenberg to prepare him for the season we did phil eagles who is the the chef
fras and martin because they've got you know they've got to do vip catering they've got to do
mechanics in a garage and they've got to do the drivers and they can't poison them so you know
you've got to be on point as a chef you've got giampiero lambiasi as a as a race engineer for
max forstappen jocler who's been performance engineer and race engineer for everyone sack brown
we did george russell so we did everyone really from from whatever role it might be all the way
up to the ceo's and team principles and and the driver themselves and they're all equally important
so what was your biggest teaching what was one thing after being around the sport for 27 years
that you thought bloody hell that was baffling fly didn't expect that um just that everybody is as
ingrained in formula one as we are and everybody lives it and you know you see these these engineers
that we get on a plane with right so we'll come off a plane from singapore we'll land at six in the
morning we come back to our families and you know kids and all that they go straight from the plane
into work and they carry on and they are honestly you the burnout rate must be huge
and yet some of them have been doing it for years because again it's in their blood and this is all
they know but you know they get their they get what four weeks off they get a couple of weeks in
august and they get a couple of weeks at christmas probably but other than that they they are there
and they live it and it's it's just every everybody in this sport it has to become a
way of life really that's that's the key thing so do you think the biggest risk to formula one is
burnout without in more teams more races more everything do you think that actually is because
think people look at things they're doing so well it's completely unbreakable but when that's
actually the reality behind the scenes like what do you do you think that is the biggest risk
yeah yeah i i don't know how like they might go to 25 races they can't do any more than 25 races
what we now 23 24 now 24 so only 16 and that now is i wouldn't want to do any more because of a
young family and i did up until covid we did i did all of them and then we sort of we we swapped
crofty does about 21 now which is which is a lot but then he's got the three testings to do as well
so actually it starts now february ends december and within that you're fitting three testings
or a couple of testings probably um and 24 races so there's got to be a balance otherwise people
are going to just you know they are going to get burnt out so i think it's a big threat yeah
do you want to carry on doing what you do for the rest of time you love it that much as it
runs through your break yeah do you have that desire to go back to kind of rugby no no no no
the hook of formula one that strong yes it is yeah i don't know i don't want to i don't go back
just uh had a big birthday 30 uh no no no i i i've been doing this what this is is this year
15 14 can't count 14 probably um i'll do it as long as i can because it's it as i said it's an
addiction and it's a way of life i'm used to it been the hardest moment for you then to overcome
during that journey was there ever a point like people get where you think oh my god just like
at the minute this is just the pressure that i've just had a kid like what's been the toughest
bet i mean actually the pressure's really on your other half so my wife has done a terrific job
sort of single parenting um my two kids and looking after our dog that looks unfortunately
a little bit like donald trump for for for all this time but the kids have never known
it any other way so i don't like it when i'm away for a triple header because it's quite a long
period away from home but i also understand that it's the most one of the most privileged jobs in
the world so i love it i love everything about it i love the adrenaline of going on air i love
the stories i love the fact that formula one is the sport that has something for every for
everyone in it you know you've got a variety of destinations you've got the technical side
you've got the politics you've got the sport you've got i mean it's just so multifaceted
multi-layered that there's always a story even in covid when things weren't happening you know
the engineers are going off from building ventilators and things like that's what's so
cool about this sport is that it's more than just sport so what's one race that you would relive
um would it have been 2021 yeah yeah i mean yeah the thing is it sounds weird but i've got all those
brains that get to start weekend do my research get it all up there and then at the end of that
race weekend i wipe my hard drive because i you can't i can't i've just i've got a good short
term memory but my long term memory you asked me one three races ago i'll be like uh i can't remember
but i'm sick of talking about it though like i'm like you come on today i'm good part of your book
part of f1 part of the last five six years yeah was that race but a bit like you guys asking the
uncomfortable question to the driver and trying to make it comfortable yeah do you get sick of being
asked about no no not at all and actually the one thing i do come back to in the book is that race
because there's so many people within that within the book that um that that witnessed
the different kind of pressures right from what was going on on track so be it gary connelly who
was one of the stewards that night be it jonathan weekly who's on pit pit wall there be it james
