Števo Eisele: Politics behind the scenes disgusts me! What does he say about electrification, ecology or what were his beginnings?

Števo Eisele – successful and most famous Slovak Formula 1 commentator. In an interview with Ruik he revealed a lot, for example he talked about his beginnings or introduced the EisKing project. How does he see the future of F1 and what does he have to say about this year’s exciting season?

His beginnings

Števo Eisele started in 2004 at Radio Okey, where he worked as a presenter and commentator. How does he actually look back on his beginnings?

“When I think back to 2004… For God’s sake, that was seventeen years ago! I still had hair then, lots of hair (laughs). I was a student at the university at the time, and I was working there as a freelancer. I used to go straight from the lecture to the radio,” he recalls his beginnings in an interview for our website.

“I spent every day there, learning how to cut, how to write texts and I remember my first salary – it was 1 200 crowns! And I was happy as a clam. I still remember the first time I sat in the commentator’s booth and the first time they recorded me… And I heard my voice for the first time. I’ll never forget the shock. I said to myself that it couldn’t be me (laughs).”

Anyway, Števo admits that he is very happy for the experience and says he gained a lot of experience during his year there. He even prepared for our interview, as he likes to say, a “picaresque” that happened when he visited Radio Okey for an audition. He was approached by the sports editor, Mr Dobiš, who used to commentate on Formula 1.

“I told him that I like F1 and that I follow it very closely. And he was very strict, so he just looked at me and said: Yeah, very closely, so tell me what the depth of the brake disc is on a Formula 1 car. Well, that question nearly killed me. I said, let’s say eight millimetres. Well, my ears still ring when I remember that he then turned to me and shouted: “You’re bullshitting! That was something.”

Stevo went through all the sports…

“At that time there was a lockout in the NHL, so as an editor I attended hockey games and interviewed Šatan, Demitra, Višňovský, Hossa, Gaborík… I really appreciated it,” he recalls.

However, he sees commentating as a specific craft. He says that every sport is commentated quite differently, although it may not seem so at first glance. He also admitted that tennis, in particular, is commentated quite differently from everything else. Števo Eisele is the former goalkeeper of Slovan Bratislava, so logically he has always been most interested in football and F1.

“After working for Radio Okey, I started working as a commentator for TV Markiza. Well, they required a general overview,” he explains.

“This is something I love about the job. As an editor I went through all sports, interviewing Olympic champions, footballers, hockey players, handball players, and it was not easy to keep track. Now I’m happy to be able to focus primarily on F1.”

The EisKingProject

Do you know the EisKing project? It’s a podcast whose main topic is of course Formula 1 and motorsport. Here you can find out a lot of interesting things and this podcast is very well appreciated by the fans.

“F1 is a matter of heart for me, and apart from the broadcasts, I also enjoy the communication with the fans. The EisKing project is something that Pepa (Josef Kral – ed.) and I enjoy immensely, we’ve even had some live events,” he says of his relationship with the fans and F1.

In the interview, Števo also shares the impressive statistics that their show has. “We have 124 episodes, which is more than 100 hours of content (6 084 minutes). I’m in a real soft spot, we’ve had a little over three million views. That’s amazing.”

A moment that is etched in his memory and that he will never forget in his life

“From a commentator’s point of view, the most emotional moment for me from the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix is Romain Grosjean’s accident. That was an absolutely horrific situation. I still remember sitting next to Rousseau Gonda and I, commentating on the thrilling start, and suddenly seeing the explosion. You don’t expect it because it’s not a Hollywood movie. That shouldn’t happen in racing,” he realises.

But he also commented on what his most powerful experience was as a spectator. Yes, you guessed it right, it’s a situation from the 2000 Japanese Grand Prix. That’s when Michael Schumacher broke the five-year wait for the championship, Ferrari finally managed to break the power of Häkkinen’s McLaren that year.

“That rivalry with Häkkinen was just something. Their duels… It was a fantasy. In some ways it reminds me of Verstappen and Hamilton this year, because Schumacher and Häkkinen were completely different. Completely different personalities, both had their own driving styles and both worked differently with their team. That’s proof that every era and every driver has something to offer.”

Favourite circuits – Montreal, Zandvoort or Suzuka

No doubt every Formula 1 fan has a favourite track. How did Števo answer this question?

“Yeah, that’s a great question. Especially today, when new circuits are constantly being added to the calendar. But I have already fulfilled some dreams, for example, I had the honour of getting to know the atmosphere at Monza. There I got to talk to David Hasselhoff – you would never think you would meet such a person and he was very nice, unlike Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson – ed.).”

