‘Ricciardo is my son’s godfather – he gave me finest interview reply after race’
As a extremely revered {and professional} F1 reporter, Natalie Pinkham is strictly impartial in relation to her work with Sky Sports.
But she has a particular cause to be delighted to see Daniel Ricciardo again on the grid full-time for 2024. The well-liked Aussie’s F1 profession seemed in tatters following a spirit-crushing two years at McLaren, who dumped him a 12 months earlier than the tip of his contract.
He quickly rejoined the Red Bull secure as a take a look at driver earlier than unexpectedly touchdown a seat at AlphaTauri (now often known as RB for brief following its controversial rebranding after a bank card firm) after the brutal mid-season dumping of Nyck de Vries. Despite breaking his hand at his third weekend again, Red Bull opted to maintain the eight-time Grand Prix winner of their B squad for 2024.
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The information can have gone properly in Pinkham’s family as Ricciardo is friends together with her husband, Owain Walbyoff, and godfather to their son, Wilf.
“I actually started in the sport at the same time as him [Riccardo], so we’ve always been mates,” Pinkham, 46, advised Daily Star Sport forward of the brand new season. “He’s better mates with my husband. When he would come and support me, he’d go and sit in Daniel’s garage and watch him. They’re very tight. It’s good because it’s a nice link-in to my world for my husband.”
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(Image: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)
A key a part of Pinkham’s job includes grilling Ricciardo and his fellow drivers, typically after poor races or early retirements. It was Ricciardo who gave her a very heart-warming reply in what might have been a difficult post-race interview.
“He’d had a bad race at Spa. He really needed a good race but didn’t have one,” recalled the skilled presenter, who has been with Sky Sports F1 for the reason that channel started broadcasting the game in 2012.
“I said, ‘Look, I’m really sorry about today’. He said, ‘Why are you apologising? My bad day is still anybody else’s dream day. I get to race an F1 car for a living, that’s not a proper job’. That’s an amazing way of looking at it. I love that kind of positive attitude. It’s a privilege to work in this sport, there are no bad days.”
(Image: Peter Fox/Getty Images)
Not all post-race interviewees are as pleasant, typically understandably following a day or night to overlook. Trying to get one thing coherent out of a grumpy driver isn’t a chore for Pinkham although.
“It’s not about me in that moment so I never think, ‘Oh god, poor me for having to ask that question’,” she stated. “I’m only a conduit for the followers and a platform for the motive force. Quite typically, he simply desires his second to say his model of occasions. They need the chance to speak to the followers, to place the file straight. They need to vent rather a lot the time.
(Image: Eleanor Hoad/REX/Shutterstock)
“At that moment, it’s about me and people at home remembering that they’re just a human being as well. They may well be struggling. Whether it’s a crash or an early retirement, it allows them to draw a line under it.
“That’s a real privilege, I don’t see it as a challenge. Quite often, you just shove the mic under their nose and let them say what they want to say. I’ll never know more than they do about their race so it’s a case of asking very simple questions and letting them do the talking.”
The Greatest Track on Earth has been created to rejoice the 2024 Formula 1 season beginning February 29, stay and unique on Sky Sports F1 and NOW. Find out extra at skysports.com.
