Sky F1 commentator David Croft to miss Barcelona Grand Prix

Sky F1 commentator David Croft is set to miss this weekend’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, PlanetF1.com has learned.

Croft has served as Sky F1’s lead commentator since the broadcaster inherited the rights from the BBC ahead of the 2012 season.

David Croft to sit out Barcelona Grand Prix for Sky F1

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With the F1 calendar swelling to a record 24 races over recent years, Sky F1 has operated a rotation system among its on-air talent with pundits and presenters each missing a select number of rounds.

Croft has opted to sit out the Emilia Romagna, Austrian and Azerbaijan grands prix over the last two seasons.

With Imola losing its place on the schedule for F1 2026, however, Croft has been forced into a change this year.

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PlanetF1.com understands that Croft is poised to miss the renamed Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix this weekend with Harry Benjamin, the regular F1 commentator on BBC Radio 5 Live, set to step into the commentary box.

It is believed that Croft will spend his weekend off at the Download Festival, a rock and metal festival.

The festival is held at the Donington Park circuit, which hosted the 1993 European Grand Prix, best remembered for Ayrton Senna’s legendary opening lap in wet conditions.

Croft, 55, alluded to his plans during his commentary of the second free practice session at last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.

Addressing Sky F1 pundit Bernie Collins during FP2 last Friday, he said: “I checked the weather forecast before you came up here and went: ‘Blimey, it’s going to rain tomorrow! This could be interesting!’

“Ant [Davidson, co-commentator] got all excited… and then I realised I’ve been checking the weather forecast for the Download Festival next weekend to know if I need to bring my wellies or not.

“Fear not, it might rain a little bit at Donington Park; it ain’t going to rain in Monaco tomorrow.”

PlanetF1.com has contacted Sky regarding Croft’s schedule for the rest of the F1 2026 season.

As reported by PlanetF1.com, Croft’s co-commentator Martin Brundle confirmed in April that he will attend 15 of a possible 22 races in F1 2026 following the cancellations of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian grands prix.

Benjamin made his Sky F1 debut at the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix as part of the ‘F1 Kids’ initiative, which saw Sky televise a special children’s broadcast of the race as an alternative to the main commentary provided by Croft and Brundle.

He stepped in to the main Sky F1 commentary booth for the first time at Imola in May 2024.

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