Slowly but steadily, Harry Benjamin has made a place in the hearts of F1 fans. In his short career so far, the young commentator has worked for major broadcasters like Sky Sports, F1TV, and BBC. Benjamin may be known for his flawless work in the commentary box now, but there was a time when a faux pas left him fearing he might lose his job.
Benjamin was still new to the business and, after just three races with BBC, received an offer to work with F1TV. The sport’s in-house broadcast wing brought him on board for a single race—the 2022 Japanese GP. Coincidentally, that race also turned out to be arguably the most important of the season.
That was because the defending champion, Max Verstappen, successfully secured his second title after the chequered flag. However, not many in the paddock or the commentary booth were sure if the Dutchman had enough points to claim the triumph.
Despite the confusion, Benjamin jumped the gun and declared Verstappen the champ.
“I thought I’m going to lose my job after this,” he confessed on BackSeat Drivers podcast. “It was when Max Verstappen became champion. But did he become the champion? Then no one was sure because they restarted the race and no one was sure what the points allocation was going to be and if he’d done enough,” Benjamin recalled.
Japanese GP, 2022 pic.twitter.com/j5mz5a1kVk
— chestappen comfort (@1133comfort) November 24, 2023
The Briton was referring to the confusion caused by the race being cut short. The race started after a delay of two hours due to inclement weather. That only allowed for a race that lasted 28 laps.
Many were therefore left wondering if the full haul of points would be awarded or will the FIA assign a third of the points.
Even Verstappen did not know if he had won the championship
A third of the regular points for a race win would not have been enough for the Dutchman to take the title home. As a result, he too was coy about celebrating too early once he hopped out of his car.
“When I crossed the line, I didn’t believe that we would have won the title because I also didn’t know if we were going to get full points or not. I don’t think everyone was 100% sure at the end,” Verstappen admitted in a post-race interview.
To his joy and Benjamin’s relief, the FIA soon enough issued the clarification. Verstappen was indeed the champion, as they had awarded the full haul of points to the top 10 finishers. The then-F1TV commentator later learned that most commentators from other broadcasts had made the same error as him.
