In 2020 he completed his 13th season as a Formula 1 race commentator. Yet Tomáš Richtr still does not consider himself a sports journalist. In addition to F1, which he still counts among his hobbies years later, the graduate of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at BUT works on the development of air traffic control systems. The recipe for success, he says, is this: you have to devote yourself to what you can be passionate about. And Tomáš Richtr undoubtedly has a passion for the queen of motorsports.
What was your path to Formula 1?
Formula 1 has always been my hobby. I don't even see it as a sport, for me it's more of a technological show business. I was so intensely involved in it and from different angles that professional sports journalists noticed me and started asking me for advice. First, I got the opportunity to comment on lesser-known circuit series and in 2008 came the chance to comment on the queen of motorsport F1 for TV Nova, which I still do today.
What do you consider to be the key to success in this industry?
I've been thinking about this a lot lately, because sometimes young fans, mostly teenag- ers, approach me and ask how they can become sports commentators. Looking back, I never had the ambition to become a TV commentator; on the contrary, I suffered from stage fright for a long time. I think the main factor in success is not doing it for the money, to satisfy your parents or for fame. It has to be that you get so caught up in it and you give it 100 per cent, in short, you become engrossed. I think that's the common denominator for all honestly successful people. I did Formula 1 for myself, and the turning point came when I suddenly felt the desire to share the knowledge I had gained with others.
How did you come to the attention of sports journalists when there were no social networks and you couldn't make a break as an influencer or popular YouTuber?
At that time there was no Facebook or anything like that, internet discussions in the sense of comments under articles were just beginning and thanks to them and the web journalists noticed me. I was putting Formula 1 into perspective like no one else in the Czech Republic and very few in the world. That is, not only from the perspective of what was happening on the racetrack, but also from the perspective of sporting and technical rules and business context. When established motoring journalists started to approach me, I took it very humbly.
The 2020 season was your thirteenth as a commentator. What keeps you there?
I love the uniqueness of the whole setting. Spectators often expect wheel-to-wheel battles with a similar intensity to an ice-hockey game. But Formula 1 has never been like that. In Formula 1, the tactics are done remotely, the engi- neers on the pit wall watching how one driver fares against another... watching the story is incredibly fascinating. And what I enjoy even more is the extreme style of Formula 1. It's an amalgamation of all disciplines: technology, HR, marketing, but also human weaknesses such as the male ego. All in that wonderful formulaic extreme. McLaren boss Ron Dennis once called it "the piranha club" and it's really not far from reality. It's a world that inspires me on the one hand and always surprises me with a quirk on the other. And I enjoy the adrenaline rush of live broad- casting, it's the magnet that keeps me going.
What are you experiencing during the live broadcast? Is it a flow state, i.e. total concen- tration?
I find there a comparison with top sport, because before the race I already feel nervous- ness, or rather a subconscious impression of concentration. But the moment the red light comes on and the microphone is switched on, one goes into a kind of trance, a state of intellectual concentration. I'm dedicated to keeping all my senses on edge and missing as little as possible, but also to selling it to people in the best possible way, because Formula 1 and sport in general is all about emotion. Then when the broadcast is over, it takes me a day or two to get back to normal from that emotional- intellectual overdrive.
You did not experience Formula Student at BUT, but do you follow our student team and their achievements?
I know the projects very well, not only the student formula, but also F1 in schools. We even meet the student team sometimes at events. I'm pleased to see strong brands and institutions like F1 trying to engage with students at university. They know very well that once young people start to see how things work there, they can also more quickly figure out not only what they want to do in the future, but how to contribute to it. I am a big fan of these projects and I hope the students keep going and keep developing and learning.
Your dream of driving an F1 car already came true in 2012 at the Abu Dhabi circuit. Do you have any other dreams related to Formula 1?
It wasn't actually my dream, because I didn't even think I would ever succeed, the chance came completely unexpectedly. And that experi- ence deepened my respect for F1 drivers. Today on TV the effect is a bit lost, and driving a Formula 1 car may look easy, but when a driver goes into a corner at 300 km/h and turns, there are enormous forces acting upon him, the lateral overload is greater than 5G. I experienced that for a little while and by the end of the second lap I was thinking, "Thank you, that's enough, we can stop now." It's an unimaginable strain on the body, you feel like a giant paw is trying to pull you out of the car. The drivers have this for almost two hours straight, they have to concentrate as much as possible, not to make the slightest mistake, to com- municate, to set the modes. Since then I have had huge respect for them and I don't really want to go back to that formula. But thanks to Formula 1 I have travelled halfway around the world and my dream is to continue travelling for the rest of my life, to meet more interesting and inspiring people, and other nations. I can't express enough how enriching that is.
The article was published in the magazine News at BUT 2021/2022.