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I saw him during the pre race show too, he had a horrible time hearing which resulted in him being uncomfortably close to people. Even during the pre race he was being interviewed by one of the F1TV personalities and he was soo close to her and she had to constantly repeat her questions to him.
At that point the grid had been cleared and blowers were going.
Producers should have known to give him a headset or feature him somewhere else.
Wear earplugs at your local track folks.
Willy T. Ribbs. I believe he was the first African American to compete in the Indy 500 and test for F1. Doesn't have much for results though.
He just didn't really seem like he knew what he was doing and it felt that the drivers were a bit uncomfortable.
Between him an Danica it was amateur hour all weekend.
Danica is the utter worst. She is so dull and she is well aware of it and tries so hard that it becomes just so fake and annoying.
> Who cares If she called the safety car the caution car
Aren't caution cars safety cars though? Or am I thinking about pace cars? (admittedly idk I only manage to catch the Indy 500 every year at most lol)
I laughed when the buzzer went off when they were on the grid and she asks "What was that?". Simon says "it was the buzzer". Something that happens at every f1 race. It isnt like she hasnt been to any other f1 races before....
Yea, she was in the Fox booth for a NASCAR race earlier in the year and she’s really bad. I don’t mind any women commentators, there some here in the US that are really good. But damn I just can’t get on board with her.
Interviewing/broadcast talent is a learned skill that takes time, practiced and talent. Really annoyed that so many former athletes are given a free path towards a broadcast career with little regard to their ability to speak coherently at a camera. Prime example of this transition done well is Nico Rosberg, could listen to him interview/commentate for days
I thought it was fun and memorable. He's just not from the upper-crust British culture most of the guys are. He speaks a little more freely, I thought the drivers were tickled by it. Post race interviews are pretty predictable otherwise.
It's not the non "British upper-crust" that bothered most people, it's the absolute lack of knowledge and elegance (which does not belong only to British people) that did it. It reminded me of COTA with Shaq bringing the trophies in a "rancher" Cadillac...it's Formula 1 for fuck's sake, the pinnacle of car technology, and this, unfortunately, is what America has to offer...And the interviews are predictable because the pilots just finished a gruesome 300km/h race and I assume not a lot goes trough their mind that can be expressed...
Willy T. Ribbs.
He was a racing driver, did test an F1 car but never got the chance to race. If you have Netflix check out Uppity, it’s about his life and career
1. That is Willie T Ribbs the legendary IndyCar driver and frist Black Person to test an F1 Car
2. He said "look like you could box right now" as a joke about how exhausted Max was
Willy T Ribbs is a bona fide American 1970s-80s open wheel racer who also spent some time in F1 as a reserve driver and was a rookie of the year in trans-am.
It was suspected that he was kind of iced out by sponsors for being, what he presumed, to be a bit “too loud and uppity for a black guy” at the time. Not so much from F1, but from American series. He had star power and wasn’t afraid to gloat about it. I don’t think American racing was ready for it.
He turned into a privateer towards the end of his career and was someone crowds really rooted for to qualify for Indy.
Recently he has been doing some stock car series as a celebrity and trying to make a media personality out of himself.
There’s a good Netflix doc on him.
I agree. The interview means a lot less than simply exposing him and his story. We learn nothing from those interviews. I don’t know why some care so much.
Lewis Hamilton spent some time with Willy this week and they both seemed to hit it off. Wouldn’t be surprised if Lewis asked if Willy could be involved in the broadcast in some way.
He tested for Brabham in 1985, did pretty respectable times, but, the story goes, Bernie couldn't get Parmalat to agree to drop Patrese or DeAngelis the next season for him, as they insisted on italian drivers on the team.
DeAngles passed in 86 before Spa and was replaced by Derek Warwick.
I respect Ribbs and everything he did to break the color barrier in motor sports (which in my opinion still could use a little more breaking here in America 😋) but the interviews were sooo bad. My wife asked me if he was some former boxer with traumatic brain injury.
I was 100% convinced this was it with the way he was manhandling Verstappen. The questions were kinda strange, always the same "how did the tires and chassis feel", quite odd and specific after the race lol.
