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With Clare Lawrence Will Buxton is a highly respected freelance journalist, a Formula 1 pit lane reporter for American TV channels NBC and NBCSN and commentator for the world feed of GP2 and GP3. A full member of the Guild of Motoring Writers and he also sits on the FIA Media Communications Group (formerly known as The Press Council). Hi Will! – How lovely to be chatting with you for the Costa Car Trader Auto Magazine and thanks for taking time out to do so. Can you tell me how you got started motorsports journalism? From the age of 13, all I had ever wanted to be was a Formula 1 journalist. Ayrton Senna was my hero and when he died in 1994 it left a huge void in my life. Reading Motorsport News and Autosport that week made sense of it all for me and that's when I knew I wanted to be an F1 journo. I went to Uni to study politics to learn to research, write a cohesive argument but not just graduate as an identical journalist to others on a media degree. I wrote my thesis on The Politics of F1. My lecturers hated it and tried to fail me on it, but David Tremayne at F1 Magazine loved it and gave me a job as Staff Writer straight out of Uni. I owe him my career, as I've been working in racing ever since. What happened next? In 2009 I was asked to provide commentary on the GP2 Series. At the end of the season I received a call from SPEED who said they'd heard it, loved it, needed a new F1 pit reporter and was I interested? It was an opportunity I couldn't turn down. I had three very happy years with SPEED and when NBC picked up the deal for 2013 and beyond I was overjoyed they asked me onboard to continue my role in the F1 pit lane.
Which Formula 1 stars have you met? Doing this job, I'm very fortunate to meet and interview all the drivers and reserve drivers in the sport. As the years have rolled by, I've also been honoured to be able to talk with some of the legends of this sport. Two really stand out for me. The first is Sir Stirling Moss, whom I interviewed many times when I was at Formula 1 Magazine at his home in London. He's an incredible man and a wonderful storyteller. The other that really sticks in my mind is Mario Andretti. The first time I met him I was at Sonoma last year at an IndyCar race and I felt a poke in my ribs. I turned around and saw this tanned chap with grey hair and thought, "Bloody hell it's Mario Andretti." We had a great chat and he said some very nice things to me about the US broadcast of F1. Whenever we catch up now, it is always fun. He's just the most wonderfully warm man.
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The transition was huge as I'd never had any broadcast training. I had made up my GP2 commentary style as I went along, and Pit Reporting was another thing entirely. My producers have been incredible and have taught me so much. Its the immediacy of TV which is amazing, and unlike in print where you can edit until you are 100% happy, there is always room for improvement in live TV and I am never, ever, content with the job I've done.
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Do you get much time off and what do you do if and when you do?
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Who would you say is the driver or are the drivers that you most enjoy commentating on?
Not much! I've enjoyed getting into IndyCar more this year and pit reporting some races for NBC on top of F1.
Fernando and Lewis can do things with racing cars that just shouldn't be possible. To have the honour of reporting on drivers like that is truly incredible. In GP2 and GP3 there were two moments that I'll always remember. The first was Romain Grosjean overtaking three cars in one corner at Barcelona, and the other was Luiz Razia winning at the final corner in Valencia. I nearly lost my voice on those races.
If you could time travel, where would you go and who or what would you see?
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How was the transition from print to TV for you?
Will Buxton
Liverpool: 1962, Cavern Club to see The Beatles. I would have loved to have been in my 20s in the 60s. Actually, to have been an F1 journo in the 60s and then to experience that incredible decade of music‌ yeah, that's the era for me.
Thanks again Will, it was really great to get an insight into your world and your career. Good luck for the future in all that you do. You can see more of Will and his fascinating career at his website at the following address: http://willthef1journo.wordpress.com
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