Even for the seasoned F1 fan it was a surprise. Suddenly there was the message that Olav Mol would no longer be heard during the F1 race after 30 years. At least, not via television, because fans of Olav Mol can always turn on the radio to hear his voice during the race. It is Nelson Valkenburg and Melroy Heemskerk who will be allowed to call the johee’s and the johoo’s in 2022. If you weren’t exactly clear about who these two Dutchmen are, don’t worry: you weren’t the only one. Nelson Valkenburg is already one of the most popular Dutch people on Google.
Google today published their Year in Review 2021. This is an overview of the most popular searches of all of 2021. Viaplay’s announcement came only this month, and yet Nelson Valkenburg is already in the top ten most frequently typed search terms. With the eighth place in the Netherlands, it is even more popular than the search term ‘WhatsApp malfunction’. It does indicate how popular F1 is currently in the Netherlands. By the way, number one in the list is Peter R. de Vries, followed by the European Championship 2021 and the Stemwijzer. Valkenburg is topped in the list by the iPhone 13 – information about the phone was searched a little more often on Google. Melroy Heemskerk is not yet in the Google list.
Who is Nelson Valkenburg?
If you are not one of the searchers yourself, just a short introduction. Nelson Valkenburg’s parents own the Dutch racing team Geva Racing, where famous names such as Tom Coronel, Jeroen Bleekemolen and even Zak Brown drove. Race cars could tempt Valkenburg, but not to drive it yourself. He started commenting on races when he was thirteen. He became an announcer at Zandvoort. In 2008 he covered his first race at Eurosport and over the years you could hear him at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Formula E, Formula 3 and also the Dakar. He also worked for RTL and Motors TV.
Who is Melroy Heemskerk?
The two new reporters already know each other, of course. Melroy Heemskerk was a driver for Geva Racing and that is how he met Nelson Valkenburg. Over the years, Heemskerk raced in the Porsche Cup, FIA GT class and in long-distance races, for example. He was also allowed to do demos in historic F1 cars at events, for example. Valkenburg invited Heemskerk to beat a race and that apparently clicked very well. Since then, the two can be heard together more often and from next year during F1 races.
nice timing
Today NENT is announcing more information about broadcasting F1 in 2022. For example, we now know the price of a Viaplay subscription and it is clear that KPN and Ziggo customers can also watch the F1 races. This is of course at an additional cost.
#presenter #Nelson #Valkenburg #popular #Dutchmen