Christian Hewgill, the star of two Components 1 podcasts, has been a fan of the game since childhood, first moving into the game in 1998 as Hakkinen and Schumacher battled for glory on-track.
However, for the person who grew up close to Loughborough, the concept of entering into the glitz and glamour of the Grand Prix world felt a “million miles away.”
“As a lot as I believed it could be an amazing factor to do, I simply didn’t suppose it could be potential,” he tells me over a sit-down interview. “I’ve been introduced up by working class individuals, I went to a non-fee-paying council run faculty and Components 1 simply appeared one million miles away.”
Karting was Hewgill’s first route into motor sport, nevertheless this rapidly fell by the wayside, owing to the dearth of funds “greater than anything.” At this level, Hewgill was additionally starting to understand one other a part of sport: broadcasting, wanting as much as the likes of Jim Rosenthal and Steve Rider who introduced motor sport on the time.
“I went to college and did a level in Broadcast Journalism and at that time the purpose was a profession working in native radio as a result of that’s what I believed was reasonable.”
Becoming a member of the Newsbeat staff
His breakthrough got here with the BBC, the place he spent ten years throughout numerous retailers, together with Radio 1’s Newsbeat staff. The outlet aimed to take youthful individuals nearer to the tales that mattered to them. Every week, the station aired quite a lot of totally different tales, from Eurovision to F1.
“I used to be fairly joyful doing information and sports activities as a profession on the Beeb, however I’ve at all times been a large motor sport fan due to karting.”
“And one of many good issues that Newsbeat did on the time was encourage us to pitch tales about issues we had been excited about,” Hewgill explains. “They employed a younger and really various staff, and due to this fact, they bought fairly a various collection of tales. At its coronary heart, Newsbeat featured younger individuals doing cool issues, and that’s what F1 is.”
Hewgill joined the 5 Dwell staff as a part of Newsbeat on the 2019 British Grand Prix, and it was solely then that he realised that this might flip right into a profession.
“Components 1 had at all times been a little bit of a facet ardour that I loved away from work. I didn’t know the way I might really feel about that turning into my job, but it surely was that weekend that made me realise, perhaps I wish to do extra of this. That was the sunshine bulb second.”
Curiosity continued to extend, culminating in Hewgill presenting Newsbeat dwell from the Bahrain paddock in 2022. From “barely getting an F1 bundle” on Newsbeat again in 2017, Hewgill was now presenting a dwell F1 programme on Radio 1 from Bahrain simply 5 years later. It was a weekend that modified Hewgill’s skilled profession for the higher.
Temporary spells with LBC and talkSPORT adopted for Hewgill as Newsbeat relocated to Birmingham in the summertime of 2022 however for him, the love for protecting information had light.
“I cherished doing Newsbeat and I’m so grateful for the primary 10 years of my profession. However speaking in regards to the information on a regular basis [for 10 years] had began to empty on my psychological well being, the negativity, the tribal strategy that information has bought in the direction of politics. I did lose the love for it,” he says.
“After which it was like, what else do I do? I’m not significantly educational. Doing every day information and sports activities is all I’ve ever carried out. The one different factor I do know and am actually keen about is Components 1.”
Presenting Newsbeat dwell from the F1 paddock posed its personal challenges, however one which made others curious, together with a sure Radio 1 DJ….
Introducing The Quick and The Curious
…even when, initially Greg James was going to have an off-mic position on The Quick and The Curious!
“The plan was at all times for me to current with another person,” Hewgill reveals. “He’s an extremely humble bloke, bless him. And he stated that he presents sufficient stuff as it’s, so Greg had talked about him doubtlessly not being on the podcast. He actually wished to govt produce and construct one thing from the bottom up.”
Plans rapidly modified as soon as the 2 of them realised how properly they “bounce off one another,” owing to their friendship stemming again to the times of working collectively at Radio 1. The pair of them wished the brand new F1-themed podcast, which was James’s thought to start with, to focus on the lighter features of the game, that different podcasts don’t cowl as usually.
“It was extremely collaborative, discussing what isn’t on the market and what can we convey that’s totally different? I didn’t really feel that there was a podcast that lent into the humour of the game and the silliness of the game as a result of the game is mad!”
“This travelling circus that goes all over the world, there’s a lot humour and funniness to it. I didn’t suppose there was a podcast that lent into the, for need of a greater phrase, the Drive to Survive period, in that there have been an increasing number of individuals coming into F1 who knew a bit, however didn’t know masses.”
“Among the sports activities podcasts I take heed to, they’re all soccer specialists, they’re all F1 specialists,” notes Hewgill, citing The Monday Evening Membership and The Race’s F1 podcast as podcasts he enjoys, however not essentially tailor-made in the direction of the informal fan.
“All of the sports activities podcasts I’d listened to had been all a panel of specialists. One among Greg’s massive mantras is you possibly can love sport in no matter method you wish to find it irresistible. You don’t must be a fanatic and know all the pieces.”
Betty Glover, nominated for 2023 Girls’s Sports activities Journalist by the SJA, joins Hewgill and James on the podcast.
“Betty is an outstanding sports activities broadcaster, however by her personal admission was solely simply falling in love with F1,” Hewgill tells me.
“She was new to it and we wished the viewers to go on that journey together with her. Betty has been wonderful as a result of she thinks to ask totally different questions that I do. Stuff that’s apparent to me isn’t apparent to her.”
The three are genuinely pals each on and off-air, with Hewgill’s and Glover’s pals because of Newsbeat: the 2 introduced protection of the Winter Olympics collectively.
