Victim of sexist remarks from Sky F1 commentators issues response
Former driver turned pundit Davide Valsecchi on Sky Sports. Monaco May 2023
Sky Sports’ Italian commentators Davide Valsecchi and Matteo Bobbi were reportedly suspended for making sexist remarks on air, and the subject of them, Christine Giampaoli Zonca, at first thought it was a joke when hearing of the punishment.
Commentating at the Spanish Grand Prix together with Federica Masolin, Valsecchi and Bobbi sparked public outrage with their comments about a woman in the background while on camera in the paddock.
Reports then began to emerge that the duo, with Bobbi having issued a statement apologising for his actions, would be suspended for the upcoming Canadian Grand Prix.
The woman subjected to the comments was Italian rally driver Christine Giampaoli Zonca, though she stressed she took no offence at all and was shocked to hear that this decision has apparently been made.
“I wasn’t offended, it was just a joke,” she told Corriere della Sera. “I realised because everyone started writing to me. They were also polite, it’s not like they said anything…’
“At first when the news broke out on social media and it came out that they had been suspended I thought it was a joke. But then I found out it was true, and I was sorry. They are two good commentators, it all seemed so exaggerated to me. I know them and I wrote to them immediately.”
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Zonca, more commonly known by her nickname ‘Christine GZ’, has a different plan then for how she can get her own back on the duo for what she clearly took as no more than a joke.
So, her idea is, come the next F1 race, which is the Canadian Grand Prix, for her to appear on video with both Valsecchi and Bobbi so she can make a “couple of jokes” at their expense.
“Let’s do this: at the next F1 race send me on video together with Bobbi and Valsecchi, so maybe this time I’ll be the one to make a couple of jokes to those two,” she suggested.
If the suspension for the Canadian GP is to stand though, then it would mean the commentators are set to return to their roles as of the Austrian Grand Prix.