From The Boar reporter to F1 podcaster: Maham Mir fuels the new DIVEBOMB F1 podcast

I had the pleasure of interviewing Warwick and Boar alumna, Maham Mir, on her new role as host of DIVEBOMB’s Formula 1 podcast – a role she began after developing her passion for sports journalism at The Boar.

Maham Mir: DIVEBOMB‘s F1 podcast co-host

A dedicated F1 fan and talented writer, she has turned her passions up a gear as she begins to build her career in motorsport broadcast journalism. Having finished her master’s degree earlier this year, she is a true inspiration when it comes to putting in the hard work and carving her own path forward (or taking the racing line, if you will).

The skills that you have from working in a so-called higher position where you’re editing articles, managing people, controlling the social media, they’re all transferable skills at the end of the day.

Maham Mir

Without further ado, let’s dive in. I started by asking her about her time at The Boar. Laughing, she reminisced on her first article: a race review of the Australian GP. “As you know, the Australian GP is an early morning watch in the UK, and I’d already written up the article before I asked whether I could write the story. I remember hoping they’d say yes because it was too late to back down at that point, and luckily they did!” Mir went on to write exclusively for the Sport section and on F1. 

Mir also co-hosted a program on RAW called All About Sport and acted as Co-Editor-in-Chief for the history department’s magazine, Amplify. I wanted to know how all these roles helped her gain her role at DIVEBOMB Motorsport Magazine.

“Even though it wasn’t necessarily sports-based, the skills that you have from working in a so-called higher position where you’re editing articles, managing people, controlling the social media, they’re all transferable skills at the end of the day.

“So even when I am writing my stuff now or when I’m planning my podcast scripts, I will self-edit them the same way I used to edit other people’s work.”

It is clear to see that a role at a student publication can provide valuable experience and can even act as a stepping stone to a professional career. In Mir’s case, she found that it directly aided her application to DIVEBOMB, as it was an article she wrote for The Boar that helped her land the job, or as they say in the sport, pole position!

I asked her to tell me more about her application process for DIVEBOMB. “I reached out to them earlier this year actually, and just kind of said, ‘this is something that I would like to take seriously in terms of going beyond student publications.’

I figured I had nothing to lose by trying 

Maham Mir

“So, I reached out and I didn’t hear back for a little bit, and then all of a sudden when I had kind of felt like I needed to take their silence as an answer, I got an email back to say: ‘We have a couple of formalities we need to complete but we’d love to have you join the team’.”

So what drew Mir to DIVEBOMB? “I had heard of them before, and I love what they do. I think it’s so great because they cover all aspects of motorsport. It’s not just F1, it’s endurance racing, all the feeder series, and F1 Academy too.”

Originally, Mir was brought on as a contributing writer, but when the opportunity arose for the new podcast, she jumped at the opportunity: “I figured I had nothing to lose by trying. The worst that could happen is it wouldn’t work out, but at least I had tried.” I personally think this advice applies to every situation, and is a testament to Mir’s drive.

Examples of Mir’s articles covering races to teammate rivalries and everything in between. Image: DIVEBOMB Magazine

If you give the podcast a listen, it’s immediately noticeable that the hosts have a great understanding and wide knowledge of the sport, so I wished to find out more about their planning process.

“The first thing we have to decide is what kind of episode we’re running. If there has been a recent race, then it will always be a race review. This means I look back through the notes I made while watching the race, I read race reports from different media outlets, and I compile together the most important talking points.

“Personally, one of my favourite types of episodes are rewind episodes, where I will pick something in F1 history and we will talk about that instead. Our latest rewind episode looked at the historic rivalry between Prost and Senna, which I thoroughly enjoyed talking about.”

I think podcasting almost feels like an open invitation in the same way social media did a few years ago.

Maham Mir 

Maham co-hosts the DIVEBOMB F1 podcast and had a lot of appreciation for those she shares the microphone with. “I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about the fact that the podcast is not just me. It’s two other people as well, and we have a great time. I’ll always deviate from my notes depending on what they said. I’m more than happy to do that, and I look forward to it because I think it sounds more natural when it just sounds like three people chatting away.”

It’s clear to see that podcasts are beginning to redefine the way we engage with journalism and I was interested to find out what Mir thought of this industry shift: “Why do you think many companies and businesses are rebranding their communications and moving towards podcasts?”

In Mir’s words: “Podcasting as a form of media is so interesting because it has its hand in so many different places, but it brings everything together. You can very easily listen to a podcast when you’re driving, for example, but you wouldn’t be able to consume written media in the same way.

“It’s also really versatile, and I think also the apprehension that some may face when putting their words down on paper is kind of null and void when it comes to podcasting, because all you really need is a mic and a couple of thoughts you want to talk about. I think podcasting almost feels like an open invitation in the same way social media did a few years ago.”

It’s our role that we sit, and we evaluate things with as little bias as possible.

Maham Mir

In case any of you are nosy (as I am), I needed to find out who Mir supports in F1: “Okay, my favourite team is McLaren, so I’m over the moon that they’ve sealed the 2025 Constructors’ World Championship. Obviously, it basically wasn’t even ever in question that they weren’t going to win, but I’m very glad that they’ve been able to defend their title from 2024.”

And her favourite race? “There is something special about races that start with S for me. So, it’s Spa, Silverstone, and Singapore. I can’t pick between the three because they all have such different characteristics, but it has always been these three for me.”

As long as you think you’ve got something to say and you think it’s something valid, then you can’t really go wrong.

Maham Mir

Mir lamented that, while it’s incredibly fun to work in an industry you’re personally interested in, it’s also very important to maintain an objective view of a sport that can be very polarising. “It’s our duty, it’s our role as people who contribute to a wider discussion, especially something like sports, where there is always so much to say, it’s our role that we sit, and we evaluate things with as little bias as possible.”

Finally, a few last pieces of advice from Mir, to you, our reader: “You have to have that internal drive or motivation to say ‘this is something I really want to do, which is why I’m going to give it my all.’

“You have to shut off everything else and be like, ‘I’m not going to listen to everyone telling me how difficult it is or that it’s not going to happen or that I’m not the right fit’, because as long as you think you’ve got something to say and you think it’s something valid, then you can’t really go wrong.”

If you want to catch the podcast, you can find it on Spotify with weekly episodes hosted by Mir and her two co-hosts, Marit and Rohan. In my humble opinion, it’s well worth a listen if you love F1 or want to hear more in-depth commentary on each race and the sport’s history.

You can find DIVEBOMB’s F1 Podcast on Spotify here, or by following the Spotify Code.

Bethany Sirianni, on behalf of The Boar, would like to thank Maham Mir for sitting down with her and sharing her story.