IndyCar Rumor: FOX trying to poach F1 TV analyst Will Buxton (2nd Update)

As we predicted, this rumor is now ‘fact’ with today’s announcement that Formula 1’s Will Buxton will lead the FOX IndyCar broadcasts.

This rumor will soon be upgraded to ‘fact’ as Will Buxton presided over the launch of the new PREMA IndyCar team in Charlotte Friday. It is no coincidence that Buxton was brought over from Europe for this event. We await the formal announcement from FOX.

Fox Sports has its eyes on Sky Sports Formula 1 commentator Will Buxton to be IndyCar’s lead caller in 2025, according to reports.

Buxton is also a key person for F1’s Drive to Survive Series

Beginning in 2025, Fox Sports will take over from NBC Sports as the official broadcaster of IndyCar in the United States.

NBC Sports-contracted commentator Leigh Diffey left the IndyCar booth races midway through 2024, shifting to the far more popular NASCAR Cup Series.

Kevin Lee, a resident pit lane reporter, stepped up in Diffey’s absence, joining James Hinchcliffe and Townsend Bell in the booth.

It has been rumored that Hinchcliffe and Bell will join Fox in 2025 but FOX needs a replacement for Diffey as it appears Kevin Lee may be overlooked.

According to the Sports Business Journal, Allen Bestwick and Buxton are among the leading candidates on Fox Sports’ shortlist of talent.

IndyCar likes the lead announcer to be a ‘shill’ like Diffey was, and that may hinder Bestwick, who otherwise would be the favorite because he has ties to IndyCar as the trackside commentator at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He was also a lead IndyCar commentator for ABC. He is very professional and would never scream into the microphone like a shill.

Buxton was born in Portsmouth, but grew up in Malvern, Worcestershire. He attended King’s School, Worcester where he was a chorister at Worcester Cathedral under Donald Hunt. He went on to study at Lord Wandsworth College and Sixth Form College, Farnborough in Hampshire before studying Politics at the University of Leeds.[1][3] Whilst at university Buxton started writing for GrandPrix.com. In 2002 he joined the Official Formula 1 Magazine, and was a staff writer there until it closed in February 2004, when he went on to freelance work.

Buxton was offered the role of press officer for the inaugural GP2 Series of 2005, and was later promoted to Director of Communications. In 2008 Buxton became editor of the GPWeek virtual magazine, and in 2009 he started providing live commentary for the GP2 Series and GP2 Asia Series for Formula One Group.

In 2010, Buxton joined Speed, a motorsports channel which was owned by Fox Sports, as Formula 1 pit-lane reporter, until it lost the rights to broadcast F1 at the end of 2012.[8] In 2013, the broadcasting rights for Formula 1 went to NBC Sports, where Buxton resumed his role as pit-lane reporter, as well as later joining NBC’s broadcast team for IndyCar Series races, until 2017.

In a Sky Sports F1 interview in December 2017, Buxton supported the changes Liberty Media had made whilst running Formula 1, despite these changes having lost him his job at NBC Sports.

Buxton returned to Formula 1 in an official capacity in 2018, becoming Formula One Group’s first Digital Presenter. He hosts a number of features on F1 TV and the official F1 YouTube channel, including Weekend Warm-Up (formerly Paddock Pass), a feature he carried over from NBC.

Buxton has appeared in all six seasons of the Netflix documentary series Formula 1: Drive to Survive based on the 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 Formula 1 seasons, giving his opinions on the events covered in the series.