Sky Sports F1 star makes return at Japanese Grand Prix: 'She's back everyone'

Martin Brundle, Naomi Schiff and Natalie Pinkham stand on track with Sky mics in hand — Photo: © IMAGO

Sky Sports F1

Sky Sports F1 star makes return at Japanese Grand Prix: 'She's back everyone'

A Sky Sports star was welcomed back to the paddock

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Friday 27 March 2026 18:50

A Sky Sports F1 reporter and pundit has been welcomed back to the paddock at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Ahead of the 2025 Brazilian Grand Prix, presenter Natalie Pinkham revealed that she would not be attending the race and would miss the remaining grands prix of the year, following a 'tricky' few months recovering from neck surgery.

The 48-year-old revealed she had degenerative discs in her neck and that doctors had performed an anterior discectomy, removing her voice box which could have resulted in her losing the ability to speak.

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At the dawn of the 2026 however, Pinkham shared the uplifting news that she had been cleared to travel long haul again and would resume her duties with Sky Sports at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Pinkham's arrival in Japan was shared by Sky Sports colleague and commentator David Croft, who posted a video to his social media of the pair travelling through the airport on a buggy.

He wrote: "She’s back everyone! It’s a welcome return to Natalie Pinkham - we’ve missed you Pinks and your 5-Star buggy service to the gate."

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How to watch 2026 Japanese Grand Prix

You can catch all the remaining Japanese Grand Prix action (FP3, Qualifying and the race), live on Sky Sports F1.

The final practice session of the weekend takes place at 11:30 local time (JST) and 02:30 (GMT) on Saturday, March 28.

Qualifying then takes place later that day at 15:00 (JST) and 06:00 (GMT).

The clocks go forward this weekend in the UK, on Sunday, March 29. This will happen at 2am UK time, and will mean that we are onto BST rather than GMT.

This means that although Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix is an hour earlier than qualifying local time at 2pm JST, both qualifying and the race will be on at 6am UK time.

F1 Japanese Grand Prix David Croft Natalie Pinkham