Red Bull’s departing chief technical officer Adrian Newey said Sky’s British-centric coverage of Formula 1 led to “demonisation” of the team’s two world championship-winning drivers.
Newey said Sky’s coverage is excessively “nationalistic” and made villains out of champions Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel.“From the outside I’m not sure people fully appreciate and understand Max, just like they didn’t with Sebastian,” Newey told High Performance. “Because first of all, there’s a sort of demonisation that both of them suffered at times which I think’s very unfair.
“Maybe that’s also a little bit of the British media, if I’m honest, Sky have a huge influence around the world, their viewing is truly international but their coverage is quite nationalistic, dare I say, and that can have an influence.”
Red Bull boycotted Sky’s coverage during the Mexican Grand Prix in 2022 due to its dissatisfaction with their coverage. This was believed to refer to a segment in which a Sky presenter referred to Lewis Hamilton being “robbed” of the 2021 world championship, which Verstappen won.
Newey believes the three-times champion Verstappen is underestimated by many followers of F1. He compared him to Fernando Alonso, whom Newey will work with at Aston Martin following his move to the team which was announced today.
“It almost feels as if [Verstappen] can drive the car automatically,” said Newey. “He doesn’t, of course, but he can drive the car and have so much processing power left over that he can then think a lot about how he is driving the car, how he is looking after the tyres, what he might need to do in the settings or if he’s not sure, ask [his race engineer] on the radio what he should be doing, but highlighting the problems.
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“Reading the race still fascinates me – Fernando is another one that can do that, he seems to be able to read the race but [they] haven’t got all the stuff in front of them.”
However Newey admitted Verstappen showed signs of cracking in the second half of the 2021 season as his championship fight with Hamilton intensified following the collision between the pair at the British Grand Prix.
“Particularly after Silverstone, on-track between Lewis and Max, it became so intense,” he said. “I think Max had very strong feelings on that Silverstone accident.
“Of course he’d been the clear championship leader going into Silverstone, then out of the race and was more or less out of the race in Hungary when he got hit by Valtteri [Bottas] – not intentional at all, but still got hit and pretty much hardly scored any points. To go from easy championship leaders to now feeling a bit more pressure.
“Mercedes managed to find quite a lot more pace out of that car towards the end of the season. It’s always easier for the hunter than the hunted and Max was starting to just feel a little bit of pressure from the hunt.”
Newey said he Verstappen was fortunate to avoid a penalty for his driving at the Brazilian Grand Prix that year, where he drove off-track at Subido do Lago to force Hamilton wide and prevent him overtaking.
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“In reality he was probably lucky not to get a penalty from his driving in Brazil. In Saudi Arabia they had a bit of a ding-dong that was a little bit more – I think that was not clear, but Max was probably a bit out of order in Brazil in truth.
“So I think he was feeling it a bit. And indeed Checo [Perez], it’s the usual thing, if the team mate that they’ve been beating suddenly starts to get closer, it’s not that suddenly the team mate’s got better. It was the same with Fernando and Felipe Massa towards the end of 2010, suddenly they get closer because the lead driver is feeling the pressure.”
Red Bull unsuccessfully attempted to force the FIA to review the penalty they handed Hamilton for the Silverstone collision. Afterwards Mercedes accused them of attempting “to tarnish the good name and sporting integrity of Lewis Hamilton”.
Newey admitted his view of the collision has changed since then. “At the time, I was absolutely incandescent with Lewis because I felt he did a deliberate, professional foul.
“I think now, with the benefit of hindsight and time, then I think they’d been banging wheels all the way round the lap up to that corner. Lewis went through an opportunity which he thought was there, misjudged it, and what happened, happened.
“We were lucky that Max didn’t get badly hurt. So I understand how it happened now perhaps better than and I was probably a bit harsh – I was too harsh on Lewis at the time. That’s perhaps one of the things of Formula 1, you get sucked into everybody else being the enemy very easily.”
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Verstappen recently revealed he suffered vision problems following the crash which he did not disclose at the time. Newey said the team was deeply concerned about their driver in the moments after the impact.
“Max’s one at Silverstone is the last one where we thought ‘is he okay, is he badly hurt in there?'” he said. “Then when he did come on the radio, because he was so badly winded he was just grunting. And you don’t know what that means.
“He was very sore, he had quite a nasty concussion, he was very sore for a week after but he was okay.”
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timber
10th September 2024, 17:47
Thank you mister Newey for being an upright decent man. One of the very very few Brits who dares to speak out, even it is against his own countrymen. But I’m not suprised, Newey is way too intelligent to bother himself with this toxic nationalistic sentiment.
timber
10th September 2024, 17:49
And the biggest irony of it all is that with Hamiltons organization, Sky is trying to be more inclusive and accessible to different groups in society. And at the same time they are the biggest bullies against anyone who dares to win from a Brit. You can allready see it starting again, now with Piastri as the newest target, because he is threatening the british Norris.
Dex
10th September 2024, 18:27
They are targeting McLaren pretty hard for not imposing team orders (suddenly the narrative turns pro team orders, as if it’s not something 90% of fans hate). Many times they have talked about “us Brits”, melting when British drivers are in top positions, and in one of post race shows a few years ago, we could even hear “We’re all Brits here,” justifying the bias for Hamilton. But the guy who said that (the tall blonde one, I forgot his name, Simon I believe) looked at his Indian colleague, sitting to his left, expecting his approval, but he looked very uncomfortable and almost apologetically commented “I’m Indian.” God, the look on all their faces… And with so many British drivers (and the whole sport being British in essence), they are still not satisfied, so they claim Albon every now and then, ignoring his own identify and choice to represent Thailand.
As for “inclusiveness,” that’s the other word they use for selective discrimination, be positive or negative. Thanks for that many of their colleagues lost their jobs, and had to be replaced with more “appropriate” faces, that we’re now seeing on Sky. There were even leaked documents, if I remember correctly, mentioning hiring people based on the colour of their skin and gender instead of merit.
Oh, and for a paid television, they have so many add too; no? You get the worst of all worlds…
Simon
10th September 2024, 21:35
You’re referring to Simon Lazenby (presenter) and Karun Chandhok (analyst/pundit/co-commentator)
AlexS
12th September 2024, 19:19
Team Orders is one excellent example of British media bias. When Ferrari was doing it it was the end of the world.
And FIA went along British media claims and forbid it.
Then suddenly as if we are in a multiverse reality Team Orders are something logical, desirable and appropriate.
Illusive (@illusive)
11th September 2024, 7:51
Its just so unfair on Piastri who is younger and learning quickly and has so much potential to surpass Norris.
Nick T.
12th September 2024, 0:59
I’m assuming this is sarcastic, but drivers from commonwealth countries have been given nearly same level of enthusiasm and hype as Brits.
An Sionnach
10th September 2024, 19:53
Yes, he seems to be an honest man. It’s not the first time this has happened, either. Schumacher still gets it and some savoured Mick’s ejection well beyond what was reasonable for such a nice young man who wasn’t to blame for his father’s cardinal sin of beating the Brits!
Prost got it too, but in his case it wasn’t for making Mansell look second rate. It’s sad how obsessive fandom can distort reality. Prost got it from the French too, for beating Arnoux.
Nick T.
10th September 2024, 22:06
Last time I mentioned this general bias someone replied “cringe.” Cringe all one wants. It’s as clear as day. They spent years dragging Alonso through the mud. And, beyond the media, I really doubt it’s a coincidence he has also been the recipient of an absurd amount of famously controversial (I.E., BS) penalties. It’s not a conspiracy. It’s just a general bias that ends up bleeding into other areas.
Carl Parker (@mysticarl)
11th September 2024, 9:41
Alonso’s fans were making monkey noises at Lewis in testing, among other things. Spain has a big racism issue and that’s why Alonso was more of a target than others especially given Alonso’s typically aggressive attitude towards McLaren and Lewis, especially after they were in the same team and how that fell out. So yes he was targeted but he hardly helped himself for a long time. By 2012 all I remember from the British media is how damn well he was doing in a dog of a Ferrari…
Sky F1 has a largely British commentary and has no ‘requirement’ to be unbiased, as opposed to the BBC for example who have to be more neutral. It’s not our fault that other national coverage isn’t as widely circulated – there’s plenty of blatant bias from other nations F1 coverage it’s not limited to ours. If that was critiqued to the same level as ours I think it’d be clear our coverage isn’t as bad as it’s portrayed by some.
FrankT
11th September 2024, 10:44
”Sky F1 has a largely British commentary and has no ‘requirement’ to be unbiased”
Euhmm excuse me.. Yes they do! They have a contract for INTERNATIONAL broadcasting.
