Formula One: Rwandan Naomi Schiff lands deal as Sky Sports commentator
Saturday, March 19, 2022
Naomi Schiff, born to a Rwandan mother and Belgian father, is the latest addition to Sky Sports Formula One's team of commentators for the 2022 season.

Rwandan racing driver Naomi Schiff has been added to the presenting team behind Sky Sports Formula One’s new show ‘Any Driven Monday’ – a 60-minute programme streamed on Mondays after race weekends on Sky Sports F1's YouTube channel.

The giant broadcaster secured Naomi’s services last week as race analyst.

The new show takes a look at the latest goings on in the world’s biggest racing championship, and guests will include F1 stars, influential voices and celebrity fans of the sport.

"Super excited to announce that I’ll be joining the Sky Sports F1 team on their coverage this upcoming season!” Naomi posted on her Instagram page.

"Crazy to think in a few days I’ll be joining the team I’ve been watching on TV for years,” she added.

Naomi is a Rwandan-Belgian professional racing and stunt driver. Fresh from presenting the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team car launch, she joins the Sky Sports F1 team for the 2022 season.

Prior to her new assignments, Sky Sports F1 Director Billy McGinty hailed Naomi’s career as ‘interesting’ and persuaded her until she agreed to join Sky’s Formula One team.

"I've watched Naomi's career with interest, I'm excited she'll be contributing to our coverage and co-hosting our new YouTube show Any Driven Monday,” he said of Naomi.

Naomi will co-host the show with Matt Baker from Sky Sports Studios in London.

She will also be attending races on-site and was spotted in Bahrain inspecting Lewis Hamilton’s W13 in the garage ahead of the first practice session of the new season.  

WHO IS NAOMI?

Born in 1994 in Belgium to a Rwandan mother and Belgian father, Naomi started racing at the age of 11 with karting in South Africa.

Kart racing or karting is a variant of motorsport road racing with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on full-size motorsport circuits.

Naomi began racing at a young age – first in prototype, GT and single seater cars – has since seen her star shine as one of the most renowned women in car racing.

At the age of 14, she represented South Africa in the Karting World Championships for four consecutive years, 2008 to 2011, thereafter entering the domain of circuit racing which took her around the world.

Her major successes include the 2014 Clio Cup Asia championship title with seven wins from 10 starts, 2018 KTM GT4 X-Bow Battle championship title and a second place in the 2018 ADAC Zurich 24 Hours Nürburgring.

Naomi became W Series’ Diversity and Inclusion Ambassador in 2020.

In a past interview with The New Times, she explained that her role entailed "not only to help spread the word about the unique role that W Series is playing for female drivers worldwide, but also to attract the best drivers to the league.”

W Series is the women’s equivalent of Formula One, and its inaugural racing season was held 2019.