Peter Windsor Goes on Record with pressdog

Holy FLAVIO! Peter Windsor, who famously does the "grid walk" to start every SPEED F1 broadcast, has gone on record with pressdog.com.

Not only do Peter and cameraman, the Unseen John Michel, stalk the exotic streets and tracks of F1, but Windsor is also sporting director for the US-based Formula 1 team, USF1.

Windsor and team principal Ken Anderson have said they're good to go to have two American drivers in F1 cars on the grid in 2010. For more on the team, pick up the May copy of Racer magazine.

Teaser ... Windor says "Andretti" (!) below.

Now let's go down to the Q&A grid and Peter Windsor ...

Questions for Peter Windsor, Grid Walker

pressdog: The grid walk is always one of the highlights of an F1 broadcast. Do you have targets in mind before you start the walk, or do you just walk around and see what strikes you?

Windsor: That’s nice of you to say so. No, I don’t have anything specific in mind other than to remind myself that I’m very lucky to be where I am and that I’m doing this for the fans rather than the insiders.

pressdog: The unseen Jon-Michelle (not sure of the spelling) is incredible at walking and keeping you in frame. Does he know where you are going in general, or does he just follow you on the fly? What kind of relationship do you guys have? Has J-M ever taken a tumble?

Windsor: Jean Michel Tibi is his full name. He travels the world constantly but when he’s home in Paris he rides a big motorbike. When we get separated it’s always my fault for not remembering that he can only see me from one side (because he’s holding this huge camera up on his “blind” side). He quite often notices things that I don’t and gives me a nudge. He’s mega.

pressdog: Whats the craziest thing that's happened to you during a Grid Walk? Fall down on live TV? Get into a fight? Have ravenous grid girls attack you?

Windsor: Not being able to hear any of the show from Charlotte (where announcers Bob Varsha, David Hobbs and Steve Matchett are) is always quite disturbing because you’re never quite sure when to talk and when not to talk. I usually leave the ravenous girls to Jean Michel.

presdog: FLAVIO! Briatore (team leader for Renault) is a treat. Does he enjoy being on camera as much as it seems?

Windsor: I think he talks to me begrudgingly, annoyed that his media girl isn’t there to ask me to go away. He works out at the same gym as me so we have a little bit in common. We often think about putting English sub-titles on screen whenever he’s answering questions but that implies that we know what he’s talking about in the first place!

pressdog: I notice you and the booth guys don't seem afraid of questioning the F1 company line or being critical of teams, etc. Why is that? Do you ever get blowback from F1 or the teams over something you've said?

Windsor: So far so good. I’d like to think it’s because most of what we say is based on logic rather than subjective opinion.

pressdog: Who's the toughest guy to get a word with? Who always seems ready to talk?

Windsor: Kimi and Lewis -- but that’s only because they have specifically asked me not to talk to them on the grid. I understand why. It’s a private time for the drivers. If it was me I don’t think I’d like to talk, either. And I don’t need the soundbite so badly that I’m prepared just to stick a mike under their nose for the sake of it. Ferrari in general are pretty cagey but guys like Chris Dyer are always cool. Everyone else is fine.

pressdog: When you're walking the grid, you seem pretty geeked, almost like a fan who's walking up and down the grid. Do you approach it as a fan, as in "what would fans want me to ask?"

Windsor: As I said at the start, I’m always conscious of the fans -- and that’s because I’m a fan, too. Whether I’m writing or presenting, my over-riding thought is this: if I wasn’t present at this race but I was just hearing the results on the radio, what questions would I ask about how those results came about? I then ask those questions of people who in theory should know the answers.

pressdog: Of all your grid walking, is there favorite moment that sticks out?

Windsor: It was truly amazing to stand on the grid at Singapore, at night, staring at the stars -- particularly on a little island that has so much history.

pressdog: What's your favorite part of the weekend? Grid walk? Qualifying? Practice days? Why?

Windsor: I love it when Bob, David, Steve and I are all inter-acting with one another about a major topic. I really respect those guys and often find myself wishing that the show would go on and on. I’m envious of the de-brief show they do because I also love post-race analysis -- love trying to understand why and how things happened. If I had to pick a favourite moment, though, it would be late on a Friday or Saturday afternoon, in some team motor home, nattering with a few of my buddies. There are some very funny people in F1.

pressdog: What's your favorite F1 track and why?

Windsor: My favourite venue is Australia because I grew up in that country and I love the smell of the gum trees and the sound of the kookaburras. My favourite track is Monaco, even if Jim Clark was always unlucky there.

pressdog: Will it be weird in 2010 to have some other grid walker come up to you and say "Peter. We're live in America on SPEED. I wonder if we could get a word."

Windsor: Who says I won’t be doing that in 2010!!?? F1 is all about entertainment and I think TV should be at the forefront of every F1 team’s constitution. If SPEED still want me, I’d love to interview my own drivers on the grid…

Questions for Peter Windsor, USF1 team sporting director ...

pressdog: I gotta say, I almost wept tears of joy when I read your comments at the announcement of the team that USF1 would be super fan-friendly. Do you sense (as I do) that fans feel like they aren't being served well or treated like customers by racing? What's the motivation behind your fan-focused approach?

