Formula 1 has found itself in the spotlight for quite a few wrong reasons lately, and this time it’s not about the cars or the championship, but two of Spain’s top F1 drivers, Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz, voicing their frustration over how races are being broadcast to fans.
Both drivers believe too much focus is being placed on unnecessary moments instead of the actual on-track battles and the intense racing that defines the sport.
What Did Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz Say About F1’s Broadcast?
The frustration started at the Singapore Grand Prix, where Alonso had a rough outing and a slow pit stop had dropped the Aston Martin driver from eighth place to 15th, and it didn’t take long for his irritation to spill over the team radio. When his engineer, Andrew Vizard, reminded him of how many laps were left, Alonso snapped, saying, “If you speak to me every lap, I will disconnect the radio.”
That little exchange quickly made it into the global broadcast, and Alonso clearly wasn’t thrilled about it and wrote, “With pole position secured for the private radio broadcast, time to fine-tune the main coverage and bring all the on-track excitement to the fans!”
Just two races later in Mexico, his patience seemed to wear thin yet again, as after seeing some drivers cut through the first corner without consequence, Alonso joked, “They broadcast it all in the radio that we do, privately. Hopefully they broadcast this and they see the turn one, two. Hello? Did it not broadcast turn one, two?”
His comments didn’t make the live feed, but the message was clear that Alonso wants the cameras to focus more on racing and less on radio drama and turning drivers into TV characters.
Alonso wasn’t alone in feeling this way, as Williams’ Sainz also voiced his concerns by saying that he was disappointed with how little of his on-track action made it to the broadcast during the same race in Singapore. Despite making five solid overtakes, Sainz noticed that the coverage seemed more focused on celebrities, drivers’ girlfriends, and grid shots rather than on the racing itself.
Many fans seemed to agree with him, with social media lighting up after the race about how much of the wheel-to-wheel action had been missed, and the Spaniard’s comments echoed what many fans had been feeling lately about the race coverage becoming more about entertainment than sport.
F1 Responds to the Criticism
Formula 1’s director of broadcast and media, Dean Locke, responded to the criticism by explaining the reasoning behind their choices and said that the team’s goal is to tell the story of the race as fairly and clearly as possible and not act as a “mouthpiece” for any driver.
“We have a responsibility to tell the story fairly and accurately – so we don’t publish anything that is misleading or has other intentions,” Locke told Autosport. “Fernando is incredible; what he can do in that car and then still have time to think about it is admirable but we are not his mouthpiece.”
Locke added that part of F1’s challenge is capturing both the racing and the atmosphere of each event, “We do have a responsibility to show the whole atmosphere of the event: what happens on the track, but also around it. That includes footage of the grid, the fans, or the podium afterwards. If we only showed close-ups of cars on the track, you wouldn’t even know what track we’re at.”
He also mentioned that new features like picture-in-picture and improved replay setups have been added this season to help show more simultaneous battles on the track, and the goal is to keep improving so that fans can enjoy both the thrill of racing and the energy of the event.
While Alonso and Sainz’s comments may have ruffled some feathers, they’ve also reminded everyone about what fans really want since the global audience joins in for the speed, strategy, and action on track and not just the radio chatter and celebrity cameos.
I’ve quit watching as none of the real racing is shown.
100 percent correct. I watch the broadcast to see the race. Not someone’s girlfriend. Unfortunately they seem to do a lot of celebrity watch in other sports as well. Or my biggest choice gripe is only showing the leaders.
I believe Fernando and Carlos are correct, unfortunately, in the decades of F1 coverage I have watched it has always been like that. I think that once the race has started tv shots of driver’s family / girlfriend, of unknown musicians and movie stars, of anonymous other sports figures, of random fans with their cute sign / child should all be banned. Save them for a red flag, safety car or virtual safety car interlude. You will never convince me that there is not racing action to be shown on tv when the cars are racing. Save the useless fluff for when the cars aren’t racing.