By Daniel Moxon
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Sky Sports presenter Natalie Pinkham has lauded former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone for his swift action after a photographer took an upskirt photo of her. The incident occurred at a Grand Prix when a gust of wind lifted her skirt, revealing her underwear. Speaking on the Style DNA podcast, Pinkham shared how she discovered that the photo was set to be published in the next day’s edition of The Sun newspaper. Upon informing Ecclestone, who was still heading F1 at the time, he used his considerable clout to address the situation. “You’ve got to be comfortable in the pit lane, it’s got to be practical but you also show a bit of your own sense of style,” she said, discussing her choice of attire while broadcasting for Sky Sports . “I love waistcoats with wider trousers. I love that, but I know some people don’t, a lot of men don’t, but we don’t dress for men. ‘Get your pins out,’ like, no thanks!”. When asked about the windy conditions sometimes experienced at races, Pinkham recounted her experience from the Korean Grand Prix one year as an example. She said: “You know what, this is a great story about Bernie Ecclestone, because I didn’t know this picture was out there, but basically there was a gust of wind, a snapper got the shot, and I found out about it when it was about to go in The Sun. “I told Bernie Ecclestone about this, and he phoned the cameraman, the photographer, and said, ‘If that goes to print, your pass won’t work at the next Grand Prix. You don’t stitch Natalie up like that’. And I was like, ‘Wow, he’s a feminist!’ Because, you know, obviously Bernie loved the grid girls and everything else but actually, he’s got two daughters, he’s got a lovely wife and so, actually, he’s all for sticking up for girls in the moment.” Pinkham has been a staple of Sky’s F1 coverage ever since the broadcaster secured the rights to broadcast the sport in the UK in 2012. She routinely chats with drivers and files reports from the media pen, but has in recent years also become one of the primary presenters of the live coverage, splitting that duty with colleagues Rachel Brookes and Simon Lazenby. Ecclestone, now 94, held the commercial rights to the F1 World Championship until 2017 when he was ousted as chief executive after the takeover by American investment firm Liberty Media the previous year. He stayed on as chairman emeritus and an adviser to the board but his tenure ended in January 2020.