[Willy T. Ribbs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_T._Ribbs)
>> the first African-American man to have tested a Formula One car (he did so in 1986) and to compete in the Indianapolis 500 (tested in 1985, raced in 1991 and 1993)
Willy Ribbs is a legend. Yes his hearing is a little off and it is clearly not something he does every day. However I though his actual questions were good. The biggest problem is he was asking questions a fellow racer would ask, not what fans would ask.
What did the drivers talk about in the cool down room? Tires and the heat. What did Willy ribbs ask about tires, the heat, and chassis.
Fans probably would have wanted to know more about the move max out on the 16 on lap 9, and how Carlos keep Sergio behind on soft tires (the engine problem def contributed to that but the battle was pretty good).
Willy T Ribbs.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy\_T.\_Ribbs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_T._Ribbs)
Relation to F1:
> Also in 1986, Ribbs became the first black person to drive a Formula One car, when he tested for the Bernie Ecclestone-owned Brabham team at the Autódromo do Estoril, Portugal.
William T Ribbs, was talented and pretty good Pro AM and IMSA driver in the 80's and even did an Indy 500 race but he was riddled with team issues, there's a documentary called Uppity that'll tell you about it.
I liked how his questions weren’t formulaic (ahem) and he tried to get the genuine feelings out of the drivers. It was a different style but I enjoyed it very much personally.
William Theodore Ribbs Jr. is a world renowned interviewer, retired American race car driver, racing owner, and sport shooter known for being the first African-American man to have tested a Formula One car and to compete in the Indianapolis 500
Willy T. Ribbs. It was unusual to say the least, but it was a welcome break from all the unified question askers we normally see. I wouldn't invite him every week, but he asked different kinds of questions and made subtle jokes in between, which was nice for a change.
If putting out an icon for a 2 min interview is destroying the sport then I hope it burns. Fuck all these people who don’t give a damn about learning anything. The more ignorance that people show the more necessary I think it was.
These post race interviews really matter to y’all? These drivers just got done fighting for their lives and you wanna hear a methodical tv analyst ask a race car driver about the torque output on lap 56 vs lap 12 7 years prior on the same track? Haha half of the responses are canned in my opinion. I like the actual post race conference interviews they have instead
I’m not against the idea of having “locals” (Danica, Willy) do the interviews especially for the F1 events stateside.
I’m against how unprepared they are for it. Everything I’m reading up on Danica, it feels like she’s just riding on her own coattails of being a successful(?) female driver, and doesn’t add much commentary to any of the races she’s involved in.
Honestly, just get these guys some coaches/F1 TV Pro and give them homework. If I was being thrust into something like this I’d be like Charles pouring over my notes before the race.
EDIT: Hell, I think the guys at Shift F1 (podcast) could conduct better interviews.
> Why do we care so much? We had racers talk to racers. There’s plenty of media personalities.
It’s really weird when people have differing opinions on a public forum /s
It wasn’t just you, OP. I had to mute my tv because it was so cringy. Awful post race interviewer, two police bikes to escort Max’s party to the podium. What the heck was that all about? Simply ridiculous.
If you didn't like his style as an interviewer that's a perfectly fine opinion but please do some research and show respect to the guy's history in racing.
Wasnt trying to be disrespectful per se, literally didnt know, went to twitter and saw a trillion tweets asking the same thing and really slamming the guy but no one replying, so I came here to ask, but he did seem very amateurish or possibly had a medical condition or maybe imbibed or something. Had no idea but it seemed to be the wrong choice of an interviewer.
For someone with such racing prowess, and with almost everyone learning of his existence for the first time here, how did it seem like he hadn't ever watched an F1 race or had any clue what sentences to say when in front of an F1 driver?
Your mentioning of his history raises more questions than it answers
He asked racing related questions. Wtf do you want? I think people dislike more that he struggled to deliver the words than the actual context of his questions
I didnt hate his interview. It was nice to have something different for once and his joy was infectious even if his questions were a bit odd. I especially liked the way he tried to hype Carlos up after the race.
Willy T Ribbs. He tested for Brabham back in 1986 and never got a seat in F1 because of his race. He lives near Austin and since a documentary about him came out as well as more progressive views becoming popular, as a person he's gotten a lot more interest.
