Jeremy Clarkson says ‘can we have him every week’ after watching Austrian Grand Prix coverage
Jeremy Clarkson has asked for F1 interviewer Davide Valsecchi to be appear more often after hearing him during the Austrian Grand Prix coverage.
Valsecchi, a former GP2 champion, interviewed top three drivers Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc after the race in Spielberg.
The energetic Italian is a regular on F1TV and has also done co-commentary for Sky Sports in the past, largely on their Formula 2 coverage.
And after hearing his trio of interviews post-race, Clarkson immediately took to Twitter to make a request to F1TV bosses in two separate tweets.
Advert
"I don't know who this Italian post race interviewer is but can we have him every week. He's brilliant," his first post read.
"I want him to follow me around all day, asking stuff."
Valsecchi won the GP2 championship in 2012, and was the reserve driver for Lotus for the 2013 season.
However, he missed out on a race seat after regular driver Kimi Raikkonen was forced to miss the final two Grands Prix of the season, with Heikki Kovalainen called up instead.
The Italian was replaced for 2014 and subsequently retired from racing entirely.
In 2023, Valsecchi was suspended by Sky Sports Italia after making sexist comments about a woman during a post-race analysis programme at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Fellow commentator Matteo Bobbi referred to the woman, who was stood behind them in the paddock, as an 'upgrade package' and asked Valsecchi to look behind him.
The Italian then said: "I know, but they told me I can't test them. So I raise my hands."
He later said: "Well you know I've had eye surgery twice because I've been losing sight since I was a child, looking at those things."
Both commentators apologised, with Valsecchi writing on Instagram: "I'm very sorry because, on Sunday, after the race, I exchanged some jokes that were in bad taste and used inappropriate and disrespectful words. And I'm not like this. I would really like to apologise to those who felt offended, to women and to Sky."
Both Bobbi and Valsecchi were suspended from the following Canadian Grand Prix before returning to TV screens in Austria.
Valsecchi left the station ahead of the 2024 season to join F1TV.
Co-presenter Francesca Masolin - who was on the same panel in Spain - commented in March 2024: "How did I experience it? Not very well, the aftermath, in the sense that I didn't think all this fuss could have been triggered.
"The truth is that I know them very well, both Matteo and Davide. I love them both very much. Davide is my brother, the messy one, the one you always have to keep in line.
"I know them well and I know there was no malice or desire to go further. The sensitivities of others we don't know, so then they apologised of course.
"I suffered for them, I suffered because I said, 'They don't deserve this. They don't deserve all this fuss'."
Ryan Smart