“To tell you the truth, I probably take more pride in my car than in my home” – a candid but not entirely illogical confession from someone as busy as leading Formula 1 presenter and mother-of-two, Natalie Pinkham.
We recently caught up with Natalie for the first in our exclusive series of in-car video Q&A called Fast Talk.ERS. Natalie’s car, a Jaguar F-PACE is always in pristine condition, much to the bewilderment of her husband, who points out that, “While our house is always messy, the car remains tidy at all times.”
Her auto passion began when a Datsun Sunny unexpectedly entered her life. “My brother owned it. It was completely wrecked, and he took it apart and put it back together again. I feigned interest because I wanted to hang out with my big brother, and then I fell in love with cars as a result.”
Natalie’s dream is to own a classic car, though she’d settle for her dad’s old Mercedes SL5. But as she points out, while she’s had some “rubbish” cars in her time, “…I can’t say any of them were bad because they represented freedom and independence. You can’t complain about that.”
As you’d expect from a presenter with Natalie’s CV, she has plenty to say about her F1 experiences, singling out Silverstone as the best track atmosphere, “British fans are amazing, they just get it and understand everything there is to know about F1” she says. But in terms of the whole race experience, “…there’s no place quite like Monaco”, she enthuses. “It’s ridiculous, a strange, surreal bubble, but one worth going to – get it on your bucket list!”
In contrast, the dubious accolade of worst race venue goes to South Korea. “It’s now fallen off the calendar, simply because no one turned up. You can’t really have racing without fans.”
Finally, after a summer which saw ERS not just underwrite, but also undertake, the legendary Gumball 3000 motor rally, we asked Natalie who she’d chose as her team mate for such an iconic but demanding drive. Natalie’s competitive spirit is clear as she rules out her husband, opting instead for Hollywood stunt car racer turned musical movie star, Ryan Gosling, asserting her choice with the exclamation, “You’ve seen the film Drive, right? I mean, he can really drive!”
For more revelations from Natalie's Fast Talk.ERS watch the video.
