F1 oneshots

The Interviewer ≪◦ ❈ ◦≫ Lando Norris

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm Alex Jaques, here with James Hinchcliffe this weekend for the Canadian Grand Prix, where Qualifying is close by, so I'm handing over to Laura Winter, Ruth Buscombe-Divey and our newest presenter, Y/n Y/l/n, to give you more information."

"Thanks, Alex. I'm here with Ruth and Y/n, who will join our commentating team after the Canadian Grand Prix as a mental health awareness interviewer. Y/n, would you like to introduce yourself to the fans?" Laura says to me professionally.

I smile at her, holding the microphone in my hand, and turn to the camera: "Thanks, Laura! Yes, my name is Y/n Y/l/n. I am the newest member of this incredible team, and since Lawrence Barretto transferred onto the grid, I will lead the interviews with the drivers from now on. I am extremely excited to get to work and can't wait for what's to come!"

"Right!" Ruth says excitedly, "We're all equally glad to have you here, Y/n."

She turns towards the camera: "If you watch the post-session interviews, you'll be hearing a lot more from Y/n, so stay tuned for some thrilling conversations between her and the drivers."

Ruth continues to give information on what's happening with the drivers, and after a while, she transfers back to Alex and James, and we get a break.

"All right! So, I've got to head over to the interview pen, but I will see you girls after the session!" I look at Ruth and Laura, who both smile.

"That's perfect! I can't tell you how happy I am to have another lady on our team," Laura winks at me.

Ruth grins: "We'll be taking over commenting soon."

I laugh: "Lord willing."

The girls giggle as I walk away to meet Nick, the cameraman I am partnered with for all my interviews. We have worked together before; in fact, we worked on several projects together. He is the brother I never had.

When I got the job as lead interviewer, I asked if Nick could be my cameraman, and the board gladly accepted. This way, they wouldn't have to find anyone new, and they trusted my judgment.

I had already been accompanying some Grand Prix, doing small interviews with the drivers, so I wasn't a strange face to them.

I look down at my weekend schedule and see an empty slot during Q1. This is usually the case unless a driver crashes and cannot repair the car before the next session or is knocked out.

After interviewing drivers who were knocked out in Q1, I do short interviews with the knocked-out drivers of Q2, finally ending with the top ten drivers after Q3.

It's safe to say I talk to all the drivers at least once a day. Which means everyone sees me every weekend.

The only time I don't necessarily talk to all the drivers is after a race. The drivers receive a schedule that distributes them around the interview pen, so I talk to a maximum of half of them.

There are too many interviews going on for everyone to talk to everyone. That would take hours to end, and they're already exhausted after the race.

It's safe to say that I care about the drivers. As a mental health awareness interviewer, I ask questions that don't always relate to the strategies of the team or about how their driving felt. I'll ask more personal questions, some frequently asked by fans online.

My goal is to build a safe space around drivers where, even if in public, they can feel more relaxed and don't have to stress out about what they say in interviews. A place where they can be themselves.

This is also why my interviews are strictly only published on F1 TV and disappear by the end of the season, so that driver privacy can be maintained. This way, the FIA keeps the publicity to a minimum, and through technological advances, these interviews cannot be shared or posted online.