Jeremy Clarkson hits out at F1 for forcing drivers to do the one thing 'you don't get in any other sport'

Former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson has hit out at Formula 1 for forcing drivers to do one thing 'you don't get in any other sport'.

Clarkson, 64, is a big F1 fan and has previously commented on multiple incidents that has happened in the sport.

Over the years, the former Grand Tour star has also been spotted at different races across the F1 calendar.

In his latest column for The Sun, Clarkson slammed F1 over the amount of media interviews the drivers have to conduct.

Jeremy Clarkson hits out at Formula 1

He began: "When you are a Formula 1 racing driver, you spend three hours a week driving your car and three hundred hours being interviewed by every damn herbert with an iPhone. You don’t get this in any other sport.

"Footballers arrive at the stadium and scuttle off a bus into a dressing room. After the match, maybe one player has to answer one question and then that’s that. They’re all back on the bus. But in Formula 1, everyone is ­interviewed all the time. On the way to the track. On the track. Before the race. After the race. It’s constant.

"And if you finish in the top three, it’s worse because then you are interviewed after the race before being put in a room with the other podium-finishers so we can hear what you are saying to one another. And then there are more ­interviews."

Jeremy Clarkson at the 2024 British Grand Prix. Image: Getty

Clarkson added: "If I were an F1 driver and on course for a victory, I’d cruise round the last lap and deliberately come fourth.

"And in between all of these TV interviews and press ­conferences, there’s an army of damnfool ‘influencers’ who stick a phone in your face and ask whether you prefer ­biscuits to cheese, and whether you prefer pink or brown.

"And you are forced, by the small print in your contract, and because your lawyers aren’t as good as your team’s lawyers, to face this onslaught with a smile."

Clarkson also went on to mention how Netflix's Drive To Survie has changed the drivers' behaviour in and around the F1 paddock.

He continued: "This new thinking definitely had an effect on those most recent series of Drive To Survive. In the early days, we were regularly treated to hissed altercations, as people didn’t realise they were being recorded. Now, whenever anyone sees a Netflix microphone, they go into PR mode.

"A Formula 1 driver should have some mystique. I actually don’t want to know what they’re doing after the race or where they go on holiday or whether they prefer ­biscuits to cheese. I like to use my imagination because, in my head, they’re all James Hunt. And not some model in a toothpaste commercial."