SteveP
11th September 2024, 18:15
That’s your problem right there. You assume that because they paid for the rights to broadcast the content across a number of nations, that will oblige them to do so in an unbiased and even-handed way.
The business world does not work like that. Unless someone specifically lists even-handed treatment and unbiased content as a MUST or SHALL then they can do as they wish.
That language use is one of the faults I find in the FIA regs lots of wishy-washy “should” and “may”
ollie studio45
11th September 2024, 13:56
just excuses
SteveP
11th September 2024, 18:09
I wonder whether there’s a route to listening to the BBC R5Live sports F1 coverage on the net. I think it might need an email sign in and a tick of the “I have a TV license” box though.
Tobias
11th September 2024, 18:46
There is a way to listen to the BBC, at least for me. The F1 data app has an audio channel that is just the BBC coverage. I find it much more palatable than the Sky coverage.
Nick T.
12th September 2024, 1:00
While disgusting, that misses the point. Spanish media has zero effect on how the majority of the fans or stewards see the drivers. The British media does.
Carl Parker (@mysticarl)
12th September 2024, 10:58
That’s an issue for the rights system, not Sky. A lot of this just smacks of anti-English bias from non-English fans?
Dale
13th September 2024, 22:33
Correct.
Even worse is Sky’s absolute desire to turn F1 into coverage into gutter media.
The British bias is sickening at times, but their strategy to turn the paddock into a cheap reality show has been the worst thing for F1.
Lazenby, that clown Craig Slater and Turd Kravitz need to go work for the Mirror where their idea of journalism would be celebrated.
Red Pill (@redpill)
11th September 2024, 7:54
F1 for sure has its fair share of “Lager Louts”, from the UK and equally as much in Holland, and quite frankly its not a race between the two that I would like to see; moderation can be a very good thing and should be practiced more often.
Having said that, SKY does indeed have a very large influence (for better or worse) in English speaking (non UK markets) but have any of you tried listening to Italian press coverage of F1? Have you heard the Dutch view of F1? How about the Spanish press? These all have their own very heavy doses of national bias and views about their own countryman who are behind the wheel, The UK does not have the exclusivity on this.
timber
12th September 2024, 0:16
Are you deliberately mixing up the UK and Sky?? We are talking about Sky not the UK. And Sky have the feed for an INTERNATIONAL audience. A national media outlet can be as biased as they want, NOT the media which is suppose to do the INTERNATIONAL feed…
BasCB (@bascb)
12th September 2024, 8:00
Well, sure timber. But since F1TV took off the influence of the english language “international feed” has diminished somewhat, since in many countries people can get the far more neutral (and higher quality IMO) F1 TV crew instead.
To me it seems that this IS a primarily UK based view about a primarily UK broadcaster not doing a great job but being not even close to the unpalatable level of one sidedness one gets in the Italian, Dutch and even in German footage (despite there not being any German driver of not close to the grid for a few years now).
Mayrton
12th September 2024, 7:01
Been saying this for years on this forum. Yet I already see denial and people resorting to ‘it is Sky not the entire British press’. You know very well what is being meant here. But please go ahead and continue and defend the unsportsmanlike narratives. As stated before, it is a sign of weakness if you need this demonisation to be able to win.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
10th September 2024, 17:59
He’s right and it’s not the first time. Some actors in the British press are as toxic as the Italian media with anything Ferrari related.
FrankT
10th September 2024, 18:14
@Keith Collantine Why do lie about this? Subtitle to the article: ‘and says Max Verstappen cracked under pressure.’
No he didn’t, Newey did not state that Max cracked under pressure, I’ve seen the podcast.
But I guess you’re just another perfect example of what Newey was talking about. Just another try by a nationalistic Brit to paint Verstappen a little more negative than what is meant. You know that word what Newey talked about: Demonization.
Dex
10th September 2024, 18:30
Spot on. There always has to be something… It’s undignified.
Riccard
10th September 2024, 19:24
100% agreed. The subtitle of this article is untrue, and is contradicted by the article itself.
The claim made on the website front page – that moments after lining up his next job, Newey had now stated Max cracked under pressure – was really surprising from such a classy and honest guy, so I clicked through to read it.
I was surprised to find the claim had been fabricated by this website… although in hindsight it makes sense, because it’s clear from the text of the article and the interview itself that Newey was his normal balanced, friendly self saying sensible and generous things about the people he’s worked with.
Peat Smoke
10th September 2024, 19:44
Yeah. That’s really pathetic.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
10th September 2024, 20:36
Yes he did say that. I wouldn’t have written so if he hadn’t.
FrankT
10th September 2024, 20:47
It’s very easy to proof: Show me the timestamp of the podcast.
Cuppertea (@cuppertea)
10th September 2024, 21:49
Interesting podcast, which I’ve just watched on YouTube. The interviewer asks Newey if Verstappen has ever showed signs of cracking, and Newey responds “a little bit, perhaps, in his championship in 2021…” He goes on from there. I think that’s to what Keith is referring. Time-code here.
Nick T.
10th September 2024, 22:24
He’s implying that Newey saying Max was “showing signs of the pressure” fairly translates to “showing signs of beginning to crack under the pressure.” I’ll leave it up to others to judge that.
Alan Skelly
10th September 2024, 21:10
He said max was feeling the pressure he didnt say anything about him cracking.
notagrumpyfan
11th September 2024, 6:56
Keith, you are doing a ‘Sky’ here.
In the sub-line you state:
But in the main text it seems that the quote from Newey is nothing as spectacular:
The quote doesn’t support your edited sub-line at all. Maybe there are other quotes to support your first statement, but you should have included that.
Don’t do what Sky is doing; making up sentences just to feed a nationalistic populist narrative.
ollie studio45
11th September 2024, 14:00
feeling it and cracking under it are effectively on the same spectrum (where pressure is having an impact)… and subjective
of course it’s nice clickbait too
grat
11th September 2024, 0:41
First, Keith didn’t say Newey said Max cracked– Keith said that Newey said Max showed signs of cracking. A subtle, but important distinction.
Secondly, from the podcast:
So the demonisation isn’t limited to journalists– it’s apparently shared by commenters.
notagrumpyfan
11th September 2024, 7:07
Actually, in this case it is the author ‘demonising’
Keith DID state: (Newey said that) “ Max Verstappen cracked under pressure”!
That is quite different from the quotes you took from the podcast. In that case it was the questioner who asked for “show(ing) signs of cracking” after which Newey responded that he did “ think a little bit perhaps”
The italic in the quotes (signs of, I think, a little bit, perhaps) should have stopped any journalist from including a definite statement that it actually happened.
Roy Beedrill
12th September 2024, 7:47
Read that one more time:
This is what Keith wrote. I’ll leave it up to you to assess how much percentage of this statement is truth, and how much was “freely interpreted” (=fabricated).
Personally, I would like Adrian himself to see how his words were used here.
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
10th September 2024, 18:19
Sky can definitely be far too partisan but…
…Hamilton WAS robbed in 2021! (Although that wasn’t the fault of either RB or Verstappen)
Billybob
10th September 2024, 18:22
And why does that get stuck on repeat and not the 2008 robbery of Massa???
David BR (@david-br)
10th September 2024, 18:28
Because Massa wasn’t robbed. He was gifted a sackful of points at Spa to begin with. If you’re on about Singapore, there was still a race after Piquet Jr’s antics and Massa made a mess of it.
Imre (@f1mre)
10th September 2024, 18:31
There was still a lap after the SC in Abu Dhabi 2021 and Hamilton made a mess of it. (by your “logic”)
David BR (@david-br)
10th September 2024, 18:34
@f1mre Seriously? Massa span off in Singapore. Hamilton was outpaced by a rival on new tyres. There’s zero logic to your comment.
The Dolphins
10th September 2024, 18:51
Not to mention the creative interpretation of the rule book by the Race Director to only let “some lapped drivers” through to hasten the return of the Safery Car into the pit lane so that Max can easily overtake with with more time because “nobody wants to see a race end under Safety Car”
mystic one (@mysticus)
10th September 2024, 19:57
Spa race was disgrace. Also Abu Dhabi, even pro Lewis hater Alonso chuckled after he heard of this lapped cars overtake of choose few. And he understood what it meant! Obviously it was not meant as let them race, it was let’s give max the max chance of winning wdc, despite he was honestly beaten even with the help of checo, only opportunity to let max win it was to invent a rule a few corners before the last lap. Like spa, in fact two spa races were disgraceful. 2008 one was the worst obviously, but 2021 was even terrible, not a single lap raced but points awarded! Brazil was another disgrace where max should have received a penalty but never did…
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
11th September 2024, 0:12
Mystic, in spa 2021 the only disgrace is that a race didn’t happen, but at least it was fair to reward those who qualified well, like russell with the williams.
grat
11th September 2024, 0:50
Except that the safety car shouldn’t have come in at all– clearing all the lapped cars would have taken another lap, and the race would have finished under the safety car. Not unlapping any cars would have left several cars for Max to have to get around in order to catch Lewis.
