It was about to be a busy few weeks for James Hinchcliffe. When we met in Austin, he was just starting off a triple-header, having joined the F1 TV team for the series’ North American swing. In between filming spots, he roamed the paddock picking up information he could put to good use, then picked up a microphone the moment any on-track action — practice, qualifying, the race — wrapped up. When the cars were off the track, Hinch (as he’s often called) was on.
He’s gone from racing IndyCars to analyzing F1 drivers, but his career path was more of a street circuit than a straightaway. Eleven years in IndyCar (from 2011 to 2021) means Hinchcliffe knows what it’s like to battle for position on track. But even before he made it into America’s top-tier open-wheel series, he had dipped a toe into broadcasting — only to come back when he hung up his helmet from being full-time driver. After spending a couple of years as an analyst for IndyCar and IMSA on NBC Sports, Hinchcliffe got a call from F1 TV.
“Coming here, I did feel a little bit of imposter syndrome,” he remembers. “I've never raced the cars, I haven't been on most of the tracks.”
As Formula 1 expands in North America, so has Hinchcliffe’s presence on F1 TV subscriber’s screens: from covering three races in 2022 to eight races this year.
Despite the hectic schedule, the gracious 37-year-old Canadian talked to Motorsport.com about drilling Alex Palou for F1 information, hanging out with his childhood hero, and why IndyCar deserves more respect from the FIA.
How did you get into F1?
My love for F1 started as a kid. My dad was a huge fan. Growing up in Canada, most young kids, their dads love hockey and they grow up loving hockey. [But] my dad wasn't Canadian, he was British. And he loved motorsports. So I just grew up with this huge passion for racing.
My earliest memories of life, honestly, are sitting watching races with Dad — on Sunday mornings, Formula 1, and Sunday afternoons, IndyCar. And going to the IndyCar race in Toronto. So, literally as far back as I can remember, I've been a fan of the sport. And I really started following and paying attention to F1 in ’96, when Jacques Villeneuve moved over from IndyCar and we had a Canadian to cheer for. So that's kind of when I got diehard into F1.
How's your relationship with Jacques Villeneuve? You probably see him regularly now here in the F1 paddock.
It's great. We've become good friends, actually. It's such a weird thing to think. I used to send my 20 bucks a month to Switzerland for his fan club and get the newsletter when I was a kid. And now we're colleagues, and we do some events together and stuff like that. So it's kind of crazy that it's come full circle like that.
That must almost feel quite surreal.
Yeah, it is. My dad passed away a few years ago, and Jacques invited me out to this event at a racetrack that he's a partner in, out in Western Canada, earlier this year. And I'll never forget: my phone rang and it was this Italian number that I didn't recognise. I answered the phone call and it's, “Hey James, it's Jacques.” And he invites me to this thing. I just wanted so badly in that moment to be able to call my dad and be like: “Dude, you're never going to believe what just happened!” Just such a cool moment.
Is it true that you had the idea of becoming a motorsport journalist, when your career as a professional racing driver wouldn't have worked out?
Yeah. Well, again, I was young and a huge fan of racing. And my dad and I were subscribed to Autosport magazine, which, as you know, is a weekly, but printed in the UK. By the time it got to Canada, it was already three weeks, sometimes four weeks, old. It even sometimes came in batches of two or three at a time. So they were weeks old. But I didn't care. I read the entire thing, cover to cover, every single week. I mean, I could tell you what was happening in British Formula Ford 1600 or in Ginetta Juniors. I knew everything that was happening, because I read the whole magazine.
When I first got into racing and first started karting, I honestly didn't start thinking I had any chance of a career in motorsports as a driver. Because even at 9 years old, I'm like, That's not a real job. Like, no one actually gets to do that. And so that was how I figured that [becoming a motorsport journalist] was the most fun way for me to still be involved in racing. Because I loved reading those magazines, I loved watching racing and talking about racing. So I figured, alright, let's go into journalism and then I can follow around the racing world and still be part of it.
Luckily, the driver thing worked out. But this was sort of a fun fallback plan.
You already did some TV work quite early in your racing career, actually. How did that come about?
That came about by accident, which is kind of funny. I was racing in a series called the Atlantic Championship, which was one below Champ Car at the time, when IndyCar was still split in North America. And they had the domestic feed, which was the one that everybody saw here in the States or in Canada. But then there was an international feed that was picked up by a few countries. It was very much a small separate part of the broadcast. It didn't have a big budget. It wasn't really the respected part of the show.