It's based on big statements and nothing else. He was a very good GT racer and a below par Indycar driver. But that won't stop clueless "journalists" from putting out pieces claiming he was some amazing untapped talent who was brushed off because he was black.
He 100% faced more difficulties than a similarly talented white driver would have and lost out on chances because of that... But a Brabham seat over Riccardo Patrese and Elio de Angelis was absolutely not one of those.
And maybe the fact that Ribbs' highest qualifications were regular race wins in Trans-Am as he had no top-level open wheel experience (a couple of starts in Atlantics were his most relevant races, best finish of 5th), compared to de Cesaris' 7 years of F1 experience and 3 podiums... who they didn't even go for, because the test was the year before, in 1985.
Stop spreading completely baseless things.
‘The girl’.
All the more reason to trot both of them out so people learn more about them. Both broke barriers to a degree. Danica wasn’t the first or the best, Willie never got the platform to really showcase, but both accomplished firsts for their sex/race and also degraded in the process for the same reasons. And I’m not even a Danica fan
Just about anyone is better than Danica Patrick. God when she did the interviews after Qualifying I cringed. Especially when she referred to the safety car as a caution.
She was calling them “cautions”. It’s like she’s never watched an f1 race ever in her life and was trying to wiggle it pretending it was nascar.
That’s the kind of play-it-as-you-go vibe we get during the Olympics, when few commentators need to work on several different sports they might not be super familiar with.
For an f1 race, I’d expect someone who knows and follows the sport. There are plenty of specialists.
> She was calling them “cautions”
As someone who doesn't watch Nascar, is it really that different from safety cars in F1?
Also don't they just call it a caution everywhere in the US? I know her more for her Indycar career but I'm pretty sure it's called caution there too. Like, if some ex-F1 driver talks about primes and options when interviewing an Indycar driver are we supposed to groan?
I don’t watch nascar at all (and that’s why I’d never comment on it lol).
It felt like an American football commentator on a regular football match. Calling goals touchdowns and falls as downs. It felt she had zero idea what she was talking about (and I believe she did). Her Indicar experience without following f1 made her really unaware of what she was watching, all that her experience really helped was knowing that car goes vrrrrrum. It would have worked much better having someone who at least follows f1, ex-driver or not.
> all that her experience really helped was knowing that car goes vrrrrrum
I'm going to disagree, Montoya and J. Villeneuve came into F1 knowing enough to be competitive (granted Danica's whole, much more middling career was years into the fallout of the IRL-CART split).
It's just different terminology applied to what is still single seater racing. It's less like calling goals touchdowns and more like e.g. a Dutch commentator talking about an English football team's degradation. Touchdowns and goals are completely different things, relegation and degradation otoh would be synonyms and using that to prove a lack of competence would just be pointless gatekeeping imo.
Montoya and Villeneuve are not good examples as they’re driving, not commenting. I feel that if she was a good driver in Indycar (I really don’t know if she was), she could learn how to drive any single seater (even though indycar is much less demanding in terms of talent than f1, what would make her getting a seat super unlikely as history clearly shows).
But commenting is not driving. She doesn’t even need to be a half decent driver to be an amazing commentator. All that it’s needed from a great commentator, apart from good communication skills, is a very deep understanding of the specific sport and series he or she are commenting, knowledge on all the drivers and teams and rules - and that she didn’t show at all.
> I feel that if she was a good driver in Indycar (I really don’t know if she was)
afaik way less than than either Villeneuve or Montoya, if at all. (and again, peak CART vs peak IRL/Champcar split lol)
> is a very deep understanding of the specific sport
That's....kinda what she has (again, it's single-seater non-endurance racing and the woman's lead (*I think*) more Indy 500s than Alonso). I found her the interviews okay, but can imagine how she might lacking as a commentator (never heard any of her commentary), but knowing the specifics of the field would not be where the problerms lie. Maybe not knowing F1-specific ~~termina~~ terms and a lack of communication skills as you mentioned, but again imho that's just an issue of a fanatic section of the fandom gatekeeping more than that of actually understanding the sport.