vows who was the strategist that that like that night but now it's obviously team principal
of williams um there were a load of people there that that saw that race unfold and it was really
interesting getting their perspective on it and i don't think that actually it's been fully unpacked
by quite a lot of the people that were involved particularly on the misady side you know andrew
shuffling as well it's a it's a wound that has kind of festered for years and as i said that's
what i think in in years to come they will make a film about it who do you think if you were to
pick three to five people who do you think was under the most pressure that night um michael massie
one um the drivers two uh and the pit walls really anyone on the on the pit walls it was it was
keeping keeping their drivers in control and knowing exactly what to do the strategists
i think the reason i'd love to talk about this with you is because of your background with rugby
yeah because refereeing in rugby was really kind of looked at a lot changed over the years and it's
kind of been honed down like i remember when video ref came in and the ref was wearing a
camera and also has a microphone and is able to even kind of talk to the crowd in twickenham if
you've ever been there before i've been like i've just done this because of this like shut
out the lot of you but like as much as f1 gained access into like the conversation between the
pit wall and someone like michael massie do you think the error that he made which was as you
put it a refereeing decision yeah got wrong was do you think he's got so battered beyond belief
from it that it's almost like not unforgivable is the wrong word but do you feel sorry for the
yeah i do yeah i mean i think everybody does we're all human he made a mistake
it's as simple as that is there anything you'd love me to ask on michael um your perspective
i mean i think that i mean i didn't interview him because i think he's still under all sorts of
nda's and i don't mean i don't he's just he's gone underground quite rightly uh and one day maybe he
will be able to tell his side of the story but i do feel sorry for him i think that he was under
such pressure and you could hear it from being lobbied by the pit walls um to the weight of the
fact that really he knows it should have finished under safety car we all know it should have
finished under a safety car but there was also the conversation earlier in the year about
you know not finishing under yellow flag conditions particularly in a race of that magnitude so
i feel for him because he was kind of he just he just got it he got it wrong under pressure and
should he have been as battered as he was
have some sympathies a human being i think do you think he's also responsible for potentially
unlocking formula one to millions of fans because to millions of people that were those that audience
that might have dipped in and out of a race here and there said it's boring for the last 11 years
won't watch etc to them lewis winning an eighth might have just been one another one yeah but
because of the scale of what happened and the fact that all the eyeballs came to it and the
fact that netflix covered it in the way that they did do you think that moment was also one of the
best things that's happened in recent years to formula one yeah because i think that formula one
is at its best when it's got well it's got controversy when it comes down to the last
race if it's too dominated by one particular driver one particular team then that's when
people start to their interest might wane for a couple of years but all good things come to those
who wait it's why lions tours are so good it's why the olympics are so good because they come
around every four years i think you had to wait for that and when it came around it was front page
as well as back page news and that's when formula one's unbelievable it cuts through
we you know we similar cast on channel four because the interest was such that everyone
wanted to know what what what was going to happen and the fact that it was controversial the fact
that it then led to a period of the stappendominance and now it's you know it just kind of changed
the dynamic so yes i mean nights like that they live in the memory for the right or the wrong
reasons and it creates further interest doesn't it that's what's so good about this sport is that
when you get a night like that everyone is watching to millions of people you'd have obviously come
so far and so many people would love to be in your position doing what you do travel to the races
talk speaking in front of camera being exuberant being themselves yeah a lot of the time what would
younger you think then being honest do you think if you were to define success
25 30 years ago and i was to talk to that that bloat now do you think you'd be bewildered by
what's going on i mean i as i said if i'd made it as a trader we might not be sitting here today
funny enough i've just been to singapore and a couple of my mates that i i joined um the company
with cargill as a trader i still out in singapore and it would they've done very well for themselves
they've had a very nice life but i have had a very blessed career i love i love doing what i do
i absolutely love being able to tell stories as they unfold in front of us that's one of the things
that's why i've you know started a production company because i want to i want to tell stories
and it's one of the joys you get of being a broadcaster is is understanding you know
