F1 issue official response to driver TV broadcast criticism

F1 have issued a response, following criticism about TV coverage of the sport from two-time world champion Fernando Alonso.

Alonso was unhappy with the fact that his radio outburst at the recent Singapore Grand Prix was broadcast, but that his concerns surrounding drivers cutting the corner on the opening lap of the Mexican GP were not.

On two separate occasions he spoke out about the TV coverage, including after the Singapore GP when he took to X to say: "Time to fine-tune the main coverage and bring all the on-track excitement to the fans!"

He is not the only driver to be critical of the F1 broadcast recently. In an unrelated criticism, Carlos Sainz said after the Singapore GP that TV directors should stop focusing so much on the partners and family of F1 stars in the paddock, and should instead show more on-track action.

Individual channels, such as Sky Sports F1 and Sky Germany, do not get to choose what images are shown to their viewers, with one feed being broadcast across all channels, and specific TV directors having control over the images.

Now, the F1 director of broadcast and media, Dean Locke, has issued a response to Alonso's critique specifically.

Speaking to Autosport, Locke said: "We have a responsibility to tell the story fairly and accurately - so we don't publish anything that is misleading or has other intentions.

"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.

"Our goal is to stay honest in the story and get the fans involved," Locke continued. "It's great what kind of stories we can tell, how we can show the race from the perspective of two teammates and things like that. But we have to be careful, because sometimes a driver is critical of his team without knowing all the facts.

"Then we have to guard against misrepresentation. We want to bring excitement, take the fans into the cockpit and show who the driver really is - but without overdoing it or sensationalising it.

"I also remember that Fernando used to do his on-board radio in Italian, and when we subtitled it all into English, he stopped doing that. So yes, sometimes there are other intentions behind such things. We try to deal with that wisely."

Sainz's TV coverage rant

Williams star Sainz's annoyance was more with the focus on paddock personnel including partners of the drivers issuing reactions to big moments, rather than the actual big moments.

His comments came after TV directors didn't show any of Alonso's thrilling pursuit of Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages of the Singapore GP.

The Spaniard told radio station El Partidazo de COPE: "It’s becoming a bit of a trend, which must have worked for them once upon a time when people found it interesting to see our girlfriends, to see famous people on TV, the reactions.

"I understand that if there is an overtake, a very tense moment in the race, it is understandable that the production team might want to show a reaction shot if they have seen that it has worked in the past, but [they only should] if the competition is respected and you are always showing the important moments of the race.

"Last weekend they didn’t show any of the four or five overtakes I did at the end. Nor did they show Fernando’s pursuit of Lewis, they missed a lot of things.

"The other [thing] is fine but don’t lose sight of the main thing. For me, they go overboard a little showing the celebrities and girlfriends."

F1 issued an official statement to GPFans on this particular matter at the time.

"We always focus on giving our fans the best possible footage of the race and never compromise the key focus - the racing on track," the statement read.

"Our team does a great job of covering a highly complex situation with multiple cars at different points on a track and also provide great context moments of the grandstands, high profile guests and the locations we race at.

"We are always in pursuit of excellence and improvement in what we deliver."

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