Mercedes chose not to pit Hamilton, because if they had, he would have dropped down the order, Max would have stayed out, and won the race– because NO cars would have been unlapped.
Everyone assumes that Massi would have made the same decision even if Hamilton had pitted and Verstappen hadn’t– but I don’t believe it.
SteveP
10th September 2024, 20:30
To be fair, it wasn’t solely Massa’s fault – he was ably assisted in the pit stop farce by the Ferrari pit crew, but having launched early from the box, driving half the pit lane with fuel hose still attached and pit crew chasing is something he alone has blame for.
Anyone know when he will sue the people actually responsible for his loss?
Nick T.
10th September 2024, 22:08
Massa was robbed. As a super diehard fan, you’d definitely be singing a different tune if their roles had been reversed.
Nick T.
10th September 2024, 22:12
super diehard Lewis fan*
David BR (@david-br)
10th September 2024, 22:40
Massa was robbed of what?! The points for a race win for a race he didn’t win? Nope, far too few laps completed to justify counting Massa as the winner of the Singapore 2008 race because he was leading on lap 12 of 61. So he was robbed because the Singapore race wasn’t scrubbed then? If a driver or team cheats, they’re disqualified and lose the race points, there’s no precedent or justification for annulling the entire race and all the points won by the other teams. I think even you know that. Could they have set a precedent? Maybe, soon after the race, but why? A race still occurred and Piquet’s crash was essentially like any other incident that causes a safety car. Ferrari and Massa just dealt with it badly.
SteveP
10th September 2024, 23:37
The event that deprived Massa of points that day happened in the pits.
The guilty parties in the event were the Ferrari pit crew rushing and making a big mistake allowing Massa to move with the fuel hose still connected, and Massa himself actually driving away and as far as the pit exit with the hose attached.
The true victim that day was Rosberg being denied his first win by a driver who may or may not have known that his team cheated.
grat
11th September 2024, 0:52
Yeah, but he was also handed the win at Spa in 2008 on a silver platter.
Further, if he’d scored *ONE POINT* at Silverstone, he’d have won the 2008 championship on merit.
Nick T.
11th September 2024, 3:26
If you’re going to gift Hamilton the benefit of the doubt for Spa, you have to do the same for races like Hungary where Massa was dominating.
Massa should have never been in the position to have to make that stop at the time he did, which made getting away many more times urgent. It’s as simple as that.
I am not saying Hamilton wasn’t a deserving champion. If anything, it was 2007 when neither Ferrari driver really deserved a title. What I am saying is that it took quite a bit of bad luck for Massa to lose the WDC.
Mayrton
12th September 2024, 7:10
As Lewis was gifted a sack of points at Silverstone earlier in the year. To beging with. What about the in season tire compound change that never happened before in history and hugely benefited the Mercedes. Or the pit stop advantageous taken away from RedBull because Toto played the safety card. The Flex wing saga of Mercedes and the bowling Bottas at Hungary. Come to think of it, Lewis didn’t get a sack of point but rather a truck load. They should have never been level at the start of that final race. It was rigged to the bone.
grat
11th September 2024, 0:46
Because in 2008, Massa was handed extra points at Spa (and Hamilton lost them), he failed to score any points at Silverstone, and he drove off from his pit box with a fuel hose attached in Singapore.
In 2021, Lewis on the other hand, was on track to win the race until the race director decided (according to the FIA) to not follow the rules for the restart correctly. Both Lewis and Max did everything possible to win the championship (ignoring Brazil), and the “robbery” was due to the race director.
In 2008, Massa had many, MANY opportunities to put himself in a better position to win the championship, and he failed most of them.
Broderick Harper (@banbrorace)
11th September 2024, 20:53
Massa wasn’t robbed by an off track decision.
If anything Hamilton got penalties that we’d not seen at the time and have rarely seen since
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
11th September 2024, 23:01
Because it’s not clear how the 2008 Singapore situation should be handled, even if the race is not allowed to stand as is (which I think it should not). This is because unlike Abu Dhabi 2021, the person who directly benefitted from the cheating (Alonso) was not personally in the title fight.
Is Renault disqualified, with no other changes? Hamilton wins the title by 2 more points, as he would be promoted from 3rd to 2nd, with Massa promoted from 13th to 12th.
Is an attempt made to interpolate Massa’s likely position? Massa may win the title, depending on what interpolation is made. (If it was decided Massa would have been 6th or higher, the title is his).
Is the race stopped at the last point when it was in compliance? Massa wins the race, and also the title by 9 points.
Is the race cancelled? Massa wins by 5 points, because Hamilton would lose his points from Singapore.
Is the FIA’s position that results from the past cannot be changed upheld? If so, Massa becomes rich but nothing changes in the 2008 title fight. Although this is only possible to uphold if it was found that the FIA did not know about it until after the 2008 results were locked down (even if, for example, Witness X revealed the secret over Christmas 2008, that would be late enough that the FIA could use the defence).
All of these options are available to the court if it finds that the FIA knew about Renault’s cheating and chose not to act.
The equivalent options for Abu Dhabi 2021:
Is Verstappen/Red Bull disqualified, with no other changes? Hamilton would get the title. Doing this would of course make no sense – Michael Masi’s antics messed around the entire grid, not just two cars.
Is an attempt made to interpolate Hamilton’s likely position? A lot of interpolation would have to be done. Hamilton would get the title, but the amount of interpolation for other drivers would likely preclude this being done.
Is the race stopped at the last point when it was in compliance? Hamilton wins.
Is the race cancelled? Verstappen would have won the title. This is unlikely since the only reason the race’s validity was in doubt was due to a race director’s mistake towards the end of the race. Especially when the FIA admitted it in the middle of 2022.
Is the FIA’s position that results from the past cannot be changed upheld? Verstappen would win, but since the FIA wrongdoing caused the situation, attempting to uphold the freeze would be incoherent.
The only viable method of resolving Abu Dhabi 2021 leaves Hamilton the winner of both race and title. This is much more obvious than Massa’s situation of having a 50/50 chance depending on which of 4 viable methods of resolving the situation is used.
Doh
10th September 2024, 18:25
I still don’t understand why sky F1 is used as the international feed when F1tv has its own commentary. They’ve been using their own commentary for the YouTube highlight too now for a while, but sky F1 is still getting international feed why?
I’m just assuming it must be contractual?
notagrumpyfan
10th September 2024, 19:25
Yes, can only be contractual.
And F1TV commentary is much much better than the Sky stuff. I suggest all regular Sky users to test that once. It’s refreshing how much more balanced and insightful race commentary can be.
MichaelN
10th September 2024, 20:26
They’ve been using the F1TV crew – for better or worse – on their own outlets (YouTube, etc.) for a few years now.
The ‘international’ feed is just other countries buying the UK broadcast, usually the (former) colonies.
Mayrton
12th September 2024, 7:12
Probably a revenue thing. You are right that they should kick them out and I have been saying it for year F1 needs to show some true global ambition. They are only catering to the Brits, which has historically grown. Time for change I would say.
Dex
10th September 2024, 18:33
At the very beginning of the last race, Hamilton wasn’t penalized for not “giving the time back” (after going off-track). That’s where they broke the rules in his favor. Later happened what happened. On balance, there are many dubious decisions from that season as a whole, even from that very race. It’s not only the last that counts, as much as you’d like that. On balance of things, no one can claim to be robbed more than others. There were so many decisions and interventions, often going too easy on both of them. I’m sorry, he was robbed only in the eyes of the British, and barely anyone else. There’s the whole world beyond Sky.
The Dolphins
10th September 2024, 18:56
Best argument for a large asterisk beside the 2021 Championship.
Craig
10th September 2024, 19:03
That’s a total lie and you know it (Hamilton gave back all the time he gained from Verstappen forcing him off track). There’s no balance at all and no excuse for what happened.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
11th September 2024, 0:16
Hamilton had a way faster car that race, thanks for giving me back the time since you can still run off into the distance; the point is he kept track position with that.
jan jansen
11th September 2024, 12:40
*Hamilton gave back all the time he gained from Verstappen*
He didn’t , he was 100 metres up the road after the corner
David BR (@david-br)
10th September 2024, 19:14
Desperate stuff.