The guy that did commentary for it was a gentleman by the name of Jeremy Shaw. And he did it by himself. So he would just ask people in the paddock to come up and spend 10 minutes with him during the race, just to kind of break it up and have someone to talk to. I had known Jeremy for a few years. After my race one weekend he said: “Hey, do you want to come up for the start of the Champ Car race?”' I said, sure. So I did my race, got changed, went up to the booth and put on a headset. The producer came on and said: “We're live to 170 countries, don't swear.” And the broadcast started.
At the first commercial break, Jeremy looked at me and he goes, “Do you want to stay for another segment?” So I said, “Yeah, I'll stay for another one.” At the end of that segment, he took off his headset and said: “Do you want to just stay for the race?” So I stayed for the rest of the race.
And at the end of the race, he took his headset off and said, “What are you doing next week?” And so for the rest of the season, I would finish my race on Sunday morning, get changed, run up to the booth, and do the international broadcast for Champ Car. Completely untrained, completely undeserving, and somehow I fell into this role. But it was what made me really have a passion for the television side of the sport, and gave me that long-term goal for once I stopped driving.
So then towards the end of your IndyCar career, you picked that up again, working for TV as an analyst. How did that happen?
Well, in all honesty, I was approached by NBC a few years before that. They kind of said: “Hey look, you've got however many years left driving, but when you're finished, let us know. We'd be interested to talk to you about that.” Because I'd made it known that was something I wanted to pursue afterwards.
So in 2020, I had a partial season and reached out to NBC and said: “Hey, I'm only racing some of the races this year. Do you want me for the rest of them?” They said: “Yeah, absolutely.” So they had me be a pit reporter for those races.
Then I was full-time racing again the following year. But now I had my foot in the door and I had seen how it all worked and met the people. So when I decided to stop [full-time racing] at the end of '21, one of the first phone calls I made was to the boss at NBC. I just said: “Hey, this is what I'm thinking of doing. Do you want to talk about next year?” He threw down a three-year contract, and said: “It's yours if you want it.”
That must have been a busy time, in 2020, when you were racing and doing media work.
I mean, 2020 was a bizarre year though, right? With COVID and the way the race weekends worked out. Everything started late and was sort of spread out. So it was weird doing the first couple of races as a driver and then showing up to the next one with a mic pack and a headset — and then the next one, be back in the seat. That was a bit bizarre. But yeah, it's all part of the sport.
So you were competing against drivers, but you were also interviewing them. What was that like?
It was tough, I won't lie. It definitely became much easier once I had fully stepped back. But you know, you've got to be professional. And at the same time, I knew that in a way I was sort of auditioning for my next career. So I had to make sure I did a good job and didn't bury myself before I got the chance.
How did you end up at F1 TV?
I guess F1 TV was looking for someone from the North American continent. And Ben [Edwards, British commentator] said: “Well, hey, I used to work with this guy Hinch, and I think he's doing TV now. He's not racing anymore. Maybe we should give him a call.” So that's kind of how it started. We did a three-race deal that first year, six races last year, and eight races this year. It's going well.
How do you look back on those first experiences of working in Formula 1?
It's been awesome. It's a really, really great group of people that they've got on the F1 TV side. They've made me feel very welcome.
It's a very different challenge than IndyCar because that's a world that I've lived and breathed for the last fifteen years. I know the people, I know the cars, I know the tracks. It's much more straightforward. Coming here, I did feel a little bit of imposter syndrome. I've never raced the cars, I haven't been on most of the tracks, I don't know anywhere near as many people. But the group did a great job of making me feel welcome, introducing me to lots of people, so I very quickly felt at home.
I love the format of what they do here. Being a streaming service, in a sense, versus a network television broadcast on the IndyCar side, it's a very different program in a lot of ways. As someone that's new to TV, it's kind of fun to experience all the different elements that you can have.
The European audience probably expects to see former Formula 1 drivers in this analyst role. Were you confident that you could add something to the broadcast?
It's a passionate fan base, so I was a little worried that they wouldn't take to an outsider, so to speak, coming in.But honestly, I learned a lot from Jolyon Palmer. I got to work alongside him at my first few rounds.
