Sky F1 presenter 'suffered' after colleagues punished for sexist on-air comments
Sky Italy's former Formula 1 presenter Federica Masolin has spoken of her "suffering" after colleagues Davide Valsecchi and Matteo Bobbi were suspended for sexist comments made during a live broadcast.
The incident happened while they were on air at last year's Spanish Grand Prix. Bobbi was speaking from the studio and told Valsecchi, who was in the paddock next to Masolin, that he should look behind him at another woman who he described as an "upgrade package".
Valsecchi then responded: "I know, but they told me I can't test them. So I raise my hands." Masolin responded by cutting in and saying: "Can't we watch some interviews instead of listening to these two... I'm going to censor you two."
Both Valsecchi and Bobbi were suspended by the broadcaster after criticism from viewers for their comments. They returned to work a month later at the Austrian Grand Prix, after missing the Canada race.
Bobbi remains in his role for the 2024 season, though Valsecchi is no longer a part of Sky Italy's F1 coverage. Masolin has also stepped away herself, but continues to work for the broadcaster and is now the face of their Champions League coverage.
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Speaking to the BSMT podcast, Masolin said she could not believe how much "fuss" had been made over the comments. "How did I experience it? Not very well [in] the aftermath, in the sense that I didn't think all this fuss could have been triggered," she said.
"The truth is that I know them very well, both Matteo and Davide. I love them both very much. Davide is my brother, the messy one, the one you always have to keep in line. Matteo is such a nice guy, so proper, that I actually didn't perceive it at the time as an offence to the female gender.
"I am a girl, so long from me being offended. But there and then I said, guys go ahead, give me something. I know them well and I know there was no malice or desire to go further. The sensitivities of others we don't know, so then they apologised of course. But it was a lightness dictated by the fact that as we said before we are a group of friends, we are a family.
"When you do so many hours of live broadcasting then maybe you get to the end, it was really the end of the live broadcast of a very long day. It was far from a disparaging phrase. It was a bar phrase, if you like, something you want to let loose with your friends and you do if you are in the total confidence of the moment. I suffered for them. I suffered because I said, 'They don't deserve this. They don't deserve all this fuss.'"
Both men issued their own public apologies in the aftermath of the row. Bobbi vowed to "improve further as a man and as a professional", while Valsecchi admitted he had used "unsuitable and disrespectful words" during the broadcast.
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