Meet the Protagonists: Inside an F1 Press Conference | Hitting the Apex

Much like everything else in Formula 1, the press conference is a technical, highly organized affair taking place over 2 hours.

First, as always, it is useful to provide context. In American sports, we’re used to having more access to athletes and doing things like going into locker rooms after games to conduct interviews.

That is not the case with Formula 1.

So this press conference is really the time to talk to the drivers before they head out on track. The schedule is pre-arranged into 4 groups of 5 drivers, with roughly 30 minutes for each group. Our pairings on this Friday were the following:

Group 1: Lewis Hamilton, Pierre Gasly, Alexander Albon, Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll

Group 2: Kevin Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda, Max Verstappen

Group 3: Charles Leclerc, Daniel Ricciardo, Mick Schumacher, Nicholas Latifi, Fernando Alonso

Group 4: George Russell, Zhou Guanyu, Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz, Sebastian Vettel

The format for the interview followed the same path. Each driver would be asked 2 questions by the moderator:

1. Something about Miami specifically, or their experience in America in general.
2. Something about how the season is going.

And then they open it up for questions.

F1 Aristocracy

One of the interesting things you notice walking through the F1 paddock is how much of a hierarchy there is for everything. Mercedes gets the best spot for their garage, based on being the top team in the Constructors championship last year. And Haas is at the other end of the spectrum. That’s just the way it is.

But that also extends to the open period of questions at the press conference. In particular the first group, which quickly devolved into a Lewis Hamilton Ask Me Anything.

I should probably amend that a bit.

It devolved into a Lewis Hamilton Ask Me Anything….about piercings.

For those that have not been following this “controversy,” technically Formula 1 bans piercings. Technically, they have been banned for over a decade. Lewis Hamilton has piercings. The FIA decided to enforce the piercing ban. Lewis Hamilton is refusing to take off his piercings. This week, he wore every piece of jewelry he could find to the press conference.

Yes, riveting stuff. Hamilton himself called the whole thing “silly” and said they had “bigger fish to fry,” which I agree with.

In the grand scheme of unforced errors, this is is certainly one of them. The amount of time spent on this at an official F1 press briefings would have you believe they were trying to broker a deal for world peace.

There were other topics covered, of course, but almost all the questions went to Hamilton, and before you knew it was time for the next group of drivers. The rest of the press conference proceeded in similar fashion, 5 drivers, answering questions.

The Skills

Outside of piercings, our fair city was the subject of intense praise. The drivers love being in Miami, and commented on the culture of the city, something us Miamians are proud of. Some of it was surely playing to the audience, but the diversity of Miami being its strength, and the drivers consistently hitting on that theme surely hit home.

The other talk was about the track itself, and the adjustment to new a track with unfamiliar asphalt. This was manifested in Free Practice 1 when several cars ran wide and Bottas eventually brought out the red flag with a crash. They talked of simulator work to prepare, visualizing corners, a ramp up and adjustment period. Things that would take a normal human years and that they were planning on accomplishing in a few practice sessions.

But what really came across was the insane amount of skill and sacrifice it took to get to the pinnacle of motorsport, and how quickly the drivers are able to adapt. It was the quiet confidence they all exuded, knowing that regardless of how the track responded, they’d figure it out.

The analogy I’d use here as a technologist is imagine you’re an expert on using a PC and then someone hands you a Mac. You know how to use a computer, it has all the familiar buttons (well, most of them at least), and it is generally familiar. But yet really different.

These drivers are adjusting to a strange asphalt, going around turns they’ve never seen before, adjusting to the track camber, trying to not just go around the corners, but go around them fast enough to extract 100s of a second. It’s a miracle they don’t crash on every lap.

And it is the nonchalant nature with which they approach this seemingly impossible task that crystalizes just how brilliant they are. There is something reinforcing, life affirming, and noble at seeing people excel at something the way these drivers universally have excelled to reach this point, driving in Formula 1.

That was what I left this, my first Formula 1 press conference, with. That is what I’ll remember years from now. That the routinization of greatness often makes it seem normal, but actually is what makes it great. It is a message that should inspire. And if Formula 1 is about anything, it’s about reaching the peak of man intersecting with machine.

Vishnu Parasuraman is a contributor for @FiveReasonsSports. He covers the Miami Hurricanes  for Sixth Ring Canes and Formula 1 for Hitting the Apex. You can follow him on twitter @vrp2003