Will Buxton has become a global media star largely through his work in Formula 1, but when he was in London last week, it wasn’t to attend F1’s historic 2025 season launch party.
This year, the English motorsports broadcaster is making the switch from working in F1 to becoming the lead play-by-play voice for the NTT IndyCar Series. While owned by different companies, IndyCar is essentially America’s version of F1 in that it’s the top open-wheel series stateside. The season starts March 2 with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Buxton was formerly part of the Speed channel, which was owned by Fox, before he moved to NBC Sports in 2013 to be part of the network’s F1 broadcast team as a pit reporter. He shifted to working with F1 and its F1 TV in 2018, the year that ESPN replaced NBC as media rights holder of F1 in the U.S. But this past offseason, Fox approached him about becoming its new IndyCar commentator after it attained the media rights of the series from NBC.
As someone who had always been a fan of IndyCar, it was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. But when Buxton was back in London last week, not being at F1’s season launch event made the realization of the change hit home more than ever.
“I was actually in London today — had some meetings in town — and yeah, I guess it’s a bit like breaking up with your girlfriend and then she has a big birthday party,” he joked. “It’s a massive year for Formula 1, the 75th anniversary for them, so I know they’ve got huge plans for it and yeah, it’s really, really exciting for them. But for me, very much, it’s all systems go for IndyCar.”
Two weeks ago, Buxton was in Los Angeles doing rehearsals with the other members of what will be Fox’s three-man IndyCar booth in analysts James Hinchcliffe and Townsend Bell. Hinchcliffe and Bell, both former IndyCar Series drivers who continue to compete in sports car racing, were analysts with NBC last year, and Hinchcliffe also did work for F1 TV.
The trio did mock calls of last year’s races from St. Petersburg, Laguna Seca and the last laps of the Indianapolis 500. Buxton has been watching old IndyCar races not only to get used to drivers, cars and paint schemes in the series, but also to get used to the cadence and banter that Hinchcliffe and Bell have between one another.
Buxton will be commuting back and forth from the U.K. to the U.S. because his family is based in England, but he’s managed to split the season into eight trips and will have his family with him for the month of May — when the Indy 500 is the center of attention — along with another stint with them here in July. This year will mark the first Indy 500 that Buxton will have attended.
“One of the most important things that we can do ... is heroing these drivers, telling their stories, making people care about them,” Buxton said. “Because when we roll to green every Sunday, I want every viewer to care deeply, even if it’s just about one driver or one team, to feel a deep emotional connection and have someone that they root for every single weekend, or even someone that they dislike going into a weekend. That storytelling.”