what a good story is and i think we get so many of those in formula one
that's why there's so many things being made about the sport so give us a story
that is just pure only you could give us because you're it's not being filmed it's not
um it's not something you can't talk about something like crofty walking through the airport
what's one of your favorite moments at the last couple years that you've come home
told your wife like you've just got to put everything down to me for a minute what this bloat
is just just just made me cry i don't know i mean it's it's that's a difficult one
and what wouldn't you expect out of some of them wow some of my colleagues
they're all such different characters all all of my colleagues are such different characters
crofty's wedding was hilarious i mean it was like a microcosm of the paddock we all went out and
you know blessing me put on an unbelievable show in france but we all went out there and
it was it was great it was like taking our sky f1 team and you're going to celebrate one of our
mate's weddings and that was that was that was quite that was an eye-opening evening yeah there was
i think ted missed the bus we had to go back and we had to turn the bus round
i think on a country road in france because ted had i don't know if he'd fall asleep on a
sun lounger but whatever i hope i'm not giving too much away on this one but it that was good
and then we did the same for Naomi's wedding which was also in in france a little bit later that
year so that's how good of friends we are right we all live each other's lives and and want to
be part of that as as much off screen as we do on screen now hopefully again that's why it clicks
maybe that's the most important part because the word that you chose earlier was authenticity
yeah and if you weren't putting in the extra i'm not calling it unpaid works it's what you do
with your friends but some people aren't able to make friends of their colleagues yeah but sometimes
it's in the magics in the work that others aren't yet doing and the magic is coming together yeah
so that you do become friends that the machine actually works in an authentic way yeah so it
unbelievably important to me like that with your colleague yeah completely i mean you know if you're
if you don't get on people will see that on screen but we're lucky enough that we've got a group as
i said there's no talk there's no talk poppy here if you if you go get too big for your boots you
have to you get cut down well if people want to hear more about the things that we've discussed
today i want to read more want to sit there and gain some understandings i've actually read a
couple of chapters from the various books that have people inside f1 have written about and i
genuinely find myself going beforehand i here we go this is going to be another thing and then i
read it and i think crikey that's just giving me a completely different perspective on that so where
can people find your work where can people find your book oh wait yeah i'm available everywhere i
think it's in test goes and that's to now as well as the other book shops but it's on amazon it's
you know it's it it was a labour of love as well when you when you finish doing something like this
and you get to talk to all these amazing people and it is about them by the way this this is all
about the others it's all about the people in the paddock that perhaps you won't have heard from too
much um yeah you can get it anywhere but i think people will be kind of surprised about the level
of detail that these guys were prepared gang girls were prepared to give us about the jobs that they
do the everyday jobs that they do and that's for me as i said i came out of came out of writing
it having learnt loads and that was what i did it for well simon thank you so much for giving me
exactly one hour of your time have we done that in the back of my van studio i love the back of your
van by the way i love it you're not the first person to be surprised in either it's not yeah
i love the back of your van but yeah it's a very good setup you got him in well thank you so much
appreciate you all listening and watching if you've been doing that also please make sure to hit the
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About this episode
Simon Lazenby shares his journey through the high-pressure world of Formula 1 broadcasting, revealing insights into paddock politics and the dynamics of working with drivers and teams. He discusses memorable moments from his career, including the controversial 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and reflects on the importance of authenticity and teamwork in broadcasting. Lazenby also touches on the challenges of balancing personal life with the demands of F1, and the evolving relationship between drivers and the media.
Original notes
Check out Tweak: https://www.tweakuk.com/From rugby pitches to Formula 1 grids, Simon Lazenby reveals the real story behind 27 years in live sports broadcasting. He opens up about handling pressure, the Sky F1 team dynamic, unforgettable race moments, and what it truly takes to perform under the world’s spotlight.Don’t forget to subscribe to our channel for more exciting content about your favourite shows and celebrities. Hit the bell icon to stay updated on all our latest episodes👍 Like, Comment, and Share this episode. Join our discussion in the comments sectionCheck out Tweak: https://www.tweakuk.com/🔗 Follow Us:Instagram: @Roadtosuccessofficialpodcast@benedictfowler
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