F1: Reflections From Varsha, Hobbs And Matchett

Formula 1

F1: Reflections From Varsha, Hobbs And Matchett

The highly-regarded announce team of Bob Varsha, David Hobbs and Steve Matchett look back on 17 years of Formula One on SPEED...

SPEED Staff | Posted November 24, 2012 Charlotte, NC

Formula One on SPEED announcers Bob Varsha (Left), David Hobbs (Center) and Steve Matchett (Right) will call their final race together with Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix. (Photo: SPEED)

CHECKERED FLAG: REFLECTIONS ON A LONG AND SUCCESSFUL RUN OF FORMULA ONE RACING ON SPEED

Sunday’s Formula One season finale from Brazil not only marks the conclusion of the 2012 season, it wraps a long and successful run of Formula One racing on SPEED. After 17 years, SPEED will air its final Formula One race Sunday with live coverage of the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Below, the highly-regarded SPEED announce team of Bob Varsha, David Hobbs and Steve Matchett reflect on their long tenure together, and share what they consider to be their finest moments over the years:

“My favorite F1 moment on SPEED has to be the season finale in Brazil in 2008. Coming off missing the championship by one point in his rookie season the year before, Lewis Hamilton needed a sixth-place finish or better to clinch the '08 championship if rival Felipe Massa won the race, which he did. While Hamilton struggled in the drizzling rain, Massa crossed the line thinking he had won the title. At that moment Hamilton passed Timo Glock in the last corner for the needed sixth place, and I'll never forget the look on the face of Massa's father in the Ferrari garage as someone informed him that the McLaren driver had just seized the championship from their hands.”
--Bob Varsha

“During the 13 years I’ve been with SPEED, we’ve managed to achieve increased interest in and awareness of Formula One, which makes me very proud to have worked as part of that team. Additionally, there is more awareness of the importance of the constructors’ championship and the teams’ participation in Formula One. Great consideration previously was given to the drivers’ championship and the drivers, but I’m proud to have been able to help explain the importance of Formula One as a constructors’ sport and the significance of that championship. The audience seems to have taken that to heart. We have helped Formula One get to a state in America where there will be two American Grands Prix -- one in Austin and one in New Jersey -- which is a reflection of the interest and support of Formula One in America. The sport wants to be in America not just once, but twice, and that’s fabulous.

“I’ve been witness to many fine moments in Formula One during my 13 years with SPEED, but if I had to pick one particular moment that defined SPEED as a Formula One team coming together in terms of our production and announce team getting it right, it was 2008 when Lewis Hamilton clinched his first drivers’ championship. It was the last race of the year, the points were so close, and for about 30 seconds, it looked like Felipe Massa had won the championship. There was some action farther down the track, and from out of nowhere, Hamilton came out of the final corner and scored just enough points at the very end to clinch the championship. Frank Wilson of SPEED and the guys behind the scenes were helping us decipher everything happening and feeding us the correct information so we could call the racing action. The production and announce teams came together perfectly and we saw it unfold before us and told the story. I felt a tingle down my spine. We absolutely had it together and were perfectly united as a team.”
--Steve Matchett

“I’ve just been proud to be a member of the team all these years. It was a fabulous team in the booth with Bob (Varsha), Steve (Matchett), Leigh Diffey when he filled in for Bob, and me. Bob is peerless in his play-by-play role. Steve is fabulous in the technical realm. But we were all led by Frank Wilson, who has been a great team leader, and we’ve always had great people working on the team. It has been a terrific group to work with. It’s a high bar that’s been set.

“We’ve seen some great races and exhibitions of racing during my time from (Michael) Schumacher and Fernando Alonso when he won two consecutive championships to Lewis Hamilton when he burst onto the scene and upset everyone enormously with his speed. Then, of course, Sebastian Vettel becoming the youngest driver ever to win a Formula One race in 2008 when he won from the pole for Toro Rosso in Monza in the damp was an amazing display of driving, and he has been amazing us ever since. We’ve seen some great drivers come into Formula One and stay, and it’s been a very good period to be calling Formula One races. I think we’ve had the greatest depth in the field we’ve seen in a long, long time. It’s a great championship and has been a great success.”
--David Hobbs