SteveP
10th September 2024, 20:40
After being forced off the track, again.
Something Norris can relate to, as can any driver that challenges him for position, or general road space.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
11th September 2024, 0:16
This is true, many people tend to forget that was the 2nd controversial stewards decision in abu dhabi.
Jack
10th September 2024, 18:40
If you go down this “robbed” of ‘21 route then shouldn’t you also be screaming for fairness and cancelling out all the wins where Lewis should have been disqualified for wearing jewellery whilst racing which was expressly forbidden.
If you go down that route has he actually legally won any race let alone a championship?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
11th September 2024, 0:09
My opinion is hamilton wasn’t robbed simply because up until abu dhabi he wasn’t the most deserving driver, in abu dhabi definitely drove better than verstappen and deserved the win, but if you normalise everything luck based that happened over the year verstappen ends up with significantly more points, which means hamilton was only in with a chance cause of massive luck he had before, such as imola, silverstone, hungary, baku.
Mark Reville (@myrrve)
10th September 2024, 18:23
I have to disagree with Newey to an extent and say I find Sky coverage balanced although you know it’s presenters and analysis each have personal favourites among the drivers but this is never stated overtly in live commentary. Brundle, for example, is clearly a big fan of Lewis but will be critical of him if criticism is justified. Lead commentator Croft seems to me to be a big fan of Max but not of Lewis but, again, this partiality is never expressed openly on air. Was it Johnny Herbert who made the comment about Hamilton being robbed of the title in ’21? He ended up being sacked so no British bias evident there.
osnola
10th September 2024, 18:32
No it was not Herbert but the notebook guy…
And crofty is as changeable as the weather in england.
I agree with newey except the silverstone incident . Lewis always should have been black flagged there.
It was not the first time he use his signature move on a other driver..
Billybob
10th September 2024, 18:35
The year later Hamilton did it to Albon TWICE!
SteveP
10th September 2024, 23:44
The “signature move” was the Max close cut across to cause the competitor to brake and bail out.
Unfortunately, Lewis was about half a wheel further forward than Max thought – big mistake.
NM
11th September 2024, 10:26
lewis missed the apex by a meter due to understeer.
Mayrton
12th September 2024, 7:16
Sure…. this has been debunked a million times with lots of footage and comparison to his Leclerc encounter at exactly the same spot. And I always said, hey this is F1 and they are all selfish guys, so things like this can happen. But Lewis not owning up to it is the real issue here. It is what Senna would call a cowardly act.
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
11th September 2024, 15:52
Why?
It was nothing more than a racing incident, more Hamilton’s fault but still a racing incident & I just don’t think it’s right to start handing out severe penalties for that.
When your racing hard, Fighting for position sometimes your going to make contact & sometimes that contact is going to result in an accident. That is just part of the sport, always has been & always will be & I just don’t like the idea of accidental contact stemming from hard racing been punished that harshly.
Black flag’s for contact should be reserved only for truly reckless driving or something that is done intentionally. What Lewis did at Silverstone ’21 was in my view neither & nowhere near been either.
Erik
10th September 2024, 18:33
Thank you for the good laugh, that was entertaining to read.
Dex
10th September 2024, 18:34
Brundle is the rare exception in that team, as well as Karun, but he’s not British. Those two are the only reason I can even stand watching the broadcast.
The Dolphins
10th September 2024, 18:59
I respect Brundle when he has the self control to not bite when Crofty baits him for a comment after an incident and he replies along the lines, “let’s see what the Stewards decide”
Nick T.
10th September 2024, 22:12
Brundle is one of the few faces of Sky that is objective. Karun is British and is also quite balanced, but on the whole, Sky is highly biased. It doesn’t mean always dragging a driver through the mud. Often, it is just endlessly lionizing whichever British driver is in the spotlight at the moment. I wouldn’t even mind, except that 75% of fans watching are getting the Sky feed.
JPS
10th September 2024, 18:46
Perhaps you should look up that Sky X-mas card on youtube.. It says more than a 1000 words..
Nick T.
11th September 2024, 3:21
What does it show?
JPS
11th September 2024, 6:47
Verstappen heading for the tire stack at copse -> Merry Christmas..
Nick T.
12th September 2024, 1:03
Classy.
MichaelN
11th September 2024, 8:56
English Sky was putting slow motion clips of Hamilton punting Verstappen off at Silverstone under a snowy “Merry Christmas” message.
And yes, that wasn’t the only F1 related clip they showed. But it was still a great example of how blinded people can be to their own bias that nobody thought, hold in a minute. Is this what we want to put out for Christmas? No, instead, folks at the English broadcaster thought; that’s great, let’s run that!
Nick T.
12th September 2024, 1:04
The usual subjects have no counterpoint for that. If they do, it’ll be “that proves nothing!”
Mayrton
12th September 2024, 8:11
Yeah, that is perhaps even more clear than Newey stating they are biased. Pretty distasteful. If you can’t stop your organisation from posting this, when nobody at some stage says ‘maybe we shouldn’t do this’, then I fear you are already way over the edge of any self reflection and it renders you completely disqualified to cover this sport.
SteveP
10th September 2024, 20:49
Well, speaking as someone who is less than a Max fan, I think Sky coverage is rather unbalanced, and Croft is definitely not suitable to lead anything, least of all the F1 commentary.
Tuning into a local radio station, combined with your chosen video feed, seems to do the job for most people. Maybe if enough people let Sky know they refuse to listen to even one syllable from Croft, they might encourage him to seek other employment opportunities
David BR (@david-br)
10th September 2024, 18:25
Of course everyone will make of Newey’s comments what they will. There’s criticism of Sky and the British press, but also an admission that he was swept up in some misjudgements from the Red Bull side during the 2021 title fight and that Verstappen ‘cracked’ (yup). I’m fine with both, just somewhat surprised that Newey was quite so partisan (and I don’t recall his public comments about LH in 2021). Though I guess I shouldn’t be surprised and he admits himself how easy it is be swept up in the swirl of emotions.
Is Verstappen underrated by the British press or TV commentators though? Don’t think so. People like Brundle always strike me as totally pro-Verstappen. Vettel in the past, maybe he could argue that when he (Vettel) was still at Red Bull.
Mayrton
12th September 2024, 8:14
I think your comments displays that it makes no sense anymore in this day an age to have a debate about anything.
Jere (@jerejj)
10th September 2024, 18:25
Iirc, Ted is the one who made the reference on air.
Kribana (@krichelle)
10th September 2024, 18:27
I still don’t understand how this was not a clear penalty than what Verstappen did to Hamilton in Saudi Arabia at the final corner (brake test) and even him pushing off Hamilton at that same race.
David BR (@david-br)
10th September 2024, 18:32
@krichelle What most impressed me in Newey’s comments is how clear he was that Verstappen effectively lost it in Brazil and should have been penalized. That was the watershed moment – when the stewards and race director gave up doing their jobs and effectively green lighted Verstappen driving however he wanted. Which is how we ended up with Saudi Arabia where, yes, looked to me like a black flag race for MV. I can see why Newey pins some blame on Hamilton though they were hardly comparable.
Nick T.
11th September 2024, 3:30
Like with many other sports, we’ve seen a number of F1 superstars get away with murder compared to their rivals. Just like with Schumacher, they’ve had to write rules they didn’t think they had to make explicit to rein him in. And even then, the stewards have been way too easy on him. Other than 2021 though, it’s had no impact one way or another on the final outcome.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
11th September 2024, 22:39
Unless we count financial infractions, in which case it’s hit every one of Verstappen’s titles.
Mayrton
12th September 2024, 8:16
Can say exactly the same about Silverstone… so the stewarding might have been off a lot, at least it was consistent throughout the season
Señor Sjon
11th September 2024, 9:23
SA was weird
Hamilton up for his 3rd reprimand (and 10 places grid penalty) for dangerously driving slow on the race line during practice, but it was not given to keep him at the front.
Hamilton not keeping 10 car lengths maximum on the formation lap (more like 50), so he could let Verstappens tires cool on the grid.
Verstappen having to drop behind Ocon at the restart, losing him more places than he gained.
Hamilton also pushing Verstappen off the track at the final corner.
But hey, playing silly games with the DRS line was all Verstappens fault.
Whole 2021 felt as if Hamilton was kept into the challenge for his 8th title seeing how much went his way with stewarding.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
11th September 2024, 22:38
A consistent and unbiased stewarding of the season would likely have seen both Hamilton and Verstappen get grid penalties at least once.
Mayrton
12th September 2024, 8:29
Absolutely clear that the agenda throughout the season was to help Lewis keep up with the points tally of Verstappen. It started around Silverstone with the unprecedented in season tire compound change that hugely benefited the Mercedes rear end and without it they would have never have come back into contention in the first place and the championship would have been wrapped up midway the season.
