Lee McKenzie (born 1 December 1977) is a journalist and presenter who is a reporter and deputy presenter for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

's F1 coverage and also the main presenter of the W Series and Channel 4 Rugby. McKenzie also works on a variety of sports on the BBC including tennis, rugby and equestrian, as well as the Olympics and Paralympic Games. McKenzie has also worked as a presenter for the BBC's F1 coverage,

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

and

Sky Sports News Sky Sports News (SSN) is a British pay television, paid television sports news channel run by Sky Limited, Sky, a division of Comcast. History Since 1992, Sky Sports had broadcast sports news, initially a brief ''Football Update'' and lat ...

. The daughter of Bob McKenzie, a fellow sport and

motorsport Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...

journalist, McKenzie has worked mainly in motorsport and rugby.

Broadcasting career

McKenzie has presented for

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

, and also launched the horse racing channel

At the Races Sky Sports Racing (formerly At The Races) is a British pay television channel devoted to horse racing. A joint venture between Sky Group and Arena Racing Company, it broadcasts coverage of domestic, European and international horse racing eve ...

. McKenzie has also presented ''

Lookaround ITV News ''Lookaround'' is a British television news service produced by ITV Tyne Tees & Border and broadcasting to the “Border” region. Overview The news service is produced and broadcast from studios at The Watermark, Gateshead with rep ...

'' for

Border Television ITV Border, previously Border Television and commonly referred to as simply Border, is the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 service provided by ITV (TV channel), ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Anglo-Scottish border, England/Scotland border region, ...

, and covered many high-profile stories including the

Lockerbie Trial The Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial began on 3 May 2000, 11 years, 4 months and 13 days after the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 on 21 December 1988. The 36-week bench trial took place at a specially convened Scottish Court in the Netherlands se ...

. McKenzie has been a journalist since she was 15 years old. In 2007, McKenzie won the Jim Clark Memorial Award for contributions to motorsport. McKenzie competed in several rounds of the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

in 2004, and the Norwegian Mountain rally in 2005. McKenzie has hosted several programmes, including three seasons of Sky Sports'

A1 Grand Prix A1 Grand Prix (A1GP) was a "single-make" open-wheel auto racing series that ran from 2005 until 2009. It was unique in its field in that competitors solely represented their nation as opposed to themselves or a team, the usual format in most for ...

coverage, as well as the world feed coverage. A lifelong motorsport and "any sports" fan, McKenzie has presented several programmes on ITV,

as well as Sky Sports, including the live Sunday afternoon show ''Speed Sunday'' and the

British Superbike Championship The British Superbike Championship (BSB), currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, is the leading road racing superbike championship in the United Kingdom, and was once widely acknowledged as the p ...

(BSB). In 2006, McKenzie travelled over – five times round the world – covering both the

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

and the

. McKenzie has covered most major sports events from the

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

and the Derby, from

Netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

, Grand Prix and

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

. McKenzie has presented for At the Races, covering horse racing for Sky Sports, and presenting the 6 o'clock news. McKenzie covered many big news stories including the

Lockerbie Lockerbie (, gd, Locarbaidh) is a small town in Dumfries and Galloway, south-western Scotland. It is about from Glasgow, and from the border with England. The United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census recorded its population as 4,009. The town ...

trial. McKenzie starred in a TV advert for

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...

, presenting award ceremonies including Formula One and other events. McKenzie presented for the

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

, the F1 Regent Street display in front of 300,000 people and was asked by Nigel Mansell and

Carl Fogarty Carl George Fogarty, (born 1 July 1965), often known as Foggy, is an English former motorcycle racer and one of the most successful World Superbike racers of all time. He also holds the second highest number of race wins at 59. He is the son ...

to host the launch of their magazine for whom she was the on-track editor and columnist.

