Sky F1’s Natalie Pinkham undergoes neck surgery, to miss short spell after fronting Monza
Natalie Pinkham has revealed she’s had neck surgery, confirming she’ll be “out of action for a bit” after leading Sky Sports F1’s coverage of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza last weekend.
The long-time presenter and paddock regular shared the update via Instagram, telling followers she’d undergone the procedure and will keep people posted as she recovers. In typical Pinkham fashion, there was levity to go with the news: she joked about the glowing hospital pulse sensor on her finger — “I’m gonna… phooooone hoooooome” — and later posted that she was watching race highlights from her hospital bed, adding: “They even have #skyf1 in ICU (What a keeno).”
Before heading in for surgery, Pinkham had been filming with McLaren’s Lando Norris and CEO Zak Brown at the BMW PGA Championship, with a piece planned to run in Sky’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix coverage. It’s not yet clear if she’ll be back on the mic for that weekend, but Sky is set to rotate its on-air line-up while she recuperates.
Pinkham has been part of the furniture since Sky Sports took over Formula 1 rights in the UK in 2012, moving across after her stint covering F1 for BBC Radio 5 Live. In the years since, she’s become one of the more familiar faces in the paddock — part ringmaster, part traffic cop — guiding viewers through the grid walk chaos, parc fermé emotion and late-breaking stories that seem to find Formula 1 at the worst possible moments.
The timing isn’t ideal, but the tone suggests this is a short pit stop rather than a season-ender. And if you know Pinkham’s energy on a race weekend, you’d bet on a quick turnaround.
It’s been a busy spell for the Sky F1 crew beyond the TV compound, too. Two of Pinkham’s colleagues have just entered the publishing world: Ted Kravitz has released F1 Insider: Notes from the Pit Lane, his first non-fiction book distilling decades of pit-lane anecdotes and technical tidbits, while lead presenter Simon Lazenby’s debut, Pressure, pulls together conversations with senior figures up and down the paddock for a behind-the-scenes look at how teams operate at the limit.
As for Pinkham, expect updates in due course. For now, it’s rest, recovery and, apparently, the finest ICU programming money can buy. Get well soon, Nat.
