Sky Sports presenter out of action after neck surgery as she posts hospital update

Sky SportsFormula One presenter Natalie Pinkhamis set to be out of action after revealing she underwent neck surgery. Pinkham, 47, ledSky's F1 coverage of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza last weekend but has since gone under the knife, which she announced on Friday via Instagram.

In addition to her presenting duties, she revealed earlier this week that she had spent time filming alongside McLaren's Lando Norris and Zak Brown at the BMW PGA Championship. The footage will be shown for the channel's coverage of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix next week.

While it remains to be seen whether Pinkham will return to F1 duties by then, her message on the social media platform, alongside a photo of medical equipment in her hand, read: "Out of action for a bit, following neck surgery…will keep you posted."

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Despite being laid up in hospital, Pinkham's sense of humour is still intact. She saw the funny side of the illuminated apparatus placed on top of her finger, likening it to Hollywood blockbuster ET as she added in another Instagram story that read: "In the meantime… I'm gonna…phooooone hoooooome."

A third story showed Pinkham tuning into F1 highlights from the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. She wrote, "They even have #skyf1 in ICU" before adding in brackets "(What a keeno)."

Pinkham has been with Sky F1 since they acquired the rights to Formula One in 2012, when she previously covered the sport at BBC Radio 5 Live. At least for now, her last race was watching Max Verstappen win at Monza for the third time this season.

In what was the Dutchman's first race win since May, he moved within 100 points of championship leader Oscar Piastri. It was a dominant display by the 27-year-old who took just one hour, 13 minutes and 23 seconds to reach the chequered flag - marking F1's shortest ever race.

Verstappen was beaming after his triumph as he said: "It was a great day for us. Of course, Lap 1 was a bit unlucky, but after that we were flying and that was for me really enjoyable.

"We managed the pace quite well throughout that first stint, and I think we pitted at the right time, and with the hard tyres at the end, you can push a bit more – they’re a bit more resilient.

"Fantastic execution by everyone from the whole team. I think the whole weekend we were on it, and it's super enjoyable to win here." While a fifth consecutive title looks seemingly impossible for the Red Bull man, he sounded hopeful about their direction, as he's set to stay with the team next season.

He added: "Throughout this season we have been all over the shop, but now we finally seem to have found a direction which suits the car. So I hope that, from now on, it will be a little more consistent."