BBC

From 2009 to 2015, McKenzie was a

pit lane In motorsports, a pit stop is a pause for refuelling, new tyres, repairs, mechanical adjustments, a driver change, as a penalty, or any combination of the above. These stops occur in an area called the pits, most commonly accessed via a pit lan ...

reporter on the BBC's Formula One Coverage. She was the main presenter of ''Inside F1'' for

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

and McKenzie was the lead presenter for the BBC's F1 programme at the Japanese Grand Prix weekend in October 2010 whilst

Jake Humphrey Jacob John Humphrey DL (born 7 October 1978) is an English television presenter, best known for hosting Champions League and Premier League football on BT Sport, CBBC's Bamzooki, and BBC Sport's coverage of Formula 1 Grand Prix. He is the co- ...

presented the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

and presented the Canadian, German and Hungarian Grands Prix in 2012 whilst

was presenting

Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

and the 2012 Olympic Games. This was the first time a woman had taken on the main anchor role in F1 on British TV. She was also reported to be on the BBC's shortlist of possible anchors to replace departing host

for their F1 coverage across the 2013 season. In December 2012 it was announced Suzi Perry would take over the role. McKenzie started as a presenter on BBC Inspire in April 2014. Since the BBC lost the F1 rights to Channel 4 she has continued to work for the corporation presenting and reporting on the Commonwealth Games, the Olympics, the Winter Olympics, Wimbledon, The Olympia Horse Show, Equestrian, the 6 Nations, the Women's 6 Nations Championships and the Rugby Union Autumn Internationals. Since 2021, in a departure from normal practice (other than at the Singles Finals), McKenzie regularly conducts immediate post-match interviews with winning players in front of the crowd on Centre Court at Wimbledon - rather than off-court under the Royal Box.

Channel 4

On 8 March 2016, it was announced that McKenzie would be joining Channel 4's F1 coverage following BBC's decision to no longer broadcast live F1 on TV. She continues to report on races in the same role she used to have on the BBC and presents ''F1 Meets..'' (also known as ''Lee Meets'') as well as practice sessions. She was Channel 4's lead presenter for the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix and 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. It was announced she would be the presenter for the channel's highlights of the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Intercont ...

after they gained the rights with immediate effect in June 2016. McKenzie was announced as the channel's main anchor and reporter for the Paralympics Breakfast show for Rio. McKenzie missed the Austrian, British and Hungarian GP in 2017 as she was part of Channel's 4

UEFA Women's Euro 2017 The 2017 UEFA European Women's Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2017, was the 12th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international football championship organised by UEFA for the women's national tea ...

and 2017 World Para Athletics Championships presenting teams. McKenzie also presented highlights from the winter Paralympic games from London as well as being one of the main presenters of the ''Winter Paralympics Today'' and ''Winter Paralympics Highlights''. In 2018 McKenzie co-presented the Paralympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. She also became Channel 4's main presenter for Rugby Union and Wales mid-year Internationals, European Rugby Champions Cup For the 2021 Paralympics it was announced McKenzie would be part of Channel 4's small on site team as reporter due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Racing career

McKenzie competes as an international

co-driver A co-driver is the navigator of a rally car in the sport of rallying, who sits in the front passenger seat. The co-driver's job is to navigate, commonly by reading off a set of pacenotes to the driver (what lies ahead, where to turn, the severity ...

in the

. She started after a challenge by ITV to train and become a World Rally Championship co-driver in just three months, and saw her qualifying for an international licence, right through until she won her class at

Wales Rally GB Wales Rally GB was the most recent iteration of the United Kingdom's premier international motor rally, which ran under various names since the first event held in 1932. It was consistently a round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) calen ...

. Since then McKenzie has competed in the Norwegian Rally Championship for the X-Power

MG ZR The MG ZR is an MG branded "hot hatch" version of the Rover 25 supermini class car, produced by MG Rover at their Longbridge plant in Birmingham from 2001 to 2005. Compared to the Rover 25, the ZR featured a number of styling modifications an ...

. McKenzie owns and runs a driver management company that looks after drivers from GP2 to World Rally.

References

External links

*http://www.a1gp.com *http://www.virginmedia.com/sport/motorsport/formula1/features/lee-mckenzie.php *http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/11 november/24/f1.shtml *http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b040twj5
LeeMcKenzie.tv
official site {{DEFAULTSORT:McKenzie, Lee 1977 births Scottish sports broadcasters British sports broadcasters Formula One journalists and reporters Living people BBC sports presenters and reporters BBC newsreaders and journalists