NAOMI SCHIFF has proven her doubters wrong as she continues to excel on Sky’s F1 coverage.
The 28-year-old presenter joined the Brit broadcaster back in March but recently found herself trolled online.
What was completely overlooked by the doubters was Schiff’s knowledge of the motorsport world, from her own experiences.
Having competed in Southern African Formula Volkswagen, Clio Cup China Series, KTM X-Bow GT4, and W Series, Naomi has her own racing pedigree.
There couldn’t be anyone better placed to quiz the F1 drivers of today.
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Girl Racer
Before she became a presenter, Naomi earned her motorsport chops competing in the sport.
The Rwandan-Belgian began racing at just 16 with the Southern African Formula Volkswagen.
In 2014, she achieved her greatest success – landing the Clio Cup China Series with seven wins from ten races.
That enabled her to race in the GT4 European Series in 2015, as well as 2018’s gruelling 24 Hours of Nurburgring, which is recognised along with Le Mans as one of the toughest in the world.
As of 2019, Naomi’s been part of the W Series, who she is also diversity and inclusion ambassador for, and was a reserve last season.
Foray into presenting
Back in February, F1 fans might have caught a glimpse of Naomi introducing the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team car launch alongside F1 pit reporter Natalie Pinkham.
Then in March, she appeared as a co-host of new Sky Sports F1 show Any Driven Monday, which can be streamed on YouTube.
However, one troll questioned whether she was the right person to give her opinion.
The troll wrote: “Meet Naomi Schiff, Sky Sports latest Formula 1 commentator. Can you guess what her main qualification for the job is? Hint: It isn’t Formula 1 experience.”
In response Schiff posted three yawning emojis to highlight her boredom at receiving such abuse.
Fighting her corner
Lewis Hamilton was the first to defend Naomi’s corner.
The seven-time champion took to Twitter and voiced his displeasure at the tweet.
Schiff presents Any Driven Monday
Drawing on her own motorsport experience, Schiff is ideal placed to quiz F1 drivers
He wrote: “Naomi is an ex-professional racing driver & totally qualified to give her opinion as part of the Sky team.
“She’s been a great asset since joining & we should welcome more representative broadcasting with open arms.
“Still have a long way to go to change these attitudes in sport.”
Those words would have been well received by Naomi, who grew up a Hamilton fan.
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“Since I was very young, I’ve looked up to Hamilton,” she has said of the F1 legend.
“He was, for me, the only, call it ‘identifiable’ role model that I had in my career, so he held a special place in my heart and you know, I have always been motivated to do as well as he’s done, and hopefully be that identifiable role model to someone else, thanks to him.”
