On Wednesday evening (12th October), the second Sport Industry Dining event of the year took place at The Mercer in Central London.
Sport Industry Dining is a members club for Sport Industry Members that meets three times a year at some of London’s most exclusive venues.
The prestigious series provides representatives from leading brands, rights holders and agencies across the sport industry with the opportunity to network and socialise.
With the starters served, Premier League Productions’ Alex Aljoe and Formula 1 journalist and star of Netflix’s Drive To Survive Will Buxton engaged in a short talk put on for Sport Industry Members and Partners in the room.
Top of the agenda was the whirlwind week for Red Bull Racing, which began with driver Max Verstappen being crowned 2022 Formula 1 driver champion after victory in the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka, but was followed by the team being found guilty of a ‘minor’ breach of Formula 1 budget rules.
Buxton made it clear from the outset that he believed Verstappen was “by far the best driver” on the grid this year and highlighted his levels of aggression behind the wheel as being key to his success, a style that reminded Buxton of “Michael Schumacher in the early part of his career.”
Buxton also discussed the complexities surrounding financial regulation in Formula 1 and the uncertainty around any potential penalty for Red Bull now that the guilty verdict has been delivered.
On Drive To Survive, the Box To Box Films docuseries that Buxton stars in, he made it clear that he never anticipated the level of success it has reached and described his part in the series as “the voice that explains what’s going on to the new fan”, a critical role for a series that has drawn so many eyeballs to the world’s biggest motor racing championship.
Considering the wider impact that the fly-on-the-wall series has had on the sporting landscape, Buxton highlighted the countless other rightsholders attempting to create a viral series of their own – Tour de France, World Surf League, and the ATP amongst them – but in the same breath suggested that simply producing a series wouldn’t necessarily be a “silver bullet” for those looking to engage new audiences.
Buxton called the secret ingredient “humanity“. Comparing Drive To Survive to other successful sports docuseries such as Welcome To Wrexham, The Last Dance, and Sunderland ‘Till I Die, he observed that it is the characters rather than the on-track or on-field action that creates the drama and human connection essential to viewers at home.
Finally, after expressing his disappointment at the curtailing of the most recent W Series season due to financial difficulties, the floor was opened to questions as the guests got a chance to grill Will on his career and the future of Formula 1.
Will Buxton joins the likes of Molly Thompson-Smith, Ugo Monye, Hannah Cockcroft, Ellie Simmonds, Jermaine Jenas, Alex Scott and Aimee Fuller on the list of Sport Industry Dining speakers, with another high-profile sportsperson lined up for the final Dining event of the year in December.
Access to Sport Industry Dining can be gained by purchasing a Sport Industry Membership. In addition, the package offers tickets to Sport Industry Socials, tickets and entries to the Sport Industry Awards, and a number of other generous discounts and benefits.
Find out more here.
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