Then they allowed the engine rule to be misused and actually be turned into an advantage for Mercedes which came to full display later in the year in Brasil, which made F1 absolutely ridiculous as Lewis could start way back and just cruise through with his rocketship. But before that, Mercedes didn’t get penalised for their flexi wings in yet another attempt to keep them hooked up at the front. And what about Toto’s lobby to stop RedBull from having super fast pit stops? Another display of the clear agenda at play. Bowling Bottas also helped out in Hungary.
It did lay very thick that the set-up was to do anything to help Mercedes because it had to and would end in a tie before we went into the final race. I have never in my life experienced such a preconceived and also clumsily transparent set-up just to keep Lewis in contention. To me it was the worst F1 season I have ever witnessed and I was ashamed to tell people I watch F1. And then people have the nerve to complain about the last race fixing… world upside down.
Doh
10th September 2024, 18:28
Hard to know who influenced who, but Adrians comments really cement a feeling I had at that time, that max was being influenced by Christian in the aftermath of Silverstone that year. His statement after was near a copy of Christians post race, including trying to say it was bad that Lewis celebrated a hard fought win.
Highly respectable of him to admit he thought Brazil could have been worth a proper penalty.
Mayrton
12th September 2024, 8:39
I agree and remember thinking it would be good for Max to leave the toxic Christian. I even communicated with Max management at that time questioning who was going to protect a young guy against these kind of antics.
But sportive wise only RedBull and Mercedes were competitive and Toto displayed (a for me totally unexpected because I thought highly of him before the ’21 season) also displayed heartbreaking unsportsmanlike behaviour ever since there was a hint of competition when ’21 kicked-off. I hold him responsible for what Newey now calls the demonisation of Max, as it was clear they started an anti-Max campaign through the media. Ever since that day I can’t stand Christian nor Toto and I feel the sport would be better off if these clowns (I have no other word, apologies but they deserve it) would leave.
SteveP
10th September 2024, 18:39
Ignoring the fact that Sky isn’t actually British owned and influenced, I will happily say that Sky in general are a collection of… (avoid censorship here) and I wouldn’t listen to their coverage if you paid me more than AN is going to get from Aston Martin.
I’d be less rich than I potentially could be, but principles are principles.
Interesting that he says of the Silverstone crash: “I was too harsh on Lewis at the time. That’s perhaps one of the things of Formula 1, you get sucked into everybody else being the enemy very easily.”
Nick T.
11th September 2024, 3:35
Doesn’t matter who they’re owned by. No one is suggesting it’s an active conspiracy. It’s essentially fans posing as neutral arbitrators of information. That and how the rules are applied selectively and with bias.
And I don’t think Liberty owns Sky anyway. Nor would it matter much. The Sky crew has been together for ages and before Liberty came around.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
11th September 2024, 22:37
Liberty controls whether Sky gets a pit pass. That’s been leverage enough for broadcasters in the past (including in the Bernie era) and it being so now tracks with other information.
Nick T.
12th September 2024, 1:07
Yeah. They were going to ban their own broadcaster from the pit lane. Makes a lot of sense. I doubt they even could due to broadcasting rights and agreements.
Craig
10th September 2024, 19:06
Red Bull led into their own demonisation, don’t blame those who call them out.
Billybob
10th September 2024, 19:22
Thank you for showing the rest of us how a classic bully thinks, acts and speaks.
A bully ALWAYS blames the victim for their bullying: ” you deserve to be bullied, it is not me bullying you, it is you that did it to yourself”
Craig
10th September 2024, 20:12
What are you rambling about? Whatever it is it has nothing to do with what I said and sounds more like a desperate attempt to dismiss.
osnola
11th September 2024, 14:37
But he really got a point there..
Mayrton
12th September 2024, 8:42
Yes, he does really got a point there..
Nick T.
12th September 2024, 1:08
How did they lead to their own demonization?
DeVante
10th September 2024, 19:22
Well, Sky is biased, but not so much as Spanish media. Or Italian. Or Dutch.
Yes, Lewis was robbed in 2021. Letting just SOME lapped cars to overtake SC was a creative move, to say the least.
Billybob
10th September 2024, 21:03
It is perfectly fine if media want to be biased if they have a contract for a certain country. NOT when you have a contract for an INTERNATIONAL audience like Sky has…. So you just confirmed what everybody is saying about the biased british reporting from Sky.
Nick T.
10th September 2024, 22:13
Precisely the point.
Robert (@rob8k)
11th September 2024, 13:09
Does the contract though state that they cannot be biased to there host country? They may have a contract for international audience but if they have no limitations on if they can be biased for British drivers then it doesn’t really matter. F1 could if they wanted to have there own international coverage with diverse team but at the end of the day, bias will always appear.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
11th September 2024, 22:36
@rob8k There are disrepute requirements, and it is arguable that being excessively nationalistic to the point of affecting the title fight in the paddock itself (as Newey suggests Sky UK did) would break that requirement.
Regular-grade nationalistic bias would not be a contractual breach between a contractor and Liberty.
Mayrton
12th September 2024, 8:43
This.
Imbrila
10th September 2024, 22:01
The thing is that Sky is responsible for an international broadcast, not for a national-only broadcast.
PD: There’s not a single media outlet out there that beats the unhealthy and overzealous bias of Spanish media. Not even close by any means. Parsecs or light-years aren’t big enough units of measurement to even merely start thinking of calculating the distance between the Spanish bias and the next one on the “leaderboard”.
Nick T.
12th September 2024, 1:09
But how many non-Spaniards watch that feed? Zero most likely.
The Dolphins
10th September 2024, 19:23
Nationalistic bias is present in any sport or coverage of said sport, not because it’s the agenda of the broadcaster but because it’s the bias of the presenter(s) — Dutch media has some heavy pro-Verstappen sentiment, German very much pro-Schumacher and pro-Vettel.
I’d argue that if you shove a competitor around at the scales after the race or threaten a group of journalists to “headbutt” the next person who asks about your incidents on track — your attitude is going to rub some people the wrong way and they won’t be your fans, regardless where those people are from.
David BR (@david-br)
10th September 2024, 19:33
Exactly, F1’s engineering talent is concentrated in a little corner of England, most of the teams crowd round there and the sport had ended up with a very British slant. But national media is always nationalistic to some extent. F1TV is better than Sky in terms of impartiality, I think, though it’s still UK dominated. The UK tabloid press simply isn’t worth anyone’s time.
SteveP
10th September 2024, 21:02
Debatable whether their stuff is worth consideration as a cat’s litter tray liner probably covers it.
FrankT
10th September 2024, 19:58
Yeah your story would have made sense if we are talking about a media that has a contract with F1 to cover the sport for their OWN country.
Sky has a contract to cover the sport INTERNATIONALLY. So the coverage should be for an INTERNATIONAL audience, and not just for the british…..
And is that your argument? When an 18year old said something wrong, therefore it is ok to demonize and bully this driver and his team for years to come?? Do I got that right, is that what you’re trying to say?
And that pushing was the least he should have done. A backmarker crashing out the leaddriver, and you think a push is than unwarranted?? sure dude, I hope you convinced yourself.
SteveP
10th September 2024, 21:08
That would be because, as Hamilton notably commented, “cash is king” – they bought the right to do the job.
That people like me think it was a spectacularly naff decision affects nothing, if more people boycotted Sky then maybe.
The video feed is probably something you consider balanced, and the radio coverage in your country might also suit your taste. Combine the two, and leave Crofty yammering to himself.
FrankT
10th September 2024, 22:34
How about Sky just respect their contract, how about Sky respect their audience and how about Sky try to be decent and fair to anybody, not only the british, how about that?
SteveP
10th September 2024, 23:51
Chances are between microscopic and none, leaning very heavily on the none side.
The Dolphins
11th September 2024, 1:14
Max was 20 when he said it,
No, you don’t have that right, that’s not what I’m trying to say, where did I say that?
You know who else would be convinced that assault is unwarranted outside of self defence? A court of law.
DaveW (@dmw)
10th September 2024, 20:26
I’m not British and I find the complaints about British bias tiresome. Sky is trying to get subscribers primarily in Britain so they pump up the home heroes. It’s the same when I watch Indy here and they always have special love for US drivers and I think purposefuly mangle foreign names. OK maybe that’s not on purpose. I just tune it out or discount it. I don’t see why it’s such a crisis. Sky is not rule bound to be disinterested or to appear that way. They violate no norm of morality by being partial to UK drivers. This is not an international tribunal it’s Martin Brundle talking about wallpaper and Croft cracking horrible dad jokes. And Karun doing his thing.
