For the past few years, Formula 1 has had some random old person interview the top three drivers of the race as they stand on the podium. It should come as little surprise that this is a terrible and great idea.
Formula 1 presumably does these podium interviews as a kind of outreach to new audiences, which makes it particularly funny that at this past weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, they chose an opera singer.
The man in question, Plácido Domingo, got off to a good start. He began by calling Max Verstappen, the youngest winner in F1 history, “Markus Verstappen,” presumably because we can’t let a young punk get a big head.
Look at his face! The kid is 18 years old, he’s on top of the world, and some old guy just got his name wrong in front of millions of people.
The rest of Domingo’s interview was as typically awkward and dull as these things usually are. Domingo seemed to remember Max’s name and then decided to conclude his time on the air by congratulating the two Spanish drivers in the race (one of whom finished sixth while the other didn’t finish at all), and by giving a shout out to Barcelona’s win in soccer, which is just about the only sport with a larger global audience than Formula 1.
Hey, it could have been worse.