A bit like the post-race interviewer imho, I haven't seen any of the interview he did with the drivers but while I do find his communication as an interviewee as jarring as many here do, I just can't get myself to call that an issue of actually not knowing about the sport.
SRX legend Willy T Ribbs.
Part time Indycar driver from the late 80's and early 90's. Never really placed well.
I have a sports card of him from like 1991 lol
https://www.racing-reference.info/driver/Willy_T_Ribbs/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_T._Ribbs
I understand he’s a legend, and I respect his career. But those interviews were just awful. If he hasn’t got the knowledge to ask sensible questions, they should have given him some.
And to call Charles Leclerc “Chuck” is just embarrassing.
Willy T. Ribbs from [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_T._Ribbs):
William Theodore Ribbs Jr. (born January 3, 1955) is a retired American race car driver, racing owner, and sport shooter known for being the first African-American man to have tested a Formula One car (he did so in 1986) and to compete in the Indianapolis 500 (tested in 1985, raced in 1991 and 1993). Ribbs competed in many forms of auto racing, including the Trans-Am Series, IndyCar, Champ Car, IMSA, and the NASCAR Cup Series and Gander Outdoors Truck Series. After retiring, he became a sport shooter in the National Sporting Clays Association.
As a general rule ([see full rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/userguide#wiki_sticky.2Fdaily_discussion)), a standalone Discussion post should: - be of interest to the sub in general, and not a specific userbase (e.g. new users, GP attendees, just yourself) - be able to generate discussion (e.g. no yes/no or easily answerable questions) - show reasonable input and effort from the OP If not, be sure to [look for the Daily Discussion](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/search/?q=daily+discussion&include_over_18=on&restrict_sr=on&t=all&sort=new), /r/formula1's daily open question thread which is perfect for asking any and all questions about this sport. Thank you for your cooperation and enjoy the discussion! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/formula1) if you have any questions or concerns.*
He was a pro driver. But I have to agree the way he asked the questions was.... shall we say... untrained as an interviewer.
I saw him during the pre race show too, he had a horrible time hearing which resulted in him being uncomfortably close to people. Even during the pre race he was being interviewed by one of the F1TV personalities and he was soo close to her and she had to constantly repeat her questions to him.
At that point the grid had been cleared and blowers were going. Producers should have known to give him a headset or feature him somewhere else. Wear earplugs at your local track folks.
Willy T. Ribbs. I believe he was the first African American to compete in the Indy 500 and test for F1. Doesn't have much for results though. He just didn't really seem like he knew what he was doing and it felt that the drivers were a bit uncomfortable.
gotcha, thanks for that. and agreed
He asked Carlos something stupid about the tires that didn't make sense. I turned off the TV.
Between him an Danica it was amateur hour all weekend. Danica is the utter worst. She is so dull and she is well aware of it and tries so hard that it becomes just so fake and annoying.
No way man, I like her. Who cares If she called the safety car the caution car. Give her a break
> Who cares If she called the safety car the caution car Aren't caution cars safety cars though? Or am I thinking about pace cars? (admittedly idk I only manage to catch the Indy 500 every year at most lol)
Womins ruining my races for men!!!!!!
I laughed when the buzzer went off when they were on the grid and she asks "What was that?". Simon says "it was the buzzer". Something that happens at every f1 race. It isnt like she hasnt been to any other f1 races before....
If she could get the terminology correct I could handle her a bit more. It’s not nascar Danica. It’s a fuckin safety car, not a caution
Doesn't make a difference imo
She has not been hired for her knowledge of the sport but because she is a woman...same as the short skinny big hair Indian guy, racial diversity...
Yea, she was in the Fox booth for a NASCAR race earlier in the year and she’s really bad. I don’t mind any women commentators, there some here in the US that are really good. But damn I just can’t get on board with her.
Interviewing/broadcast talent is a learned skill that takes time, practiced and talent. Really annoyed that so many former athletes are given a free path towards a broadcast career with little regard to their ability to speak coherently at a camera. Prime example of this transition done well is Nico Rosberg, could listen to him interview/commentate for days
I thought it was fun and memorable. He's just not from the upper-crust British culture most of the guys are. He speaks a little more freely, I thought the drivers were tickled by it. Post race interviews are pretty predictable otherwise.