MichaelN
10th September 2024, 20:34
The English broadcast was, for a time, used on F1’s online channels. That’s where it rubbed people the wrong way. Folks the world over had to hear that stuff if they wanted to catch up with F1. And a lot of the criticism came from the fact that they knew this too, but rather than seeing it as responsibility to be a bit more neutral, they instead doubled down on their nationalistic bias as though the rest of the world just needed to hear a bit more of it to be convinced.
F1 then started F1TV, but unfortunately failed to make it a truly diverse group of people, instead resorting to ‘different English people’ instead. Even their lead commentator has since become an awkward imitation of the much-maligned Croft.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
11th September 2024, 22:34
MichaelN, that’s probably because it switched from taking the Sky UK feed verbatim to taking the Channel 4 (also UK) feed verbatim. If F1TV wants an international feed, it will have to hire it itself, and accept this will cost them more money than the current arrangements.
mrt
10th September 2024, 21:07
Again for anybody who isn’t informed, like you. Sky has a contract to do reporting for an INTERNATIONAL audience, not just for the british. So thank you for xonfirming what everybody allready knows, the bias of Sky.
DaveW (@dmw)
10th September 2024, 23:26
Why don’t you sue them on the CONTRACT for breach of the agreement. Or help us identify the clause they have broken. You will appear in legal case books for generations when you prevail.
Nick T.
11th September 2024, 3:43
Settle down. The complaints maybe tiresome, but it, along with the stewarding, wouldn’t need discussing if so many vehemently denied any bias existed in either area. We could accept it’s there and move on. BTW, in my personal case, I’m referring not just to Sky, but the coverage of leading English speaking F1 media outlets, which is 99% Brit authored.
James Kelly
11th September 2024, 10:26
Sky don’t have any such contract.
Sky bought the UK & Ireland (and subsequently Italy/Germany/Austria et al) rights. They pay an astronomical amount of money for those rights, more than any other broadcaster.
Their commentary is therefore directed at the UK audience, who pay circa £40-£120 per month to access Sky’s service.
International broadcasters, who can’t be bothered to send their own teams to races, choose to pay Sky for that commentary, in the same way they previously chose to pay the BBC for its commentary up to 1996 (and 2009-2015), ITV (1997 – 2008) and in some cases Channel 4 (2016 onwards).
Sky are no different to the BBC and ITV before them, many of the team have been with those other broadcasters previously. The Hamilton love-in by ITV in 2008 was at crazy levels.
None of the above makes any difference to the fact that Hamilton was robbed of the World Championship in Abu Dhabi 2021 – it doesn’t take Sky, or anyone else, to tell you that.
notagrumpyfan
11th September 2024, 11:37
I wouldn’t call it ‘robbed’; he simply failed to defend against Verstappen on the last lap.
As for ‘safety car in this lap’, that has been investigated extensively and confirmed as 100% legal.
The rules were ambiguous (stating ‘plus one lap’ as wel as ‘ the Race Director decides’) and thus ‘nothing to see here’ other some disappointed/frustrated fans who wanted the ambiguity fall in their favour (which would’ve created other disappointed/frustrated fans).
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
11th September 2024, 22:31
Correction: Lewis failed to defeat the FIA who decided (and later admitted) to break its own regulations in Max Verstappen’s favour.
The regulation was investigated extensively and found to have been broken (unsurprisingly, since no reasonable reading of the regulations allowed the interpretation Michael Masi chose that day – he had to choose one of the two options available, even if both would likely have resulted in Lewis Hamilton winning the 2021 championship, even if the FIA didn’t want that to happen). Kindly refrain from lying about this.
Doh
12th September 2024, 6:02
Nah he was robbed
notagrumpyfan
12th September 2024, 15:39
That’s incorrect!
The investigation found that Masi made NO mistake in pitting the safety car early; it was explicitly his prerogative as RD. The mistake that you make is that you use your own reasonable reading of the rules over the literal one the investigators used (which allowed him to do it). But officially the investigation clearly concluded that regarding ‘safety car in this’ lap Masi was allowed to do this.
The investigation however found that Masi did make a mistake though in not allowing all cars to unlap themselves. That’s the (only) bit where it concluded that Masi broke the rules. This incorrect decision only impacted Sainz (and another drive). But Sainz did not (on time) protest about that, and any Steward decision would not have affected the race outcome at the front.
You might think it is ‘lying’, but in fact it is just an uncomfortable truth if you understand the facts. Happy to bet all I have on this.
KatrinaM
10th September 2024, 21:22
I respect Newey’s opinion, and agree that Sky can be nationalistic (sometimes annoyingly), but I think he’s a bit off when it comes to the reaction to Abu Dhabi 2021. I’m no Hamilton fan, I’m not British (nor living in the UK), and don’t particularly hate Verstappen. Everyone I know thought that Abu Dhabi was a farce, and that Hamilton was robbed. Pundits from other countries thought Hamilton was robbed. The only ones who didn’t were Red Bull (thought I’d wager….), Verstappen fans, and, I’d imagine, a whole lot of Dutch people. Sky was actually less vocal about the whole thing that I’d have expected. But we can’t expect them to NOT to comment on what is overwhelmingly seen as a robbery, just because of their nationality. T
Nick T.
11th September 2024, 3:49
Lewis got partially robbed in that race (I say partially because he could have pitted too and Max would have been equally helpless had they restarted the race). The bothersome / biased aspect of the coverage is that people like Kravitz always fail to point out all the bad luck Max had and good luck Lewis had. They make it sound like Max only won due solely to AD and nothing else.
And, I say this as one who decidedly dislikes most thinge about Max and one who hopes to see Lewis stay in the sport for many years to come.
SteveP
11th September 2024, 7:27
Nope. That’s the scenario where Wheatley bleats at Masi insisting that “rules are rules” and “you have to unlap ALL cars before bringing in the safety car” – then the race restarts with no legal overtaking before the start/finish line, the race is ended then and there and Max crosses the line first.
The legal, by the rules, way to end the race involves unlapping all cars and bringing the safety car in on the next lap (which was actually the last lap) cars run up to racing speed to cross the line and the guy with track position #1 has won.
Masi didn’t do that, he doesn’t have the job anymore.
osnola
11th September 2024, 14:42
repeat notgrumpyfan
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
11th September 2024, 22:24
osnola, your quotation is false. The rules offered exactly two options (which is what “the Race Director decides” meant in any reasonable reading of the regulations where that decision was cited). Michael Masi selected neither, but made up a third interpretation that, quite aside from breaking the title fight, was dangerous for the lapped cars caught in the middle with conflicting instructions.
I do not ask you to like the regulations, simply to be truthful about them.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
11th September 2024, 7:42
Indeed, I also get annoyed by the lack of acknowledgement that there was a big luck difference between the 2 in the championship, and in some cases there were also rules that were broken in hamilton’s favour, such as cutting the track 29 times in bahrain, then verstappen does it once while overtaking and he has to give back the position, just unbalanced even gaining 1 tenth per lap with it.
Tunde
11th September 2024, 11:20
As for Bahrain, you all keep ignoring the director’s directive about that particular chicane and the pressure Horner or red bull applied to Masi to enforce monitoring the chicane halfway through the GP. I don’t seem to understand that…
If they had read the notes earlier, they would have known that that area of the track is not monitored and as such, no track limit. During the race, Red bull kept shouting about Hamilton breaking track limit there and as a chicken Masi is, he was pressed to start monitoring the chicane and that was around the time Verstappen threatened to start going off. But now, red bull has forced monitoring of the track limit. I don’t get how this is Lewis’s fault. Tell me, when monitoring began, did Lewis break track limit anymore? You and I know what the answer is…
In my view, it was all on Red bull what happened in Bahrain with respect to track limit violation..
osnola
11th September 2024, 14:45
driving outside the track is ignoring the track limit and thus illegal.
Lewis did it 24 times during one race.. The moment verstappen did it one time i became a problem. Interesting how you turned the reality..
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
11th September 2024, 22:21
osnola, Verstappen went off-track quite a lot of times during the season, several of which were independently flagged and (wrongly) ignored. Bahrain was the FIA’s fault, because it should have been monitoring the whole track all along for infringements, not cherry-picking the ones it felt like covering (and then only covering those selectively, from what I could see).
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
11th September 2024, 22:29
Only if you acknowledge that Max had the only relevant piece of good luck – a FIA that was willing to cheat in his favour – something it did three times: once on the day, once in refusing to correct its wilful misconduct when challenged during the protest window, and a third time when the FIA declined to reverse its wrongdoing despite admitting to it in a later review, when it could pretend it was too late to change it (a rule that legally cannot be applied when the reason for the situation is the misconduct of the body that imposed the rule in the first place).
