By Kylee Hendrie
Out of breath and tugging on the security gates at the Imola circuit in Italy, Luke Smith found that he had been locked inside the Formula One track after a pleasant jog. He was, quite literally, stuck inside F1.
Though security eventually came to free him, “stuck” in Formula One is exactly how his career launched at the early age of 17. Found by NBC through a personal blog, U.K. based journalist Luke Smith has now been reporting on Formula One news for nearly a decade. Through a precocious enthusiasm for writing combined with an affinity for sports, Smith entered the world of journalism and has since worked for the New York Times, CNBC, Crash.net and Autosport.
Formula One is an internationally recognized sport as being the highest class of single-seater racing. Rooted in the early to mid 20th century, Formula One has grown to be a popular spectator sport, followed by many for the entertaining races and admirable drivers. The drivers are much like members of their own community having grown up racing together and fans get to witness their friendship on and off the track. The cars themselves are low, open-cockpit, two winged, single-seat cars with an engine immediately behind the driver and a halo overhead in the event of a crash. Each car is adorned with team colors, strips, and decals. It’s grown a rather large following increasingly over the years as Formula One has gained traction on the international stage.
Smith has written a plethora of stories: most analyzing the races and driver statistics, but he’s also done an in-depth look at several taboo topics in Formula One—most proudly, his article about the mental health of the drivers. Oftentimes, drivers are seen as an extension of their car. While spectators root for teams, it’s forgotten how high stress the environment truly is for them. With most of them being in their early 20s, the world turns their eyes upon them with the pressure to win. Such pressure affects them surely, and sometimes, even frantic and aggravated behavior is witnessed on track. Collisions occur, drivers quarrel, and what’s left is only more pressure to perform better next time. Smith tackled this issue in an article that he found personal to him seeing as he too entered a high-pressure environment at an early age.
Nonetheless, he’s found much enjoyment in being able to write for Formula One. He expresses his appreciation for travel and the various places his work brings him. His knack for adventure combined with zeal for Formula One has taken him to circuits around the world. When asked about his favorite part of covering Formula One, he remarked that it was the sport itself. It’s “the sports and drama, it’s the fact that you have these amazing competitors going against each other, it’s the drivers going head to head, it’s the teams, it’s the fact that it’s like a team of 1000 people behind each driver, driving them on and making these cars, fighting to win week in and week out.”
On scene, he describes the writing process as intense. Media rooms at tracks are set up and reporters are herded in, surrounded by boards displaying the race, the timing, and driver statistics all around. Afterwards, he and his colleagues attend the press conferences hosted by the many teams and report back. When asked about what it’s like for writing for different audiences, (outlets like Autosport and Crash.net having a fanatic Formula One base versus New York Times readers that might never have heard of the sport), Smith remarks that he enjoys being able to introduce Formula One to those that might not otherwise know of it. He finds great pride as a journalist to present the sport to people and even greater if they take a liking to it.
In his spare time when Smith isn’t covering Formula One, he’s running the track or growing his music collection. He hopes in the future to eventually cover other sports as well; his goal as a young teen to cover the grand prix has been well accomplished, and yet, he still hopes to report on a Super Bowl, a World Cup, Olympics and Wimbledon Tennis. While Formula One is his “first big love,” the 26 year old has much more he aspires to do—and he isn’t hitting the brakes anytime soon.
In this interview with U.K. based Journalist, Luke Smith, he discusses what it's like to follow Formula One racing to circuits around the world.
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