Naomi Schiff: ‘It’s sad to think that skin colour is what you are judged on’

T here is an unmistakable sense of quiet confidence, a deserved and hard-earned yet amiable assuredness that makes the former driver, and now Formula One presenter, Naomi Schiff, compelling company. F1 has few enough women working within the sport, it has fewer still women of colour yet Schiff has carved out a remarkable career with admirable equanimity in the face of the prejudice and obstacles that remain an unpleasant reality of modern sport.

Schiff is adamant she does not want race to define her but she is unafraid to address it. “I have been subject to loads of racial abuse,” she says. “Obviously social media is a terrible place at times. A study came out that me and Lewis Hamilton were subject to the most racial abuse of everyone in F1 last season but I’m not insecure about the colour of my skin, of who I am. It’s just very sad to think that’s what you are being judged on.”

The 28-year-old made her debut last season as an analyst for Sky Sports’ F1 coverage and proved immediately popular. As F1 revels in the brash, hype and noise of its second grand prix in Miami this weekend, it is worth acknowledging that it was Schiff’s knowledge of the sport as a driver, her calm professionalism and insight in the paddock that struck a chord with fans. Yet inevitably racial abuse followed on social media. Hamilton swiftly came to her defence and he was not alone. There was a genuine sense of outrage within the sport.

Nonetheless Schiff was nothing but dignified in her response. “It comes with the territory,” she says now of the events with no little understatement. Indeed, she emerged believing that it proved ultimately to be a positive experience.

“It was a great moment for me to see the people inside the environment, the