Windsor: As I say, we’re in the entertainment business. Bernie Ecclestone has brilliantly developed F1 into the world’s biggest sport by also making it the world’s biggest TV sport. Thus it is logical that an F1 team should be led by its own TV (and thus its public) persona. F1’s unique quality is its technology and so it’s logical that we should make that technology open and enjoyable for everyone to touch and feel.

The same goes for its international platform (we’re going to work with the tourist boards of the countries in which we race) and its other engineering elements (building design, for example). Without the TV viewers and the fans, we would not be able to create the team we have. Thus the fans and the TV viewers will be our priority from day one.

pressdog: You've said as recently as the SPEED broadcasts from Australia that you're good to go with two cars for 2010. Did the global economic downturn cause you any sleepless nights? Why do you think you've overcome that (for now, at least).

Windsor: I always sleep well. I learned long ago not to worry about things you cannot control, to trust God and always to be positive. Ken Anderson was talking about building a lean, mean, American team long before the recession was even thought about. When (financial) Armageddon arrived, we just kept on doing what we’d always been doing…

pressdog: Are you under siege by people who want to be your drivers? What kind of process will you go through to find your people?

Windsor: We’ve got a pretty good idea of where we’re going with drivers, although I do believe that somewhere out there -- yet to be discovered by anyone -- there quite possibly lurks the next US World Champion. It’s our job to find him. For me, taking two Americans into F1 will be no different from seeing Nigel Mansell race in F3 in 1978 and being convinced immediately that he had the talent and the personality to make it to the top. And then helping to take Nigel to the top.

pressdog: I think Marco Andretti said recently (during an interview on Trackside with Kevin Lee and Curt Cavin) that F1 sort of seems to be waiting for an American team to try it again ... and fail. Do you think that's true?

Windsor: I think he’s probably right in some respects. Everyone in F1 always thinks they have the answer and so I’m sure that many people in the F1 paddock -- whilst wishing us well -- will also be looking to highlight every mistake we make, big or small. That’s the way of F1 life. Our response, of course, will be to keep our heads down, work hard, do a good job…and to prove them wrong. And, when the time is right, it would be nice to do so with an Andretti in the car ...

pressdog: There's also been some question about operating the F1 team in Charlotte when the races are all an ocean away. How will you handle the logistics?

Windsor: Simple. With an aeroplane. It’s a good invention – one that was first proved in North Carolina, if my memory serves me correctly. We’re also fortunate that about 50 per cent of the races are now staged outside Europe. There’s not much testing in Europe these days, either.

pressdog: The fan awareness of F1 in the US seems very very low. Was that a concern? Do your plans include things to raise that awareness.

Windsor: I’d say “low” rather than “very, very low”. It’s still sad, though - isn’t it? F1 is such a great sport. If it doesn’t have a high profile in the US it can only because F1 has not done a very good job in the past of selling itself to the fans. As I’ve said already, we’ll be doing all we can to share our enthusiasm with anyone who is even remotely interested in motor sports, aerospace, design, engineering, travel, TV, big business and athletic prowess.

pressdog: What's the outlook for us getting a US Grand Prix either at Indy or anywhere else in the near future? I take it you don't feel that's critical to your team's success, or do you?

Windsor: I have no idea about the probability of another race in the US. You’d have to ask Mr Ecclestone about that. For our part, we intend to take the US to F1 – not vice versa.

pressdog: What's been the biggest challenge in launching the team?

Windsor: Fitting 25 hours into a 24-hour day.

pressdog: What's been the most enjoyable thing?

Windsor: Talking about our project to good, intelligent people who want to listen.

pressdog: When can we expect to see a USF1 Web site and some serious swag (merchandise)?

Winsor: Sometime soon.

pressdog: Thanks for taking the time. Best of luck with your USF1 effort.

Windsor: Thanks to you for taking the time to ask the questions.

Comments

[Mike]

Wow, P-dog...you did it yet again. Those were great questions, and it's very cool to "see" Peter Windsor so cooperative to answer everything pretty candidly.

You should do this stuff for a living...we'll all back you!!

[pressdog]

Thanks. I used to do it for a living ... journalism in general, not racing coverage ... but that was a long time ago.

[Johnny]

Killer get Pdog. Great questions and props to Peter for answering them so well. The Flavio question was oustanding on both fronts.

[Matt]

I always wondered why he never spoke to Lewis and just figured it was because he was being crowded by others. That deal with Kimi is fine with me though, since Raikkonen's as interesting as a colonoscopy. Great job pressdog!

[pressdog]

Plus, Matt, who can understand Kimi in the first place? Monotone with virtually no lip movement. Hard to understand him. But he does speak better English than I speak Finnish, so i guess slack should be cut.

[AZZO45]

Pressdog: Great interview & my Spelling tip would direct you to JEAN Michel... like Jean Alesi, no?

[Duke]

You forgot to ask the most critical question of all, If you, Peter, won't be doing the grid walk in 2010, what do we need to do to get Johnny & The Duke in there. Afterall if you want entertainment on the pre-grid, they'd be your men.

[Pat W]

Excellent interview, nice catch!
Great that he took the time for some lengthy responses.