Interview: David Croft

(c) Sky Sports F1

David Croft is one of F1's biggest personalities and is currently the lead commentator for the Sky Sports F1 channel, which is in its debut year. "Crofty" first came to the attention of F1 fans in 2006, where his excitable tones could be heard on the popular BBC radio 5 live radio station. Alongside good friend Anthony Davidson, both made the move to Sky for the 2012 season.

Crofty is now an experienced F1 commentator and is a big fan of the sport. Some of his achievements have stretched as far as video games, with a computerised version of himself appearing on the F1 2010 and F1 2011 games by Codemaster. Crofty is one of the nicest guys in the F1 paddock and is hugely popular. On many occasions he also has one of the best views in F1, in the commentary box. However, it does not always pan out like that. Crofty was kind enough to answer my questions over the summer break, reflecting on an electric first half to 2012 and also giving insight into life working in a box. The commentary box.

Jack Leslie: Firstly Crofty, what do you think of this season? Is 7 winners in 8 races good or bad for the sport?

David Croft: First of all, thanks for getting in touch Jack. Hope the blogs are going well.

It's been an incredible season so far and I'm not complaining about any of the action we've seen in the first 11 races. Personally I think it was fantastic to see 7 different winners in the first 7 races, especially as one of them was a first time winner and a return to the top of the podium for Williams in Spain. It has to be good for the sport when so many different teams and drivers have a chance of winning a Grand Prix. Now that might change in the second part of the season as teams develop and crucially get more of a handle on how to make the tyres work, in fact I think we're already seeing signs of consistency from Red Bull, McLaren and of course Fernando Alonso and Ferrari. But the 7 winners in the first 7 races was absolutely Magnificent, if you pardon the pun.

JL: You moved from 5LiveF1 to Sky Sports F1, as did Ant Davidson and Natalie Pinkham, was it easier making that transition with some of your friends?

DC: It was lovely to move across to Sky Sports with Ant and Nats, not just because they're my mates, but also because they're excellent at what they do. But we're just a very small part of a large and, I think, excellent team that now cover Formula 1. We all get on brilliantly and the atmosphere and camaraderie since day 1 has been fabulous. So credit should be given to our executive producer Martin Turner who brought the team together, not an easy job and even harder given that he had so little time to do it from when Sky came into F1 last August.

JL: How did you find out that Davidson and Pinkham were also going to be joining you? What was your reaction?

DC: I knew that there was a good chance that Ant and Nats would be making the move with me and although I can't quite remember what I was doing when they told me they'd signed up, my reaction was probably a very noisy one!

JL: What are the advantages and disadvantages of you job, if any disadvantages?

DC: I'm struggling to think of any disadvantages to what I see as the greatest job in the world. I suppose the view from some of the commentary boxes are a bit challenging sometimes; in India for instance we didn't have a view at all, no windows, just walls. But that just adds to the challenge really of trying to help the viewer understand what they're seeing on the track and keeping across all the information that a commentator has to take in during a race. As for the advantages, far too many to mention really but to be involved in Formula 1 in a period that I think people will eventually look back on as one of the best in the sports history, is just incredible.

JL: You must experience some great views, which commentary box gives you the best view?

DC: Ha ha, back to the views again. The best has to be China really. We're right at the top of the Grandstand and can see the whole track except for the hairpin which is behind the commentary box. The best view from the back of a commentary box is in Monaco, the world's biggest floating car park. Big Boats as far as the eye can see, it's quite a sight.

JL: Not many people know what the commentary box looks like, what equipment do you have and whats the space like?

DC: We should take some pictures of our commentary box for you so you could have a snoop around but basically we have one big screen in the middle that is divided up in 5 little screens within it. One for the pictures Martin, Ant, Allan and I commentate from, and four timing pages which also include the information from race control. Then we have a stack of three monitors to the right which has the Pit lane, Driver Tracker and On-board channels. We have a couple of monitors to the left with 2 of the timing pages on them for back up and also an iPad with the official F1 App on display, a handy one that as it lists the tyre info during the race.

I also have my notes on the desk, Martin will have his notes as well and for qualifying and the race we're joined by Mark Hughes who provides an expert 3rd set of eyes and plenty of jokes too. He's a very funny man is Mark.

So it's a pretty full commentary box and we also have one of our tech guys with us in case anything goes wrong, which came in quite handy during the Malaysian Grand Prix when a bolt of lightning hit the top of the commentary box and affected the power supply. We have a back-up generator so none of the viewers would have noticed and I believe that we had about three minutes left on back-up power when we handed back to Simon Lazenby. Steve, our tech guy, was sweating a bit by the end, and not just because of the heat!

JL: Sky Sports F1 has really broadened F1 fans access, which features have been your favourites so far?

DC: I love the way we can analyse things in greater details via the Sky Pad, especially when Ant and Allan McNish give us the driver’s eye details on racing incidents and qualifying laps. The two features that we made with Nigel Roebuck where we incorporated his interviews with Gilles Villeneuve and James Hunt sent shivers down the spine. And I have to mention the virtual car which not only get Ted very excited but hopefully helps explain some very complicated issues with a little more clarity.

JL: Looking at the 2012 races so far, which ones really stand out as ones to remember?

DC: Valencia - as unexpected as British sunshine in the summer. Reliability problems for two cars with Renault engines, some brilliant overtaking moves and drama at the end with Pastor and Lewis. And of course an utterly brilliant win in front of his home fans for Fernando Alonso complete with celebrations on the track. A great F1 weekend and if you'd have said that Valencia would be the stand out race at the start of the season, you'd have been laughed at.

JL:  F1 returns to Austin in 2012, what are you most looking forward to about going to the US?

DC: I'm looking forward to seeing a rise in popularity in the USA for Formula 1. The Austin track looks like it should promote some top racing; I love the elevation changes and the fact that they've incorporated some of the best features from other circuits around the world too. But it's more than just a race in Austin, the organisers are looking to make it a Festival of Formula 1 and that's the right way to go. It's important for the sport that it has a presence in the USA and a large fan base too, and from what I've seen so far, Austin is going the right way to help the sport achieve that. It's a brilliant city and I can't wait to go there. It hosts one of the best music festivals in the world every year and I'm looking forward to catching some of the gigs whilst I'm there. But it has to be a good race to go with everything else and if we get that then I'll be happy.

JL: There are reports of a possible London GP, what do you think of the plan? Could it happen?

DC: The London GP is a top idea and the track that Santander came up with in their promotion for the British Grand Prix was fabulous. I'm told by the guys at Populous that designed it that it could host a GP, even with the tight bit under Admiltary Arch. Will it happen? Probably not, but it was lovely to look at the idea in detail and Lewis and Jenson were certainly enthused by the idea. At the launch they were supposed to race each other over one lap of the track in the simulators that we had on stage. They loved it so much they raced each other three times. You should have been there Jack, it was a top night.

Thanks so much to Crofty for answering my questions.

Follow him in Twitter here and see his Sky Sports F1 profile here.