Bob Constanduros is the on-circuit commentator at Formula One Grands Prix around the world and conducts the official press conferences organized by the International Automobile Federation, the series’ governing body. After university studies in France, Constanduros, a Briton, worked briefly in the insurance industry before becoming a freelance motorsport journalist. From 1972 to 1977, he wrote for Autosport magazine. He then became a freelancer again, driving to races around Europe in a Volkswagen van. He began announcing at races and conducting the press conferences in the early 1980s. The F.I.A. now holds daily press conferences from Thursday to Sunday on Grand Prix weekends, with Constanduros interviewing drivers and other team personnel. He spoke with Brad Spurgeon of the International Herald Tribune.

Q. Many of those you interview are not comfortable public speakers, but you have a natural way about you, mixed with a professional veneer, that seems to put people at ease.

A. I am really grateful to my mother, who, when I was a boy, used to say, “Don’t fluff your words.” She said, “Speak properly!” And it is very important. It’s important to have a strong voice. I have got slightly hoarse once in a race, because it was a very exciting race, but I have never lost my voice. I have come in here after a race and had a hoarse voice. Also, you recognize with a driver if he has had a very tough race, you recognize that because his voice is quite weak. And you say, “Hmm, that was a big one.” And I’ve seen that quite a few times.

Q. What have been some of the biggest moments for you?

A. People always remember the funny things. Like Ukyo Katayama, the Japanese driver and mountain climber, telling a particularly irreverent joke about Niki Lauda. And Gerhard Berger was there and I think Ayrton Senna was there, and they were covering their hands and saying: “No, don’t tell that story, don’t tell that story.” And they knew what was coming, and it was just hilarious.