I was one of the biggest names on Sky Sport’s F1 coverage before sacking… I still have no idea why they got rid of me
JOHNNY HERBERT has revealed he has no idea why Sky Sports decided to sack him from their F1 presenting team after 11 years.
Herbert joined the broadcaster during the 2012 season when it won the rights to show the F1 action in the UK.
He became a central figure in the coverage of the sport, often reminiscing about his own time in Formula One with teams like Jaguar and Sauber.
However, Sky Sports decided to axe him from the commentary team two months before this year’s coverage started, along with fellow pundit and former driver Paul di Resta.
Both were at the end of their respective contracts but were not offered extensions.
It was speculated that cost-cutting was behind Sky Sports’ decision not to have the two back.
Herbert posted a photo of the Sky Sports F1 team to Instagram to confirm his departure from the broadcaster.
It was captioned: “Going to miss this team.”
Speaking to The Mirror, Herbert has now revealed that he still doesn’t know why the broadcaster decided against renewing his contract.
He said: “I didn’t decide to step away – I thought everything was going ahead!
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“And then I got a call in December, I think it was, when I was told things were changing.
“It wasn’t really explained why or what was changing. There was a mention of social media stuff and that was about it, really. I really don’t know.
“I was always aware – at Sky they do these subscriber checks where you’re given points out of 10 – and I’ve always known I was always quite popular on that side.
“It’s a shame, but I’m over it. Moving on.”
Herbert is now presenting his own podcast called Lift the Lid, which he co-hosts with fellow racer Billy Monger.
The two give their opinions on current F1 stories, and were brought together through their own near-fatal crashes.
Herbert said about the podcast “This is great to do with Billy, for example.
“There are other opportunities out there, once again just proving that if you work hard you can find different avenues to carry on being involved in the sport we love.
“So there’s other things going on, which is fine.
“Yes, it’s disappointing, but I’ve moved on.”
The 59-year old added that he didn’t think he would be returning to TV screens this season.
He added: “I did my 11 years at Sky and it was good. Now there are other things I am doing.
“Because it was in December it was all quite late in terms of sorting other things out.
“There are a lot of other opportunities but, in terms of seeing me on a TV screen, there’s probably nothing planned on that front.”