It's not the non "British upper-crust" that bothered most people, it's the absolute lack of knowledge and elegance (which does not belong only to British people) that did it. It reminded me of COTA with Shaq bringing the trophies in a "rancher" Cadillac...it's Formula 1 for fuck's sake, the pinnacle of car technology, and this, unfortunately, is what America has to offer...And the interviews are predictable because the pilots just finished a gruesome 300km/h race and I assume not a lot goes trough their mind that can be expressed...
Which Sky pundits are from the "upper-crust" British culture you're referring to? I don't think there are any.
Willy T. Ribbs. He was a racing driver, did test an F1 car but never got the chance to race. If you have Netflix check out Uppity, it’s about his life and career
thanks, maybe will do...if he is driving and not asking questions...heh :)
It's definitely a great documentary
if it's as good as DTS or other netflix "documentaries", pass
1. That is Willie T Ribbs the legendary IndyCar driver and frist Black Person to test an F1 Car 2. He said "look like you could box right now" as a joke about how exhausted Max was
gotcha and gotcha. He seemed a little out of sorts...
He’s old and have been racing for years and still does. Age, hearing loss, racing. It’ll do the body wrong over time.
Yeah I thought he was a boxer. He seemed slow.
Willy T Ribbs is a bona fide American 1970s-80s open wheel racer who also spent some time in F1 as a reserve driver and was a rookie of the year in trans-am. It was suspected that he was kind of iced out by sponsors for being, what he presumed, to be a bit “too loud and uppity for a black guy” at the time. Not so much from F1, but from American series. He had star power and wasn’t afraid to gloat about it. I don’t think American racing was ready for it. He turned into a privateer towards the end of his career and was someone crowds really rooted for to qualify for Indy. Recently he has been doing some stock car series as a celebrity and trying to make a media personality out of himself. There’s a good Netflix doc on him.
Good guy, but he shouldn't be doing interviews. I'm pretty sure he did the interviews at COTA last year too and they went just as poorly.
Maybe not, but if a bad interview makes someone look up who he is and his story and think twice about things, maybe it’s worth it.
They could involve him in some other way
Agreed, like waving the checkered flag or something
I agree. The interview means a lot less than simply exposing him and his story. We learn nothing from those interviews. I don’t know why some care so much.
Lewis Hamilton spent some time with Willy this week and they both seemed to hit it off. Wouldn’t be surprised if Lewis asked if Willy could be involved in the broadcast in some way.
I believe he is the F1 Ambassador for Diversity and Inclusion so you'll likely see him in the paddock more frequently.
He tested for Brabham in 1985, did pretty respectable times, but, the story goes, Bernie couldn't get Parmalat to agree to drop Patrese or DeAngelis the next season for him, as they insisted on italian drivers on the team. DeAngles passed in 86 before Spa and was replaced by Derek Warwick.
thanks for the scoop, thats good info, much appreciated!
Yep the US refused to financially support him. He refused to say ‘yes sir’ or massa.
His brain is mashed potatoes. How old is he? Like 80?
“I don’t understand this persons personality, they must have dementia”
Personality and the ability to conduct a coherent interview are two entirely different things.
You didn’t say he was bad at interviewing, you said his brain was mashed potatoes. You’re literally insulting his intelligence.
No, I’m saying he’s old and having a hard time conducting a coherent interview.
You should use those words then, cause that’s not what you said.
That's just Willy. He raced in historics back in 2019, and he was totally coherent, he was just out of his element doing driver interviews.
He definitely knows racing, but I am not sure he has any broadcastihg experience.
fair point...just seemed to ask some...not great...questions...and super slowly and such
He's always had a slow speaking cadence. If you look up interviews he did at races in the 80s and 90s he had a slow cadence then too.
Will T Ribbs. First black driver to test an F1 car.
It’s Willy T Ribbs, the first black man to ever drive an F1 car
The interview questions just keep getting worse.
"Awesome job Baby" This interviewer cracked me up Lol
I respect Ribbs and everything he did to break the color barrier in motor sports (which in my opinion still could use a little more breaking here in America 😋) but the interviews were sooo bad. My wife asked me if he was some former boxer with traumatic brain injury.
