EXCLUSIVE: David Croft speaks to Express Sport about being the modern-day voice of Formula 1.

David Croft is a staple of Sky Sports’ Formula 1 coverage (Image: Getty)

Formula 1 looks a lot different to how it used to even just a few short years ago. Figures put out by bosses earlier this month claim there are 827 million fans of the sport worldwide, 52 million of whom are US-based. The American market is something F1 always struggled to crack, but the huge interest Stateside these days and the fact there are three races per year now in the US demonstrate the progress that has been made

One of them, the Las Vegas Grand Prix, continues to have its issues after three years, but there is no doubt that it is becoming the modern-day flagship event. It is perhaps fitting, then, that the man who is the modern-day ‘voice of F1’ was first offered the role in one of Sin City’s infamous bars.

“A friend of mine, who happened to be the producer of 5 Live Formula 1, suggested that I might make a good F1 commentator. I thought he was drunk, to be fair,” said David Croft with a chuckle. Known to millions worldwide as ‘Crofty’ he has led the Sky Sports F1 commentary since the broadcaster bought the rights for the 2012 season.

But he has actually been commentating on F1 for 20 years, having first begun in 2005 for BBC Radio. Croft dismissed his possibly inebriated friend at the time but, when it was brought up the following morning with a clearer yet perhaps slightly sorer head, the idea stuck.

Croft said: “He repeated it the next day and said that I should audition. I did, and passed the audition. I had to make up a lap off the top of my head. I think it was a first lap at Monza, I had to imagine that I was commentating on this lap.

“It took me back to when I was younger, when I used to pretend to be a sports commentator quite a lot because this is the job I always wanted to do. I’d be there with my Scalextric set pretending I was Murray Walker. ‘Sensational, off he goes’, and all that.”

He won a one-year contract to commentate on the 2005 season, but wasn’t immediately sure that it was the right path for him. Croft was previously known for his darts commentary and had also covered a World Cup and a Summer Olympic Games for radio, but admits he felt out of his depth at times when he was first adjusting to F1 work.

He said: “Honestly, about three races in, I thought, ‘I don’t really know enough here, even though I’ve done as much research as I can, I need to know a lot more’. There were struggles in that first year. Did I belong here? Was this a good fit? Am I enjoying it? Most of the time I was, but there were a few struggles.

“Then I got a contract for a second year and life became a lot nicer then. By the third, fourth year in Formula 1, you really feel like you started to belong a bit by that stage. When Sky came and got the rights and said, ‘We’d like you to be our commentator’, that was a complete no-brainer for me, because Sky do sport brilliantly. It’s been brilliant to be a part of it, it really has.

Croft has been part of Sky’s F1 broadcasts since 2012 (Image: Getty)

F1’s popularity boom in recent years has boosted the profile of those who are regularly seen on our TV screens including, in recent years, Croft. He regularly appears in front of camera these days, rather than just being a disembodied voice commenting on live images, and that has led to him being recognised much more often when out and about in public.

Others might find that disruptive, but Croft insists: “It’s quite lovely.” He gave an example: “I took my stepdaughter to see Tate McRae this year and she wore a Lando Norris top, because she’s a big Lando Norris fan – they share the same birthday – and Tate McRae and Lando have that association as well. There were a lot of other people actually that night wearing papaya.

“After about an hour of being there, Ava turned to me and said, ‘Do you get recognised like this everywhere you go?’ I said, ‘No, but there’s obviously a lot of Lando fans here’. We were stopping a lot to say hi and to do selfies and that. It’s lovely that F1 fans obviously know me and they know my voice, and I’ve given people enjoyment over the years, which is all I ever want to do.”

His most regular collaborator in the commentary box is Martin Brundle who is peerless in terms of the amount of the authority he has and respect he commands in his analysis and punditry work. They make such an iconic duo that, when makers of the Brad Pitt-led F1 movie that was released earlier this year were deciding on who should commentate over footage of on-track action, producer Lewis Hamilton insisted they were the only men for the job.

“It’s a privilege for people to invite Martin and myself into their lives and their living rooms,” Croft said. “We try to reward that with something entertaining and enjoyable on a Sunday afternoon. If I’m a household name for people, that’s absolutely incredible. But it’s my job and it’s my passion and I love it. I love talking.”

Crofty with wife Laura at the European premiere of F1: The Movie, in which he appeared (Image: Getty)

So much so that we’re almost half-an-hour into an interview that was supposed to last 20 minutes, and Croft is receiving multiple texts from Sky’s lead presenter Simon Lazenby, who is anxious about making their tee time for a planned round of golf. “He’s going to kill me,” Croft smirks, giving the impression that it’s far from the first time something similar has happened.

The faces of Sky’s coverage have changed in recent years, with the likes of former F1 racers Johnny Herbert and Damon Hill being replaced by younger and more diverse talent. Croft, though, insists he has no plans to go anywhere: “I’ll be a part of it for many more years to come – we’re only just getting going.”