David Hill, 78, still remembers his first day working for Formula 1. In October 2017, he’d been hired by then-chief executive Chase Carey to help reimagine the racing series’s television broadcast. During five decades in Australian television, then at Sky Sports and, finally, at FOX Sports, he’d revolutionized how Aussie, British, and American viewers watched sports. The time-and-score chyron in the corner of the frame? That was Hill. The easy, breezy, slightly irreverent pregame show? That was Hill, too. He was also responsible for the glowing puck during NHL broadcasts; even Babe Ruth struck out ...
Instead, his hunch was that the Formula 1 team was so steeped in the world of Grand Prix that they’d simply forgotten the animating goal of any sports broadcast: to answer a question right as a viewer thinks to ask it.
So, the Emmy Award-winning Hill walked in, introduced himself, and made an ask: “I want you to debate and find the best produced race that you’ve got. I want everyone involved — audio, cameramen, directors, producers.”
Then, he told the team he wanted them to bring everyone into a screening room, press play, and only stop the broadcast when Hill raised his hand to ask a question. “If I don’t lift my hand, I will walk out that door and you’ll never see me again,” he remembers saying. “I’ll be back in two weeks, 10 o’clock Friday, and we’ll do it.”
Friday came and the team queued up their favorite race. “Here I am in this room, and I put my hand up and said, ‘Who’s that?’ They say, ‘Well, that’s Christian Horner.’ I said, ‘What does Christian Horner do?’ ‘Well, he runs Red Bull.’ And I said, ‘What’s Red Bull?’ ‘Ah, it’s one of the teams.’ They all looked at me as if a village had lost an idiot!” Hill says, starting to laugh. “But it was about asking why? I think about 12 minutes in they all started to realize where this was going.”
Instead, his hunch was that the Formula 1 team was so steeped in the world of Grand Prix that they’d simply forgotten the animating goal of any sports broadcast: to answer a question right as a viewer thinks to ask it.
So, the Emmy Award-winning Hill walked in, introduced himself, and made an ask: “I want you to debate and find the best produced race that you’ve got. I want everyone involved — audio, cameramen, directors, producers.”
Then, he told the team he wanted them to bring everyone into a screening room, press play, and only stop the broadcast when Hill raised his hand to ask a question. “If I don’t lift my hand, I will walk out that door and you’ll never see me again,” he remembers saying. “I’ll be back in two weeks, 10 o’clock Friday, and we’ll do it.”
Friday came and the team queued up their favorite race. “Here I am in this room, and I put my hand up and said, ‘Who’s that?’ They say, ‘Well, that’s Christian Horner.’ I said, ‘What does Christian Horner do?’ ‘Well, he runs Red Bull.’ And I said, ‘What’s Red Bull?’ ‘Ah, it’s one of the teams.’ They all looked at me as if a village had lost an idiot!” Hill says, starting to laugh. “But it was about asking why? I think about 12 minutes in they all started to realize where this was going.”
Instead, his hunch was that the Formula 1 team was so steeped in the world of Grand Prix that they’d simply forgotten the animating goal of any sports broadcast: to answer a question right as a viewer thinks to ask it.
So, the Emmy Award-winning Hill walked in, introduced himself, and made an ask: “I want you to debate and find the best produced race that you’ve got. I want everyone involved — audio, cameramen, directors, producers.”
Then, he told the team he wanted them to bring everyone into a screening room, press play, and only stop the broadcast when Hill raised his hand to ask a question. “If I don’t lift my hand, I will walk out that door and you’ll never see me again,” he remembers saying. “I’ll be back in two weeks, 10 o’clock Friday, and we’ll do it.”
Friday came and the team queued up their favorite race. “Here I am in this room, and I put my hand up and said, ‘Who’s that?’ They say, ‘Well, that’s Christian Horner.’ I said, ‘What does Christian Horner do?’ ‘Well, he runs Red Bull.’ And I said, ‘What’s Red Bull?’ ‘Ah, it’s one of the teams.’ They all looked at me as if a village had lost an idiot!” Hill says, starting to laugh. “But it was about asking why? I think about 12 minutes in they all started to realize where this was going.”
Instead, his hunch was that the Formula 1 team was so steeped in the world of Grand Prix that they’d simply forgotten the animating goal of any sports broadcast: to answer a question right as a viewer thinks to ask it.
So, the Emmy Award-winning Hill walked in, introduced himself, and made an ask: “I want you to debate and find the best produced race that you’ve got. I want everyone involved — audio, cameramen, directors, producers.”
Then, he told the team he wanted them to bring everyone into a screening room, press play, and only stop the broadcast when Hill raised his hand to ask a question. “If I don’t lift my hand, I will walk out that door and you’ll never see me again,” he remembers saying. “I’ll be back in two weeks, 10 o’clock Friday, and we’ll do it.”
Friday came and the team queued up their favorite race. “Here I am in this room, and I put my hand up and said, ‘Who’s that?’ They say, ‘Well, that’s Christian Horner.’ I said, ‘What does Christian Horner do?’ ‘Well, he runs Red Bull.’ And I said, ‘What’s Red Bull?’ ‘Ah, it’s one of the teams.’ They all looked at me as if a village had lost an idiot!” Hill says, starting to laugh. “But it was about asking why? I think about 12 minutes in they all started to realize where this was going.”
2019 Canadian Grand Prix during Hill's tenure with Formula 1.
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Tyler recorded the theme song with the Philharmonic Orchestra of London at AIR Studios Lyndhurst.
Ayrton Senna in the Loews hairpin during the 1989 Monaco Grand Prix.
Instead, his hunch was that the Formula 1 team was so steeped in the world of Grand Prix that they’d simply forgotten the animating goal of any sports broadcast: to answer a question right as a viewer thinks to ask it.
So, the Emmy Award-winning Hill walked in, introduced himself, and made an ask: “I want you to debate and find the best produced race that you’ve got. I want everyone involved — audio, cameramen, directors, producers.”
Then, he told the team he wanted them to bring everyone into a screening room, press play, and only stop the broadcast when Hill raised his hand to ask a question. “If I don’t lift my hand, I will walk out that door and you’ll never see me again,” he remembers saying. “I’ll be back in two weeks, 10 o’clock Friday, and we’ll do it.”
Friday came and the team queued up their favorite race. “Here I am in this room, and I put my hand up and said, ‘Who’s that?’ They say, ‘Well, that’s Christian Horner.’ I said, ‘What does Christian Horner do?’ ‘Well, he runs Red Bull.’ And I said, ‘What’s Red Bull?’ ‘Ah, it’s one of the teams.’ They all looked at me as if a village had lost an idiot!” Hill says, starting to laugh. “But it was about asking why? I think about 12 minutes in they all started to realize where this was going.”
As Hill narrates the scene, it’s clear that he can see it all. And it makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? So, why can’t everyone else see it?
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