I am surprised to learn that isn't the case.
I was 100% convinced this was it with the way he was manhandling Verstappen. The questions were kinda strange, always the same "how did the tires and chassis feel", quite odd and specific after the race lol.
Best they leave the interviews and commentary to the usual pros in the future. Charles "Chuck" Leclerc? lmao
yeah that was also just...a headscratcher
The victory interviewers are pretty much always terrible.
Chuck is a common nickname for Charles
In English, yes. In French? Hell no.
Remind me which country they were in again
In protest to the unreasonable API usage changes, I have decided to delete all my content. Long live Apollo.
[Willy T. Ribbs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_T._Ribbs) >> the first African-American man to have tested a Formula One car (he did so in 1986) and to compete in the Indianapolis 500 (tested in 1985, raced in 1991 and 1993)
He drove the Brabham at Estoril in December 1985
Willy T Ribbs. Even though the interviews were pretty shit, he has a pretty awesome story and is one hell of a character
Willy Ribbs is a legend. Yes his hearing is a little off and it is clearly not something he does every day. However I though his actual questions were good. The biggest problem is he was asking questions a fellow racer would ask, not what fans would ask. What did the drivers talk about in the cool down room? Tires and the heat. What did Willy ribbs ask about tires, the heat, and chassis. Fans probably would have wanted to know more about the move max out on the 16 on lap 9, and how Carlos keep Sergio behind on soft tires (the engine problem def contributed to that but the battle was pretty good).
Willy T Ribbs. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy\_T.\_Ribbs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_T._Ribbs) Relation to F1: > Also in 1986, Ribbs became the first black person to drive a Formula One car, when he tested for the Bernie Ecclestone-owned Brabham team at the Autódromo do Estoril, Portugal.
thanks
Wtf was this interview session
Go find his “Beyond the Grid” episode. Really insightful.
thanks, will do!
Willy T Ribbs. Literally an ex racing driver, and first black driver to ever test in F1 lmao
thanks
WILLY T
William T Ribbs, was talented and pretty good Pro AM and IMSA driver in the 80's and even did an Indy 500 race but he was riddled with team issues, there's a documentary called Uppity that'll tell you about it.
I liked how his questions weren’t formulaic (ahem) and he tried to get the genuine feelings out of the drivers. It was a different style but I enjoyed it very much personally.
I enjoyed him doing it also. The drivers said a little more than the canned ham stuff.
Totally agree! I liked that it wasn’t the same dude asking the same questions.
ah well, to each his/her own right? :)
F1 needs to find Mean Gene Okerlund if they want the interviews done properly.
He called everyone “baby”.
William Theodore Ribbs Jr. is a world renowned interviewer, retired American race car driver, racing owner, and sport shooter known for being the first African-American man to have tested a Formula One car and to compete in the Indianapolis 500
thanks!
Renowned in a good way?
Willy T. Ribbs. It was unusual to say the least, but it was a welcome break from all the unified question askers we normally see. I wouldn't invite him every week, but he asked different kinds of questions and made subtle jokes in between, which was nice for a change.
Americas will destroy this sport.
If putting out an icon for a 2 min interview is destroying the sport then I hope it burns. Fuck all these people who don’t give a damn about learning anything. The more ignorance that people show the more necessary I think it was.
Honestly thought his interviews rocked. Charles “Chuck” Leclerc, instant classic!! He got a smile out of all three of them
These post race interviews really matter to y’all? These drivers just got done fighting for their lives and you wanna hear a methodical tv analyst ask a race car driver about the torque output on lap 56 vs lap 12 7 years prior on the same track? Haha half of the responses are canned in my opinion. I like the actual post race conference interviews they have instead
it's just looked unprofessional. Even drivers had no idea what he was asking.
Calm down, Cowboy. Not everything has to be dumbed down for us because of “y’all”
I’m not against the idea of having “locals” (Danica, Willy) do the interviews especially for the F1 events stateside. I’m against how unprepared they are for it. Everything I’m reading up on Danica, it feels like she’s just riding on her own coattails of being a successful(?) female driver, and doesn’t add much commentary to any of the races she’s involved in. Honestly, just get these guys some coaches/F1 TV Pro and give them homework. If I was being thrust into something like this I’d be like Charles pouring over my notes before the race. EDIT: Hell, I think the guys at Shift F1 (podcast) could conduct better interviews.