“He was very unpleasant, he refused to talk and he was really very unpleasant – that’s the experience from the paddock. Anyway, I really liked the atmosphere in Zandvoort this year, I would definitely like to experience that. I’ve also always really liked the circuit in Montreal and I’d like to see Singapore for myself,” he adds.

Števo Eisel and I agreed that our favourite circuit together is Suzuka. The Slovakian commentator even described the track as brutal, but he also thinks it is the most beautiful in the entire F1 calendar.

In the interview, the topic of various sympathies, whether he has any for a team or a driver, also came up. However, he answered this question quite clearly.

“On Sunday, I see the same 20 cars, 20 drivers and I try to treat everyone absolutely fairly. I always answer this with a counter-question. What good would it do to cheer for someone? I would be leading myself on, it’s just not an option at all,” Eisele is clear.

Season 2021

A thrilling battle for the title, many turning points, media wars and shocking moments. This season will undoubtedly be one to remember. How does Stevo Eisele rate it so far?

“It’s a fantastic season, I personally enjoy every big prize. We’ve been waiting for this for basically a decade to witness such an epic battle between two super-talented and different pilots, two typologically completely different stables,” he says of the title fight.

“This is important to mention because Mercedes and Red Bull operate with completely different philosophies. For me, it’s almost like a clash of civilizations in the world of motorsport and I would expect it to be even more heated. I really take my hat off to Verstappen and Hamilton for the way they are mentally handling this,” he continues.

“This season has been an amazing rollercoaster, offering surprising moments that always come when you least expect it. If you wanted to sum up the battle, I think you’d come to the conclusion that Lewis has been more fortunate so far because he’s made a few more mistakes, but he’s always got away with them.”

“Whether we’re talking about Imola, also at Silverstone, where he should have retired after that accident and the red flag helped him. The only thing that helped Max was the race in Belgium, where points were awarded for a race that wasn’t. I won’t venture a guess as to how this will turn out, just despite what we’ve already seen this season. I don‘t think the fun is over yet,” he says.

The battle between McLaren and Ferrari has been very interesting so far. But the Woking team has only scored four points in the last three races, while the Italian team has scored 46. For McLaren, it was Lando Norris, while in Ferrari there is a great balance – Charles Leclerc scored 24 points and Carlos Sainz 22.

“This is also a beautiful proof of the roller coaster I was talking about. Both those teams had their ups and downs… McLaren only scored four points, but Lando had a puncture, otherwise he would have finished a poor fifth (in the Qatar Grand Prix – ed.) and Ricciardo had an accident in Mexico, right after the start.”

But he also acknowledges that Ferrari have managed to stabilise and have a better driver line-up. At least as far as the current season is concerned.

“Ricciardo is completely lost and it’s shocking how far off he is. Ferrari, on the other hand, have managed to upgrade their power unit. As they say, McLaren has run out of breath, but one thing we have to point out is that those teams are absolutely not dealing with this season anymore. They are looking at it in a completely different way, simply to finish, to participate, to do their best… Everybody is already focused on next year.”

The 2022 season

The new season will undoubtedly be very interesting for several reasons. The new regulations, the new era of Formula 1 and the associated new look of the monoblocs. How is Števo Eisele looking forward to next year?

“I’m curious and excited at the same time, because the new regulations are also created to end the dominance of one of the teams. We were actually supposed to have the new rules this season, but because of Covid it was postponed. At the same time, with the new rules, the differences between the teams are getting bigger.”

That’s also why he thinks that Haas, for example, could easily lose even more next year than this year. If he is now some two hundredths behind the best, he says the gap could climb to four or five hundredths next season.

There is something about the new look, however, that doesn’t sit well with him. “I’m not a fan of the 18-inch tyres either, because it doesn’t look good visually and I don’t like generalising. For me, F1 has always been such a special thing that offers something completely different to other sports.”

“That’s why I have to say that some of the decisions and politics behind the scenes make me quite disgusted,” the Bratislava native said.

The situation at Sauber

The situation at Sauber, or rather at Alfa Romeo, is very interesting at the moment. Antonio Giovinazzi is leaving the team at the end of the season and his seat has been taken by Kuan-yu Zhou. However, Pascal Picci, now former Chairman of the Board, has left the Sauber organisation.

What was the reason for his resignation? In a recent interview with the Motorsport website, he stated that he was bothered by the composition of the driver line-up for the following season, as well as the severing of the link with Ferrari.

“I wouldn’t want to delve into any internal Alfa Romeo matters because it’s a policy we can’t see. In any case, it was amusing to read the comments of Mr Picci, who on the contrary did not understand the involvement of Bottas and was sad to see Antonio leave,” commented Eisele on Picci’s resignation.

“But with all due respect to Antonio, who got three years – this is a chance that other pilots can only dream of and unfortunately we can’t remember a single exceptional result that he achieved. Unfortunately, this is not a good sign for him.”

