Sky Sports F1’s Naomi Schiff shares ‘torture’ after farewell to racing

Former W-Series driver Naomi Schiff, 28, had to leave her racing career behind after finding a passion and talent for motorsport at the tender age of 11.

Although she has since embarked on a successful presenting role for Sky Sports F1, Naomi revealed in an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk that the transition was a lot more challenging for her than it may have appeared to viewers.

Discussing her change in career, Naomi admitted that at first, she found it a “torturous” experience to be at the racetrack without being able to get into the cars.

She recalled: “I think the most difficult thing is having to be at the racetrack and not actually getting to get in the cars. That’s like a torture really. The first year in the W-Series was particularly hard, because that year, I had planned to be back in the W-Series cars.

“So I guess every time the cars rolled out, I was like, ‘Oh, I’m supposed to be in one of those cars’. So that felt a little bit too close to home,” she admitted.

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Things began to turn around for Naomi when she started presenting Formula 1 races. She explained: “Whereas, at least in Formula One, I wasn’t ever really very close to Formula One seats, so I didn’t have any envy. I still feel these emotions. I mean, I always have done, even in the past before I did this job.

“Whenever I would watch an F1 race or other racing, I fully feel the same nerves as I did when I raced myself. At least I’m still going through that emotional roller coaster.”

Naomi had to bow out of racing because she didn’t have the budget to continue.

She was retained by Hitech as their official reserve driver for the 2021 season before sadly announcing her retirement from motorsport.

Sharing the best part of her role with Sky Sports F1, Naomi told Express.co.uk: “Even the years before [my motorsport career] ended, I sort of wasn’t racing at the level I wanted to because I had that lack of funding.

“So I used to ask myself, I remember, earlier on in my career when things were sort of hitting rough patches, who would I be if I wasn’t a racing driver? Because it was my entire identity. I mean, I started racing when I was 11. And I didn’t really know anything other than being a racing driver.

“So I knew that whenever that moment would come, it would be quite tough to swallow and I felt like I was going to be a little bit lost.”

She added: “I didn’t know how that would all pan out and where I would be, which is a very destabilising feeling.”

Luckily for the sports star, she was able to channel her passion into presenting.

She divulged: “That’s one of the things that I say is the best part, is that I was able to come into this role and still continue to live out my passion in different ways, but I’m still very much in the sport that I love the most.

“And the sport that, especially now that I’m in F1, is the sport that I always dreamed to be a part of. So that’s definitely the best part.”