Will Buxton, an F1 pundit and star of hit Netflix docuseries Drive to Survive, caused havoc on social media this week by teasing an ‘absolutely massive’ motorsport announcement.
So, when Buxton took to ‘X’ on Monday morning to post: “Hearing a big announcement is on the way before the end of the day. If it is what I think it is, it’s absolutely massive,” naturally, most assumed it was about Verstappen and McLaren.
Now let’s be fair, Buxton was far from the only journalist to jump on the vague posting train and attempt to profit off of the engagement that such a tantalizing statement offered.
As social media was sent into a frenzy by posts like Buxton’s, it was soon revealed that the ‘massive’ news the Drive to Survive commentator was referring to wasn’t about Verstappen to McLaren.
In fact, it wasn’t even related to F1 at all.
Instead, Buxton, who frequents both the F1 and IndyCar professional media circles, had been teasing the confirmation that six-time champion Scott Dixon was leaving Ganassi for McLaren in the US racing series.
So, was Buxton’s post purely a coincidence or a tactical ploy to hype up the stateside news and his position as lead commentator for Fox Sports’ IndyCar coverage?
He claims it was accidental.
In a recent episode of the F1 Up to Speed podcast Buxton also appears on, the motorsport journalist has insisted he didn’t expect people to assume it was about Verstappen.
In a clip posted by the podcast, Buxton could be heard explaining himself as McLaren F1 legend David Coulthard listened, seemingly unconvinced by Buxton’s excuses.
“What I didn’t expect was for people to automatically assume it was about Max Verstappen,” Buxton began.
“And then McLaren announced it later on in the day, that sure enough, Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist, who won the Indy500, this year have moved to McLaren. And it’s big news in the IndyCar world.”
Coulthard remained sceptical, responding: “25 million people reacted to that.”
Buxton corrected his podcast co-host that his social media statement had actually increased up to 28 million at the time of recording.
“Oh my goodness, well I hadn’t checked since breakfast,” added Coulthard with just the right amount of sarcasm.
Attempting to justify his vague post, Buxton concluded: “The hope was that it would get eyeballs on this massive announcement for IndyCar.”
Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.