“About the change, I think Sauber will drop the collaboration with Alfa Romeo later on and go in a different direction, maybe there will be a buyout. However, I think the Bottas – Zhou driver pairing is good for them. Thanks to this, Alfa Romeo’s car sales in China will soar to incredible heights, so from a business point of view this move is logical,” the Slovak commentator is clear.

A very important topic in the still distant future – electrification

In a recent interview with Autosport, Robert Reid, co-pilot of Richard Burns, who won the 2001 World Rally Championship, said that it is wrong for motorsport to go down the road of electrification. In his view, it falls far short of meeting everyone’s needs and the infrastructure in some countries is simply not ready for it.

In our interview, Števo Eisele points out that this topic has two levels – the general one and the sporting one. It should be noted that he has analysed both very solidly.

“The general one, I think, is based on some attempt to save our planet. It’s about being ecologically friendly, which is perfectly legitimate and probably the right thing to do. What I see as the fundamental problem is that if we have been destroying our planet for 100 or 200 years, we cannot save it in three or five years.”

“Moreover, the production of components for electric cars is much less environmentally friendly than that for combustion engines. Yes, electrification is the future, but it takes time, especially because of the complexity of the process. It needs science and further innovation, it needs, as you say, a good infrastructure and, most importantly, it needs customers.”

The former Slovan Bratislava goalkeeper also outlined how current marketing actually works. It should be noted that he was not shy on this topic and was certainly not afraid to express his opinion.

“The current marketing works like this: Buy this amazing car, which is beautiful and environmentally friendly, but which has half the range and is three times more expensive. That is why this campaign is just completely out of touch. It is clear that the big corporations, led by the European Commission, sometimes think that people are eating hay. And no, I’m not afraid to put it bluntly, this is just not right.”

As for the sporting aspect, the Slovak commentator was also clear here. In short, he said that F1, Moto GP or rally, any segment of the racing industry has always been something special for him.

But on the basis of his words, Formula 1 pretends to be more ecological today than it has been in 72 years. But he says that’s only true for the 20 monoblocs at the start.

“The whole service around them is much worse than it was in the past. An example is the greater number of trucks that are running today, the carbon footprint is much worse. My view on this is that I would be much happier if there were 20 combustion ten-cylinders at the start, but the whole ensemble would be smaller and greener,” he says.

“Let’s let people have the fun and race every other week. Even if it’s at an extra cost. But let’s not pretend to be green when the weight of the monoposto has increased by 200 kilograms and the number of employees has doubled. That’s simply stupid, it doesn’t work,” Eisele says angrily.

“I would like to mention another important element – how can something that is produced by burning coal or natural gas be ecological? It’s quite a complex subject and I don’t like the fairy tales about environmental treatment because they are not true at all,” he reveals his point of view.

The entry of new brands into F1

Porsche, Volkswagen or Audi? Representatives of the first-named brand have recently said that they are very seriously considering entering Formula 1, and Volkswagen has also been long talked about. What does Stevo think about this?

“Well, it would be perfect if we could see brands like Porsche, Audi, Volkswagen, even Skoda. But I would be very cautious about that, because Volkswagen is a huge brand, a huge corporation, but with a very awkward relationship with Formula 1.”

“Historically, we have seen several hints, but each time it has not worked out. Logically, it looks like they should team up with Red Bull and start building engines for them. That way they could eventually link up with Williams. They might even be looking at the possibility of buying Sauber now, but this is behind-the-scenes stuff,” he revealed.

At the same time, he pointed out that it would not make sense to have 26 cars on the grid. We’ve seen that in the past and we all know how that turned out. Ten teams are said to be fully sufficient, but let’s still keep our fingers crossed for Volkswagen to make it work, as we need these big brands in Formula 1.

On the subject of brands and teams, Steve then came up with another very good idea involving Alpine.

“That’s a boat that I’m not even sure where it’s going. It’s one big unknown and personally I don’t think the parent car company Renault is still pouring money into it and they’re running somewhere between seventh and twelfth place.”

Liberty Media

What can we expect from this American company in the future? Števo Eisele had something to say about this final, and no less interesting, question.

“By the fact that Formula 1 is run by Liberty Media, an American company that takes its cue from closed competitions like the NBA, NHL, NFL, they know that this brings the greatest economic benefit to all involved. So this is the main business objective that is being pushed in Formula 1.”

“In the end, this plan may not even be bad, it’s just that there is a risk that the currently strong will become even stronger. That’s why we have the rule changes and not least the introduction of the budget cap, which could change the rules of the game and suggest a lot,” he admitted in the end.

Now there is nothing left to do but to thank Mr Eisel for a great interview. We wish him the best of luck and countless other career successes!