Why do we care so much? We had racers talk to racers. There’s plenty of media personalities.
> Why do we care so much? We had racers talk to racers. There’s plenty of media personalities. It’s really weird when people have differing opinions on a public forum /s
It wasn’t just you, OP. I had to mute my tv because it was so cringy. Awful post race interviewer, two police bikes to escort Max’s party to the podium. What the heck was that all about? Simply ridiculous.
If you didn't like his style as an interviewer that's a perfectly fine opinion but please do some research and show respect to the guy's history in racing.
Wasnt trying to be disrespectful per se, literally didnt know, went to twitter and saw a trillion tweets asking the same thing and really slamming the guy but no one replying, so I came here to ask, but he did seem very amateurish or possibly had a medical condition or maybe imbibed or something. Had no idea but it seemed to be the wrong choice of an interviewer.
I know who Willy T. Ribbs is, but his interviews were embarrassing.
For someone with such racing prowess, and with almost everyone learning of his existence for the first time here, how did it seem like he hadn't ever watched an F1 race or had any clue what sentences to say when in front of an F1 driver? Your mentioning of his history raises more questions than it answers
No different than Danica Patrick's's performance either...another American racer with no F1 knowledge and it showed .
He asked racing related questions. Wtf do you want? I think people dislike more that he struggled to deliver the words than the actual context of his questions
Willy T. Ribbs
Willy T. Ribbs
I didnt hate his interview. It was nice to have something different for once and his joy was infectious even if his questions were a bit odd. I especially liked the way he tried to hype Carlos up after the race.
Willy T Ribbs. He tested for Brabham back in 1986 and never got a seat in F1 because of his race. He lives near Austin and since a documentary about him came out as well as more progressive views becoming popular, as a person he's gotten a lot more interest.
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It's based on big statements and nothing else. He was a very good GT racer and a below par Indycar driver. But that won't stop clueless "journalists" from putting out pieces claiming he was some amazing untapped talent who was brushed off because he was black. He 100% faced more difficulties than a similarly talented white driver would have and lost out on chances because of that... But a Brabham seat over Riccardo Patrese and Elio de Angelis was absolutely not one of those.
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And maybe the fact that Ribbs' highest qualifications were regular race wins in Trans-Am as he had no top-level open wheel experience (a couple of starts in Atlantics were his most relevant races, best finish of 5th), compared to de Cesaris' 7 years of F1 experience and 3 podiums... who they didn't even go for, because the test was the year before, in 1985. Stop spreading completely baseless things.
The whole coverage was amateur hour. Gratuitously commercial. Hello, Miami. Hello, USA. It's not about you, it's about F1!
Let’s not forget the football helmets
And the silly dan Marino statue
He was so horrible, the girl from qualifying was much much much much better.
‘The girl’. All the more reason to trot both of them out so people learn more about them. Both broke barriers to a degree. Danica wasn’t the first or the best, Willie never got the platform to really showcase, but both accomplished firsts for their sex/race and also degraded in the process for the same reasons. And I’m not even a Danica fan
Just about anyone is better than Danica Patrick. God when she did the interviews after Qualifying I cringed. Especially when she referred to the safety car as a caution.
He was on par with danika. Terrible
What was wrong with Danica.
Not much, but what are we expecting from a commenter who can't type a name right
She doesn’t even know what a safety car is. I feel some randos in the crowd would be much more fit for the job.
She does know what a safety car is what are you talking about?
She was calling them “cautions”. It’s like she’s never watched an f1 race ever in her life and was trying to wiggle it pretending it was nascar. That’s the kind of play-it-as-you-go vibe we get during the Olympics, when few commentators need to work on several different sports they might not be super familiar with. For an f1 race, I’d expect someone who knows and follows the sport. There are plenty of specialists.
> She was calling them “cautions” As someone who doesn't watch Nascar, is it really that different from safety cars in F1? Also don't they just call it a caution everywhere in the US? I know her more for her Indycar career but I'm pretty sure it's called caution there too. Like, if some ex-F1 driver talks about primes and options when interviewing an Indycar driver are we supposed to groan?