Nick T.
12th September 2024, 1:38
And what about all the equally questionable things Lewis got away with that season? And this wasn’t even Max getting away with something. It was a highly questionable move by the race director to aid the show rather than aid Max. That much is clear.
Mayrton
12th September 2024, 8:50
A whole season preceded that last race. People who stubbornly try to insist on discussing only the last race in isolation only confirm how weird it was that Lewis and Max went into that race with the same point total at all. Yes, that last race was not judged in Lewis’ favor, but a lot of races before it were heavily judged against Max.
kcrossle (@kcrossle)
10th September 2024, 21:52
The constant complaints – real or not – about British media or websites (such as this one) just make me want to yell “then don’t watch / read it then!”.
Greetings from the USA where I’m delighted with the coverage we get from those British.
osnola
11th September 2024, 14:46
Fot those who are unable to choose another channel its the international channel, thus sky, only.
Roy Beedrill
12th September 2024, 7:59
If those complaints bothers you so much, to the point you want to yell, then don’t read them. ;-)
Addme (@dontme)
10th September 2024, 21:59
Not sure about the coverage, but generally a lot of people have no problem being vocal about who they like and especially who they dislike without encouragement.
I did heard a lot of stupid things about Hamilton from friends who suddenly were racing experts after 1 season of watching max Verstappen. To the point where I just didn’t talk about F1 anymore. I also vividly remember Toto and Christian doing their part in complaining about the other one. Not to say Newey is wrong, but it was a mess from a lot of angles.
Mayrton
12th September 2024, 8:52
It sure was. No doubt about that. I hope we never ever see a repeat of the 2021 season. It was an utter disgrace from many many angles.
Neil (@neilosjames)
10th September 2024, 22:21
I find the whole ‘complain about the British media’ thing quite boring and lazy, as it’s no different to other countries’ media in terms of national bias. That, and people seem to use the accusation as a replacement for an actual argument in debates…
Something that may not be immediately obvious is that Sky’s international audience isn’t where their money comes from. The big money comes from their UK subscribers, so of course they’re going to be the main priority (probably the only priority) when it comes to setting the tone of their coverage. If their research says most of their UK audience would prefer them to big up the British drivers, that’s what they’ll do. If the British F1 public suddenly swapped preferences with the Dutch F1 public, Sky would follow suit.
It’s a shame for fans who receive the coverage elsewhere in the world, but at least take solace from the fact that lots of British people are also fans of drivers other than Hamilton or Norris. It’s as bad for them as it is for you :)
Mayrton
12th September 2024, 8:54
Liberty is responsible for who gets to broadcast internationally. Fine if Sky shows their antics on a national level, but they do it internationally. It clearly shows Liberty doesn’t care about the sport nor its integrity. They just want revenue.
FrankT
10th September 2024, 22:37
Sky has a contract to cover the sport INTERNATIONALLY. So the coverage should be for an INTERNATIONAL audience, and not just for the british. SO fair towards ANYONE.
If they would have a contract for just Britain, fine! Go put your bias out there, but NOT when you pretend to bve neutral.
Tunde
11th September 2024, 11:26
Where is the INTERNATIONAL contract? Others who couldn’t buy for their region decided to either lease or get from Sky. You then have to keep up with what Sky produces for its British audience who pay most of the money or go get your own TV rights directly from Liberty Media… Simple as that!
I don’t like most of their commentary too but that is what I have to get access to F1 from the region I come from
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
11th September 2024, 22:18
The point is that Sky UK should remember it is also broadcasting to people like you when it does its broadcasts. After all, someone’s paying Sky for you to have that broadcast.
Mayrton
12th September 2024, 8:55
This! Therefore we should address Liberty with the question when they are going to start caring for he sport or its integrity and go beyond caring for the revenue it generates.
Jogo
10th September 2024, 22:42
From what I saw the whole world (except Sky influenced UK and former english speaking colonies) was genuinely happy with the outcome of the last Abu Dhabi lap. If you feed people with propaganda and then you have this moment of truth they show you middle finger and laugh out hard even if you’re justifiably indignant.
SteveP
10th September 2024, 23:59
You have a small world, and the real one is different. In the real one, Masi lost his job for a good reason.
Mayrton
12th September 2024, 9:01
Don’t kid yourself. Masi went out in the aftermath. That takes nothing away from the whole world cheering about the outcome of the season (not necessarily the stewarding of that last race). We’ve all seen how the season unfolded. We all wanted the same, except for people the UK. It was a shameful season and I hope we never ever repeat it.
MichaelN
11th September 2024, 0:11
The outcome was good in the context of the whole season. A season full of shambolic decisions, failures to issue proper penalties, deliberate contact, and sleazy politicking. A ‘favourite’ among many face-palm worthy events has to be that Mercedes actually managed to complain so much about their own poor pitstops that they got their friends at the FIA to institute minimum times for certain pitstop actions before a car could be released. “Das beste oder change the rules”, I guess.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
11th September 2024, 8:26
Ridiculous comment. You don’t need to be British or biased to appreciate the whole thing was handled very badly. Lewis was definitely unfairly disadvantaged. And I have never been his biggest fan.
Mayrton
12th September 2024, 8:58
It is so true that this happened everywhere in the world except the UK. The footage from all over the world spoke louder than anything.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
11th September 2024, 1:02
Wonder what made Newey change his mind about HAM at Silverstone? Could it be all the times since then when VER has been on the inside and driven straight through the corner?
DaveW (@dmw)
11th September 2024, 2:45
I’m going with being a mature person and admitting when you are wrong even when the error was in defense if your “side” It’s a rare sight on earth and would stop a lot of violence and wars and other ills.
SteveP
11th September 2024, 7:11
I’m going with the idea that he has reviewed video footage while looking to see how the car behaves on track, and he’s noted that Max was out of order many times in the season, with Silverstone just being an example of where he came off worst.
Each driver was fast in a different portion of the circuit, and without Max going for that aggressive cut in a fraction too soon, they would have probably been swapping places for many laps afterward. Who would have ultimately triumphed in the erosion of energy could form a long debate.
That’s what he will have seen, once he has reviewed in a situation where CH and HM aren’t providing pressure to take the view that “our boy is totally innocent”
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
11th September 2024, 7:50
Damn, that would’ve been interesting to see, shame they didn’t let it happen.
sam
11th September 2024, 4:02
Is there Anything people don’t complain about?
Enjoy the race.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
11th September 2024, 9:05
+ 1
Roy Beedrill
12th September 2024, 8:08
Nowadays racing became such a thing, that it’s now much more interesting to argue with random anonymous people on the internet, follow a sexual harassment drama inside of it or watch certain Netflix reality show about it.
Steven Williamson
11th September 2024, 5:12
What planet is Newey living on??? SkyF1 OVERTLY puts down Hamilton at every opportunity, and constantly talks up Max as the greatest driver ever!
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
11th September 2024, 22:15
I think he was referring primarily to 2021, when Sky was emphatically not happy with Verstappen and also supporting Hamilton as Britain’s best and realistic chance of a world title.
Nick T.
12th September 2024, 1:40
What Sky feed are you getting? One from a parallel universe?
Tristan
11th September 2024, 5:17
How can he possibly blame the media when Red Bull were the ones stoking them?
FrankT
11th September 2024, 18:21
Sure buddy, show the world how nasty you are!
Illusive (@illusive)
11th September 2024, 7:50
I am glad Newey brought this up. As a international audience from India I felt the same way and it feels similar even with F1 TV pro which is even more bizzare. I do like Brundle and Crofty and I think they are iconic commentators and I have somewhat made myself accept their level of bias but guys like Will Buxton, Ted can be a lot partisan.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
11th September 2024, 8:22
This is partly why I don’t watch Sky F1 coverage in the U.K. Firstly I don’t feel I want to pay for it and secondly, the presenters on Channel 4 are much better and less biased.
Broderick Harper (@banbrorace)
11th September 2024, 14:52
Who’s more biased compared to the Channel 4 ones? Please name them.
I’m not certain that Coulthard who used to go on about Vettel as if he was the best ever and not even for debate – qualifies as been less biased than Sky.
Incidentally, I like Coulthard – the point is we can all point the finger of bias when it suits us.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
11th September 2024, 22:12
@banbrorace From what I’ve seen of them, most of the people with significant speaking roles at Sky – including some that make obvious efforts to mitigate the bias.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
11th September 2024, 22:13
(That said, Steve Jones is definitely more biased than David Coulthard, if you want to know about bias at Channel 4. At least he’s upfront about it).
