Pitstop Podcast hosts issue apology for disrespectful comments after F1 fans’ criticism
Juan Manuel Correa appears on the Screaming Meals podcast with the Pitstop Boys.
The two presenters of the Pitstop podcast have issued an apology after F1 fans complained about their attitudes towards racers JM Correa and Marcus Armstrong.
Last week, the two men behind the Pitstop podcast went viral for all the wrong reasons after a guest appearance on Marcus Armstrong’s Screaming Meals podcast.
Having already drawn criticism from fans and social media users for a lack of depth to their motorsport knowledge, Jake Boys and Fabio Bocca incurred the wrath of ‘F1 Twitter’ after appearing on the podcast.
Armstrong, together with Boys and Bocca, welcomed along American-Ecuadorian racer Juan Manuel Correa to the episode. Correa, who suffered severe injuries in the multi-car pile-up which claimed the life of Anthoine Hubert at Spa-Francorchamps in 2019, has only recently returned to the Formula 2 category, having initially made his debut in the series that fateful year.
What is the Pitstop fuss all about?
Correa and Armstrong began a conversation about the Melbourne weekend of racing, only for Bocca to interrupt and say: “Honestly, from a fan perspective, what people want to know is what you boys do outside of the racing. When you think about reality TV and Drive to Survive… no one gives a f**k about your racing, let’s be honest. No one cares where you finish in the championship.”
Armstrong agreed with Bocca, saying: “I don’t even think the majority of our fans watch the races, they just like the idea that we are racing.”
But anger was brewing on social media, due to the apparent disrespect shown to Correa after fighting so hard to return to racing in Formula 2 after a four-year journey. The incident occurred the same week Correa opened up about the immediate aftermath of the Hubert crash, and discovering his contemporary had died.
Correa himself appeared incredulous at the fact neither Boys nor Bocca appeared to have knowledge of who he was, saying “But you do an F1 podcast” when he was told they didn’t know who he was. Following the appearance, Correa tweeted to say: “Maybe I should start my own podcast”.
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Boys and Bocca have since issued an apology for the podcast appearance, saying: “We’ve taken some necessary time out to reflect, following the release of the latest Screaming Meals episode.
“We messed up and what we said was not acceptable. Watching the content back, we’re embarrassed by our attitudes and, for that, we are sorry.
“We feel privileged to be a small part of the fans who embrace this amazing sport and we love this incredible racing community we’ve found ourselves in.
“We should have been more respectful to the hosts and, in particular, JM Correa, who we have since spoken to and apologised. We remain grateful for his and others’ support of us and our podcast.
“We promise we’ll do better moving forward. Jake and Fab.”
Who are Pitstop?
Boys and Bocca began a podcast in early 2022, despite having no interest or knowledge in Formula 1 until watching Netflix’s Drive to Survive. By their fifth episode, they landed F1 presenter Will Buxton as a guest, quickly followed by the likes of Sky F1’s David Croft, 2009 F1 World Champion Jenson Button, Formula 2 Champion Felipe Drugovich, and Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas.
However, despite their meteoric rise, there has been plenty of criticism on social media, particularly after the reveal that they are more interested in travelling around the world, rather than the content they make.
During a special episode dedicated to Sebastian Vettel as the German driver called time on an illustrious career, a simple question about which teams Vettel had raced for revealed the hosts weren’t aware he had raced for Red Bull, instead guessing Haas as a third team he’d driven for.
Despite this, the podcast enjoyed a strong rating on streaming platforms but, following a coordinated campaign from disgruntled fans, their star rating has dipped to 2.2 on Spotify.