Popov: Giving Credit Where Its Due — How I Invited Fabrichnova to Share the Spotlight in F1 Commentary

The well-known Russian commentator **Alexey Popov** shared how he invited **Natalia Fabrichnova** to cover Formula 1 from the commentary booth.

«Next, we should ask how you ended up in the commentary booth. However, I can frame the question differently. First of all, since she [Natalia] was working as a freelance journalist, I initially invited her into the booth to assist me behind the scenes. Let me clarify — there are certain roles where, for instance, in English broadcasting, there’s an experienced individual like Mark Hughes who has spent his entire career in the field. He sits just off-camera, reviewing all the documents, tracking the average lap times, noticing countless details, and simply relaying information to the commentator by either signaling or writing notes. So, despite all his experience, he’s not on-air but is immensely helpful — essentially a spotter.

I brought Natalia on board to assist me, making sure to keep an eye on things and so forth. After some time, I started feeling a bit sorry for her. I thought, ‘She’s doing so much work, but all the recognition is coming my way.’ I remember having a conversation with Dmitry Mednikov, the head of ‘Russia-2,’ where I asked him directly, ‘How do you feel about me inviting a co-host? Would that be okay? There’s this girl, she’s a karting racer but lacks commentary experience.’ He responded, ‘Sure, give it a try. It’s always good to have two commentators for hockey or, say, football. Let’s see how it works for Formula 1,’” Popov recounted in a podcast with the group «First&Red» on **VKontakte**.