“It’s the primary time I’ve come off the air and gone ‘I actually like being on the radio together with her,’ she’s such a humorous and infectious persona. I wished to work extra together with her and wished to develop that relationship on air together with her.”
A profitable first season
However how did the three flip an thought right into a actuality? Most drivers have a tendency to not come out their shell within the media pen interviews, as an alternative sticking to pre-rehearsed traces in regards to the race weekend.
“Some individuals say that motor racing drivers are fairly boring, I couldn’t disagree any extra. Motor racing drivers are fascinating,” Hewgill believes.
Arguably, one of many causes The Quick and The Curious has been as profitable as it’s as a result of they’ve curated content material away from the stress cooker of a race weekend, giving racing drivers and staff personnel alike the platform to be open about themselves.
To assist obtain this, he admits the staff did rigorously craft among the first season in 2023, however for excellent cause, with each McLaren, Williams, and Alpine drivers’ regulars.
“We fairly rigorously went after among the drivers we thought could be good enjoyable. We wished to have enjoyable with them and so they appear to have loved being on it. The groups have been very receptive to what we’ve carried out when it comes to, we’re making an attempt to rejoice the game another way and have some enjoyable with it.”
“The response has been so heat from individuals throughout the sports activities. I believe we anticipated a level of stiffness a bit ‘who the hell are these guys.’ Individuals have been so heat and pleasant which has been beautiful. All we’re making an attempt to do is rejoice the game and rejoice the drivers.”
With 64% of The Quick and The Curious’ viewers feminine, and most of their viewers within the aged between 18 to 29, it’s honest to say that the present is attracting F1’s most wanted demographic.
“It’s all very properly seeing numbers on spreadsheets, everytime you’ve been in broadcasting for very long time, you recognize when one thing’s working since you get that interplay and the heat for the viewers, which has simply been wonderful.”
All through every episode, the staff have at all times tried to be themselves, one thing that got here throughout of their interview with seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton previous to the beginning of the 2023 season.
Hamilton has been supportive of LGBTQ+ rights along with his rainbow helmet on show at numerous races throughout the previous few seasons with Mercedes, in addition to persevering with to advertise variety and inclusion inside motor sport.
Each matters are of significance to Hewgill, himself a homosexual man and one among Racing Satisfaction’s ambassadors.
“All through my broadcasting profession, I’ve at all times tried to be myself. I’m no good at pretending to be anybody else, and popping out as homosexual made me realise that,” he says.
“I spent a few years making an attempt to compress that and making an attempt to be another person, it made me deeply sad. Some individuals swap to an on-air persona, I simply can’t do this. I’m homosexual, it crops up in conversations typically, like Greg’s spouse Bella typically does, and Betty’s boyfriend Alex does. We wished the podcast to be genuine and I believe we’ve achieved that.”
“After we interviewed Lewis, I used to be eager to say that as a homosexual man it means so much to me that he does exit and takes the stances that he does. I didn’t anticipate that me saying that to him on the finish of the interview to resonate throughout on social media on TikTok, Twitter and Instagram.”
“And that was simply by way of me being sincere, so it does make a distinction. We’re simply making an attempt to be ourselves by way of all of our podcasts.”
For yr two, the staff has to this point lined all the massive tales within the run-up to the brand new season, whereas additionally launching a visible model of their podcast.
Explaining F1 ideas to followers
Hewgill’s Bahrain 2022 gig with Newsbeat was additionally the springboard for his second F1 journey, this time with F1’s in-house staff, presenting their podcast sequence F1 Explains alongside Katie Osbourne.
“F1 appreciated the Newsbeat strategy to tackling F1: I used to be making an attempt to clarify it as I went alongside, and so they had been eager to work collectively on one thing,” he says.
“Chris Browning-Brant, who has gone on to be my editor on F1 Explains, stated to me, ‘I heard the Bahrain programme and we had been going to get into contact with you’, and I bought in contact with them, and so the paths crossed naturally.”
“F1 didn’t really feel they’ve a podcast that correctly explains the sports activities and never only a new viewers, however to extra established audiences as properly.”
The podcast explains the important thing terminology that followers hear race-to-race, similar to explaining the intricacies of the Drag Discount System (DRS). In addition to listening to from the drivers, the podcast options “strategists and engineers and individuals who you don’t usually hear from.”
“There’s such a giant large world that exists in Components 1 and we wished to clarify the game intimately, and shine a lightweight on among the voices you don’t essentially get hear from, similar to The Quick and The Curious, it’s been so warmly obtained.”
“This yr to this point, all of the episodes have been listener primarily based as a result of we’ve had so many questions from individuals saying ‘so are you able to clarify this,’ and I’m sat there going ‘I’d by no means have thought to have carried out that, what an amazing thought that’s.’ The truth that persons are partaking with it’s beautiful.”
“Whether or not you’re a brand new fan or somebody who’s been watching for many years like me, I’m satisfied you be taught one thing each episode.”
Hewgill has no regrets on his broadcasting journey to this point.
“I’m within the happiest place I’ve ever been in my skilled profession as a result of I simply love making each of them. I really feel very fortunate with them,” he tells me.
“I stated firstly of this interview, I felt one million miles from a Components 1 paddock the place I used to be rising up. I genuinely believed as a child that you simply couldn’t be homosexual and be an expert sports activities broadcaster. Hopefully I’ve proven that it’s potential to be LGBTQ+ and a motor racing presenter, and that’s actually necessary to me.”
“I simply wish to take pleasure in it whereas it lasts, nevertheless lengthy that’s.”
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