How high school senior Janna Ehido ended up in the F1 commentary box

19-year-old took a plunge into the motorsports world
May 5, 2022
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PHOTO: Janna Ehido/Instagram

ANOTHER Filipino is making waves in motorsports. And while Bianca Bustamante is currently gunning for the podium at the inaugural W series race at the Miami Grand Prix, another young Pinay wowed the motorsports world on the broadcast side. At the recently concluded Bahrain Grand Prix, Janna Ehido stepped up to the commentator desk for one of the most popular sports in the world: F1.

A native of Cebu, Janna grew up in a sports-loving family who enjoyed watching football, tennis, and local leagues such as the UAAP. The checkered flags of motorsport, however, wasn't a regular part of their sports diet. It was only in 2020, at the start of quarantine, when they began tuning into F1 after seeing its commercials on TV.

At the time, Ehido had a passing familiarity with the 2016 rivalry between then-Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. But other than that, everything else was pretty new to her.

Little did she know that this new interest would fast-track her biggest childhood dreams.

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    Who is Janna Ehido?

    Ever since she was a kid, Janna knew that she wanted to become a reporter. At the now-defunct theme park Kidzania, where kids can assume the role of adult professions, she took the reporter booth very seriously. Among her idols while growing up? Christiane Amanpour and Doris Burke.

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    She's also written for her school’s publication, as well as hosted events. But the high school senior never dreamed that motorsports would suddenly become her niche.

    And it all began when she won the DHL Motorsport Fastest Lap Commentator Challenge.

    Straight to the pits

    Janna very nearly didn't join the competition. After seeing the ad for the contest on Facebook, she wasn't sure if she was cut out for the job.

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    Upon entering the website to check out what the contest was all about, she was overwhelmed with the amount of submissions on the portal. “I saw that there were thousands of entries and a lot looked professional," she said.

    "What I capitalized on was my youth and my vibrant energy.”

    There were three competition rounds, and she did the one for the Styrian Grand Prix. To prepare, she would watch the free practice sessions and would take down notes for all the different circuits. For her final challenge, she was given Max Verstappen’s Qatar lap. Aiming for perfection, she took three hours to finish her recording.

    However, after reaching the final interviews, something unexpected happened: Typhoon Odette. The typhoon cut a devastating swathe as it struck the Visayas region last December. It left cities without any electricity or signal for around a month, including Janna's own hometown.

    The situation could have easily dampened the spirit of Janna. Instead, it fueled her to continue and was a hurdle that she was able to overcome.

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    She is enormously grateful for the understanding that the DHL team had given the situation she was in. But above all, she was grateful for the never-ending support of her family, who even offered to book a hotel just so she could do her final interviews for the competition.

    Janna's perseverance and motivation were rewarded. After several rounds and interviews, she was told that she had won the competition, and would be granted an all-expense paid trip to cover the Bahrain Grand Prix.

    Bahrain was a life-changing experience

    When she found out she had won, her emotions were all over the place. When her parents asked her about it, all she could do was nod. It was her parents who then exploded in excitement.

    “I couldn’t even tell my friends and other family members yet because we did not have [cellular] signal," Janna recalled. "They only found out about it when DHL made the announcement on Facebook at the end of the year.”

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    Once the dust had settled, they now went on to discuss who she would be bringing as her plus one. Of course, Janna chose her sister, who was also a Hamilton fan.

    On March 2022, she flew to Bahrain after her exams and entered the paddock for the first time in her life. Admittedly, it was smaller than what she had imagined but this intimate setting allowed her to meet so many motorsport icons whom she had only ever glimpsed online.

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    “When we entered, we saw Andreas Seidl, Lawrence Stroll, and then Angela Cullen — Lewis’ physiotherapist," she said. As part of the #TeamLH, the Ehido sisters wanted the chance to meet and take a photo with their idol. Unfortunately, their timing did not match. They were, however, able to see him drive and do a practice lap on the second day.

    Chance meetings and big names left Janna and her sister starstruck. They met everyone from Charles Leclerc to Esteban Ocon to Mick Schumacher to Max Verstappen, who they chanced upon while he was doing interviews.

    “Pierre Gasly was the friendliest and most warm out of all the drivers we met,” said Janna. Gasly even took her phone and took videos for Janna’s older sister, who was a huge fan.. “He’s super down to earth and one of our favorite drivers.”

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    But among all the people they met, Janna spent the most time with Will Buxton, David Croft, and the rest of the broadcast commentating team who guided her in the commentary box and gave advice on the craft.

    “Will [Buxton] toured us around the paddock, and for Crofty, it felt like I was listening to my TV because he sounds exactly the same,” shared Janna. She even added that Croft had detailed notes on every grand prix, with points tallied and everything neatly color-coded.

    Her key takeaway from their time together was what they told her about delivery:

    “The way you deliver stuff can affect how the message would be perceived or its impact. Think of it as you conversing with just the people in the room except it’s broadcasted for the whole world.”

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    When it came to her stint on the commentary box for the first Friday practice session at Bahrain, both the fan and the reporter in her had an internal struggle. But in the end, it was her professionalism that won out. Positive responses poured in about her commentary, with one even commenting that she should be there for the whole season.

    Moving forward

    It was quite emotional for her as she left the paddock.

    Janna witnessed how the passion for the sport inside F1, and hoped that, one day, she would also become a part of that.

    For now, she is set on graduating from high school, getting into college, and pursuing a degree in communications. As an aspiring reporter, she never thought that her first broadcasting experience would be as big and as monumental as this, but she hopes that the future would be kind for both her and her fellow F1 broadcasting aspirants.

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    Before ending the interview, I asked what advice she would give to young broadcast aspirants (or to anyone who wants a shot at working on the media side of the sport).

    “Just go for it. I never thought that I would apply and would win, but here I am. This once-in-a-lifetime experience brought so many things to me,” said Janna. Taking risks, being proud: it's advice that she certainly embodied when she embarked in Bahrain.

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    PHOTO: Janna Ehido/Instagram
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