F1 Voice At His Best: Top 10 Rob Smedley Moments

Almost every F1 fan roots for a certain team or driver. We laugh when our boys win and lament if they lose. When we look at a standard race report, we’ll read that Vettel won, Alonso suffered from a bad strategic decision, Petrov crashed, Button gambled with tyres and Hamilton was too aggressive. In most cases, it’s all about the drivers. But these are very false impressions as none of the drivers is alone on the track. Yes – each of them always has company in the person of his race engineer. And unless a driver tells his engineer to leave him finally alone for God’s sake (cheers, Fernando), he is always aided and supported by a quiet man sitting at the pit wall and monitoring the situation, making sure that no harm is being done to his driver.

Among 24 race engineers in the paddock, there is one who stands head and shoulders above the rest to me (E.), the man called by Polish F1 commentators F1 celebrity (quite wrongly IMHO), the voice of Formula 1, the man who makes race engineering (and particularly team radio transmissions) art – Mister Robert Smedley.

Even an average F1 rookie will know what a special bond joins Rob Smedley and his driver – Ferrari’s Felipe Massa. We’ve all seen tears in Rob’s eyes when Massa lost the championship by 1 point in 2008 and we’ve heard Felipe saying that Rob is worth as much gold as Massa weights. Yes – even a baby knows what an extraordinary person Rob Smedley is. And so to honour the most charming man (in my opinion) amongst all the race engineers, I would like to present…

TOP 10 ROB SMEDLEY MOMENTS

Before we start, Rob would like to introduce himself to the readers and tell us a few words about himself.
Note: This video was recorded in 2009 when Rob was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Professional Studies at Teesside University – a university located in his hometown – Middlesbrough.

When we know our today’s protagonist, we may proceed to the list of his top 10, most memorable moments...

10. Germany 2010 and the infamous Fernando is faster than you – it was a sad day for Rob and though I don’t want to open the Pandora’s box and start the team orders discussion all over again, I have to put this message on my list for obvious reasons – it’s a message that defined the majority of 2010 season and became one of the most popular lines by Rob...

The famous transmission became a source of inspiration (not only for thousands of already boring jokes containing the is faster than you phrase):

9. Monaco 2008 and Felipe Massa on pole. Rob simply radiates with pride!

However, Rob is not always cheery and smiley. Don’t even try to hurt his little brother Felipe (as he himself called the driver). If you do, you will have to face Rob. And you should never mess up with Rob!

8. Brazil 2010: another faulty pit stop? Rob doesn’t take Felipe’s bad luck easily. Felipe’s misfortune is Rob’s misfortune.

7. Canada 2010: Rob won’t stop from telling us what he really thinks about others ruining Massa’s race.

6. Turkey 2010: Rob and Felipe share their views on how the driver (never) listens to his engineer. Priceless unanimity, like an old married couple.

5. Spain 2010: Rob is an engineer and as an engineer he perfectly knows how to solve difficult technical problems with a broken front wing. The simplest solutions are always the best and so is the case of this ingenious idea by Rob.

However, Rob at his best is Rob happy praising his driver for a great performance. That’s when love is in the air!

4. Brazil 2008.

3. Spain 2007.

2. Hungary 2009: there are also dark times in Formula 1 when strength and support is needed. Such was Massa’s massive accident during 2009 Hungarian GP qualifying. Rob rose to the occasion showing some real human emotions and a wonderfully touching devotion to his driver.

 And now... the best Smedley moment...

1. Malaysia 2009: message – legend.

As a dessert –  two more videos. Firstly, a little double interview with Rob Smedley and Felipe Massa (starts around 8:10), from which we can learn a few more interesting things about Rob, see how charming and modest he is and once more become convinced that Rob and Felipe are indeed always absolutely unanimous.

And secondly, BBC material about Rob's and Felipe's relationship...