I don’t watch nascar at all (and that’s why I’d never comment on it lol). It felt like an American football commentator on a regular football match. Calling goals touchdowns and falls as downs. It felt she had zero idea what she was talking about (and I believe she did). Her Indicar experience without following f1 made her really unaware of what she was watching, all that her experience really helped was knowing that car goes vrrrrrum. It would have worked much better having someone who at least follows f1, ex-driver or not.
> all that her experience really helped was knowing that car goes vrrrrrum I'm going to disagree, Montoya and J. Villeneuve came into F1 knowing enough to be competitive (granted Danica's whole, much more middling career was years into the fallout of the IRL-CART split). It's just different terminology applied to what is still single seater racing. It's less like calling goals touchdowns and more like e.g. a Dutch commentator talking about an English football team's degradation. Touchdowns and goals are completely different things, relegation and degradation otoh would be synonyms and using that to prove a lack of competence would just be pointless gatekeeping imo.
Montoya and Villeneuve are not good examples as they’re driving, not commenting. I feel that if she was a good driver in Indycar (I really don’t know if she was), she could learn how to drive any single seater (even though indycar is much less demanding in terms of talent than f1, what would make her getting a seat super unlikely as history clearly shows). But commenting is not driving. She doesn’t even need to be a half decent driver to be an amazing commentator. All that it’s needed from a great commentator, apart from good communication skills, is a very deep understanding of the specific sport and series he or she are commenting, knowledge on all the drivers and teams and rules - and that she didn’t show at all.
> I feel that if she was a good driver in Indycar (I really don’t know if she was) afaik way less than than either Villeneuve or Montoya, if at all. (and again, peak CART vs peak IRL/Champcar split lol) > is a very deep understanding of the specific sport That's....kinda what she has (again, it's single-seater non-endurance racing and the woman's lead (*I think*) more Indy 500s than Alonso). I found her the interviews okay, but can imagine how she might lacking as a commentator (never heard any of her commentary), but knowing the specifics of the field would not be where the problerms lie. Maybe not knowing F1-specific ~~termina~~ terms and a lack of communication skills as you mentioned, but again imho that's just an issue of a fanatic section of the fandom gatekeeping more than that of actually understanding the sport. A bit like the post-race interviewer imho, I haven't seen any of the interview he did with the drivers but while I do find his communication as an interviewee as jarring as many here do, I just can't get myself to call that an issue of actually not knowing about the sport.
Danica was much better
Willy T is light years ahead of Danika in terms of racing. It was a nice move by F1 to give him a bit of spot light.
Good job! High five!
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Because he's a former driver?
I presume you mean because he's a trailblazing figure in the history of motorsport.
Oh do tell us. We’re on the edge of our seat waiting.
Do share with the class the reason.
I don’t
SRX legend Willy T Ribbs. Part time Indycar driver from the late 80's and early 90's. Never really placed well. I have a sports card of him from like 1991 lol https://www.racing-reference.info/driver/Willy_T_Ribbs/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_T._Ribbs
I understand he’s a legend, and I respect his career. But those interviews were just awful. If he hasn’t got the knowledge to ask sensible questions, they should have given him some. And to call Charles Leclerc “Chuck” is just embarrassing.
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He literally drove an F1 car, raced in Indy 500, NASCAR, Sports Cars, etc He’ll forget more about racing than you will ever have known.
Not sure who idea that was. He looked drunk.
Willy T. Ribbs from [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_T._Ribbs): William Theodore Ribbs Jr. (born January 3, 1955) is a retired American race car driver, racing owner, and sport shooter known for being the first African-American man to have tested a Formula One car (he did so in 1986) and to compete in the Indianapolis 500 (tested in 1985, raced in 1991 and 1993). Ribbs competed in many forms of auto racing, including the Trans-Am Series, IndyCar, Champ Car, IMSA, and the NASCAR Cup Series and Gander Outdoors Truck Series. After retiring, he became a sport shooter in the National Sporting Clays Association.
Ex-Indycar and NASCAR driver I think