Bernie Collins is a familiar face to Formula 1 fans as she comments on all the action from the motorsport as part of the Sky Sports presenting team
She’s the former head of strategy for the Formula 1 Aston Martin team but now Bernie Collins is a familiar face with fans as she provides expert analysis for Sky Sports.
Most weekends, Bernie can be seen alongside other members of the broadcaster’s Formula 1 presenting team as they bring all the news, highlights and live race commentary from the Grands Prix action across the world.
Bernie, who is from Northern Ireland, is renowned for her experience as a strategist and fans rely on her guidance throughout the season. But how did Bernie land such a coveted role and what does she get up to off-screen? We take a look at her early career and life away from the race track.
Real name and early career
Born in the mid ’80s in a village in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, Bernie’s real name is Bernadette Collins.
She began her career as a trainee with McLaren after graduating from Queen’s University Belfast in 2009. Three years later, she became a performance engineer, working with 2009 World Champion Jenson Button. She joined Force India in 2015 and helped the team finish 4th in the following year’s Constructors’ Championship.
In 2022, she joined F1 TV as an analyst before joinging Sky Sports the following year.
Love life
Bernie is engaged to the former F1 mechanic Ryan McGarva and often shares photos of them on their travels on her Instagram account.
They got engaged last December during a ski holiday in France. In an interview with Irish News she said: “Ryan and I met a long time ago through motorsport, but the proposal came as a total surprise.
“Ryan actually got down on one ski and proposed during a ski trip to Tignes in the French Alps. We haven’t set a date yet, but it is all very exciting.”
Bernie shared the exciting update with fans by posting a selection of photos on Instagram from the year, with the final snap taken during their break capturing Bernie on the piste and showing off a sparking ring. She captioned the post: “2024 with a single picture for each month. Bit early but I’m pretty sure December can’t be topped! (ring emoji).”
Her colleagues rushed to congratulate the couple with Karun Chandhok saying: “Ahhh congratulations!” Natalie Pinkham said: “Oh Bernie!! This is the BEST news! Huge congratulations my darling.” And Rachel Brooks commented: “Yey!!!! Amazing news! Congratulations!”
The pair live in Warwickshire, reports the Irish News, and foster guide dogs. During the interview as she fostered her latest dog she said: “We look after the dogs until they find a forever home. This dog failed its training because he wouldn’t put on a harness, unfortunately, but he will make a great pet for some family.
“I got involved probably for a few selfish reasons, but it helps the centre out and is also a really nice way that we can have dog on a sort of part-time basis – while travelling around the world. And he is definitely helping my new year health kick by getting me out walking – at a nice normal pace.”
Feeling ‘like a fraud’
Bernie has admitted that moving from the pit wall to in front of the camera was an uneasy transition.
“For a long time, I felt like I was a bit of a fraud, not doing enough work on the pit wall. I felt a bit like I wasn’t contributing as much to the sport. Before, the decisions I made directly affected the outcome of the race,” she said in an interview with The Telegraph.
“When you’re on the pit wall you’re very confident in your ability, you are very ‘in your moment’. You’ve done a lot of work on the data and you’ve got the support network around you. To step away from that and then be on screen, much more public facing was a bit more daunting.
“When I did my first race [for Sky Sports] in Jeddah in 2023, I probably didn’t really think about the number of people that were watching at home. I felt a bit initially like I wasn’t contributing as much to the sport,” she says.
But she says she’s learned a lot from colleagues like renowned commentators Martin Brundle and David Croft and now accepts the importance of her broadcasting role.
She added: “When you get out and speak to people in the real world, that is when it really brings it home to me the difference I make to whoever the viewer is at home. The more people I interacted with from the audience, the more I realised that actually my influence on the viewer is much bigger than it’s ever been before.”
Sky Sports hosts coverage of Formula 1 every race weekend
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