And I was very lucky that the very first race I did was Austin, two years ago. Alex Palou was doing FP1 for McLaren. I obviously know him very well from the IndyCar side. I warned him ahead of time, I said: “As soon as you get out of that car, I am going to be at your doorstep just drilling you with questions. I need to know everything.” Because he was the easiest guy for me to get to. So I leaned heavily on him, and on Jolyon.
What I came to learn was really, at the end of the day, 95 per cent of the racing is the same. The concepts are the same, the challenges are the same. There's the intricacies of the car or maybe the track, that's the five per cent that I can kind of... I don't have to have an intimate knowledge to still be able to add something to the broadcast. So I was definitely nervous the first couple of times, but I think it's come off okay and I've settled into the role nicely.
When you were racing in the U.S. and were asked about Formula 1, you always said your focus was on your U.S. racing career. Were you ever close to a Formula 1 opportunity?
Yes and no. I was close to a European opportunity, which puts you on the track to F1. But even at that level... You know how hard it is. So I wouldn't say I was close to an F1 opportunity.
But back when I was 17 or 18, I had raced the Formula BMW Championship in North America. And I had done quite well. I won the Rookie of the Year championship and BMW offered me a ride in the UK Series, which at the time was kind of their highest level series. Nico Rosberg came through Formula BMW, Sebastian Vettel came through Formula BMW, Nico Hulkenberg came through Formula BMW. So it was at that point where my parents and I had to make a decision: was I going to go move to Europe at 18 and try to pursue something over there? Or stay in the States and continue what we had started building here?
And ultimately, education was still very important to my parents. Formula BMW was still very low on the racing hierarchy. It was still a long shot to have a career in it. They weren't quite comfortable with me abandoning my studies and moving across the pond to pursue a pie-in-the-sky dream, let's be real. So we decided to stay here, and I'm very, very glad for that decision.
That was kind of the one and only time I ever contemplated it. Even once I got to IndyCar, it was never really a consideration. I was very happy doing what I was doing there.
Well, Viaplay F1 analyst Tom Kristensen recently did an F1 test with McLaren. So maybe there is still a chance for you to get an opportunity to drive a Formula 1 car?
It's been talked about. I'm working very hard at trying to set up a test at some point, just so I can say I've driven it!
"I think it's great for both if more young IndyCar drivers have a true opportunity to come prove themselves in F1."
How would you compare the level of driving in IndyCar to Formula 1 nowadays?
I think both series are absolutely brimming with talent at the moment. It seems like every year you hear someone say: “Oh, this is the most competitive driver lineup we've had in a long time.”
I think the cars challenge you in very different ways. In Formula 1, obviously the speed, the downforce, the cornering abilities of these cars, the braking abilities of these cars, are much higher than in IndyCar.
But without power steering, IndyCar is a lot more physical in certain elements. In F1, once you're in the race, it's a lot about tyre management, and you're not necessarily driving to your or the car's max capabilities, because you need to keep the tyres [alive]. Whereas in IndyCar, the way the tyres are built, you can kind of do qualifying laps all race in some events.
With the level of talent in each series, you have to be just so tuned in to that car on that day, regardless of which series you're in, if you're going to be in contention for a win.
For the F1 super license points system, IndyCar currently gets less points than Formula 2. What do you make of that?
I think I'm in the majority of people that don't think that's right. As that came to light a few years ago with the whole Colton Herta situation, I think a lot of people realised that there was a flaw in the super license points system. If you look at the level of competition in IndyCar and what it takes to be a race winner or a champion at that level, it seems a bit misguided that it's not ranked a little bit higher than it is.
Look, everything's open for change. This system's relatively new, and hopefully in the future it can be altered, because I think it would be great for both championships to have more drivers going each way. We certainly have had some F1 drivers coming to the IndyCar side. But I think it's great for both if more young IndyCar drivers have a true opportunity to come prove themselves in F1.
Talking about the future, what does your own future look like?
We'll see. I thought getting out of driving and getting into TV would be a little bit more stable. Evidently that's not the case! Media is just as fickle as driving is!
IndyCar's broadcast deal is switching partners for next year and I'm still waiting to hear if there's an opportunity there for me on the IndyCar side. I'm already having some great conversations with everybody at F1 TV about working more on this side of things, which is great — so, excited about that.
I'm still doing a little bit of driving in sports cars, in the IMSA championship. Hoping to do a little bit more of that next year. So if I can have a pretty similar program next year to that I've had this year — bit of IndyCar, bit of F1, bit of IMSA — I'd be a happy guy.