José Lopes da Silva
11th September 2024, 9:18
The reason I don’t care much about the British F1 media bias is because I’ve started, in my youth, by learning the huge bias of the Brazilian F1 media. In the end, the best media comes from a country with no issues at stake, like the Portuguese media.
Anyway, the number of comments on this article speaks for itself.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
11th September 2024, 9:22
Just waiting for a friend here to call Mr. Newey xenophobic as he has always labeled me whenever I called out British journalists’ bias.
Carl Parker (@mysticarl)
11th September 2024, 9:54
I think Mr. Newey understands that any broadcaster within a nation is likely to be biased towards that nation to some degree, regardless of if it’s the British media or the Spanish, Italian, etc.
If the BBC had the F1 you’d expect something slightly more balanced but you’re not telling me you think the Spanish, Italian, German, etc. national media coverage is any more ‘balanced’ than the British media? Just learn to form a balanced opinion based on all available data. If brits had to ‘call out’ foreign media bias against us every time it happened we’d be here typing all year!
FrankT
11th September 2024, 10:54
YEah, good story but Sky is covering the sport for an INTERNATIONAL audience, and not for only the British. So no, the reporting should be fair and neutral to anybody.
Tunde
11th September 2024, 11:31
Stop mentioning “international” until you provide a proof of that…
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
11th September 2024, 22:11
Proof: Sky provides coverage in Germany, Italy and New Zealand as well. In NZ’s case, it takes the UK broadcast wholesale. Germany and Italy have their own teams but also have access to the UK crews as and when it helps them, so some of the UK nationalism runs the risk of crossing there too. Until 2023 Sky UK was also the F1TV feed (before it switched to Channel 4’s commentary team – also British, but much less biased apart from Steve Jones, who at least is very clear in who he’s supporting that week. Alas, Channel 4 only does highlights for the UK audience as the Sky UK deal precludes access to F1TV…)
For me, it’s Sky’s clout as an aggregated broadcaster in all 4 markets, plus its will to use that clout to lobby for changes to F1 and apparent vulnerability to pressure from the FIA/Liberty, that’s the bigger issue. Some of its biases (it’s also very pro-Verstappen since 2022) appear to stem from that source.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
11th September 2024, 11:39
@mysticarl
I’ve been following Italian coverage since the ’90s and Spanish coverage since Fernando Alonso’s first world championships. It’s true that both the Italian and Spanish broadcasters have some bias towards Ferrari and Fernando, respectively. However, the quality of their analysis and overall presentation remains top-notch.
In Movistar F1, you have Pedro De La Rosa, Toni Cuquerella (a former F1 engineer), and Antonio Lobato anchoring the coverage. Whenever Ferrari is discussed, Marc Gené is often brought in to offer insight.
On the Italian side, Carlo Vanzini, despite the traditional Ferrari bias, he hasn’t shied away from criticizing the team. In fact, Vanzini has always been at odds with Binotto following Ferrari’s strategic blunders. Alongside him, figures like Jacques Villeneuve and Marc Gené contribute to their coverage. Not to mention, the occasions when Giorgio Piola is called to offer his technical analysis.
It’s normal for commentators to have a leaning in any sport, though I’ve never seen anything quite like for example Andrew Benson’s articles at the BBC, which often read more like biased opinion pieces and wishful thinking than objective reporting. Sky, on the other hand, as FrankT pointed out, are broadcasting to an international audience, yet they struggle to provide a balanced opinion.
Mayrton
12th September 2024, 9:04
Hahaha
Mog
11th September 2024, 10:59
Interesting that Newey himself, a man who understands motorsport very well, thought SLH caused the Silverstone collision as a calculated move. I’ve thought this myself, and haven’t actually yet arrived at the same later conclusion he did.
JMDan (@danmar)
11th September 2024, 13:17
These same accusations have been made of the US for decades yet, as a Canadian, I’ve often found that the Brits are much worse at this than the Americans.
Mayrton
12th September 2024, 9:07
The British media is unparalleled when it comes to creating a toxic environment. They are totally out of control. But I guess you only can see this clearly if you have a reference point, which you do not have when living in the UK. But to those: there are places in the world where the media isn’t that over the top. They are still reckless baboons who trade their social responsibility for money and clicks without remorse, but they are milder than in the UK.
W (@vishnusxdx)
11th September 2024, 14:20
Hogwash. Sky F1 are not great broadcasters, most of the pundits are insufferable, but you can never make this what an entire country represents. There are plenty of GOOD reporters and TV commentators (belgian Gaetan Vingeron f.e.) but there are some who are not just bad at reporting, but just bad at not-pushing-their-biased-opinion. It’s them who should get stick and be called out. Not “the british media”.
Have you SEEN dutch F1 broadcasts in 2021? They were villifying Hamilton in the worst way I have ever seen. It’s not “british” media, it’s bad journalism.
W (@vishnusxdx)
11th September 2024, 14:22
Newey may be the most brilliant technical mind of his generation. This oneliner just proves he was way too deep in Red Bull’s (Horner’s and Marko’s) echochamber.
Broderick Harper (@banbrorace)
11th September 2024, 14:47
Sky are fine at what they do and of course as a British broadcaster will prefer it if ‘one of their own’ win.
However, I watch them all the time and do not think they show any bias – but rather have a very black and white / soundbite view on a lot of things.
But even that has toned down, not least because they have a lot of non-British experts.
They’ve been in total awe of Max for the past three seasons, to such a degree they’ve hyped him up than is warranted as frankly we’d expected any of the todays’s drivers from the other top teams to have also have won the last two WDC if they’d been un that car.
I also don’t think anyone saying Hamilton was “robbed” in 2021 is incorrect. Because quite simply he was. Doesn’t mean that you’re a Hamilton sycophant if you say this.
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
11th September 2024, 15:45
The British broadcaster been more slanted towards the British drivers isn’t really anything new, I mean just go back & look at ITV’s coverage in 2008 especially to see examples (They literally sat outside Hamilton’s garage for pre race coverage at basically every race).
The thing that I feel is different with Sky & the thing that turned me off there coverage (I now use a VPN to get F1TV) is that Sky’s coverage is more of a tabloid style where they will come up with talking points, push agenda’s & insert there own opinions & wants as facts rather than simply reporting on whats is going on.
Far too often it feels like Sky are trying to influence the sport & create the stories rather than simply report on it & that has gotten worse over time.
Neil (@neilosjames)
11th September 2024, 18:22
I feel the same way about that – they’re very much in tune with Liberty and seem to unnaturally push opinions that F1 itself would like viewers to agree with. Often it seems entirely at odds with the personal views the presenters might have aired previously, prior to being informed of the ‘correct’ opinion to adopt.
Boomerang
11th September 2024, 20:43
Thank you Mr. Newey for helping us all realize how blind we are. Max was always fair and kind and we just were stupid to see it. Thank you, thank you thank you, thank you. I always detest people who cannot handle a single wife but do other jobs in a way described as geniuses. I see them as poor people.
Nick T.
12th September 2024, 1:44
God, what a dumb comment. He didn’t say anything of the sort. You’re reacting to a headline. Not his words.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
11th September 2024, 21:53
Wait a minute, Verstappen had concussion after Britain and the FIA didn’t concussion-test him at Hungary? Despite the team knowing the concussion had been sustained?
For anyone keeping count, we’re now up to 3 undeniable FIA infractions that were involved in getting Max Verstappen his first title: the financial irregularities that from other evidence were larger than the FIA admitted and did not receive a meaningful sporting penalty (baking in an advantage which compounds until 2026), the breach of regulations Michael Masi made regarding the Safety Car policy in Abu Dhabi, and now the failure to do return-to-competition concussion testing.
This podcast may have been intended to make Max’s title chase look better, but it’s had the opposite effect on me.
Mayrton
12th September 2024, 9:21
Ok, I will bite: Wait a minute.. are we talking about the 2021 season in which the FIA allowed Pirelli to introduce a new tire in-season that hugely benefited the rear-end of the Mercedes car, bringing them back in contention of a season that would have been lost for them if they didn’t get the tire? The same season they were allowed by FIA to misuse the engine regulation and rocket their way from the back of the grid to the front? The season in which the FIA looked the other way when Mercedes had their Flexi-wings? The season in which Mercedes had poor pit stops and RedBull stellar ones and they got the FIA to introduce a minimum required pit stop time? That season? The same season in which Lewis was allowed by the FIA to get 25 points out of a race in which he shoved his main competitor for the title off the track? That are on the top of my head already 5 undeniable FIA infractions.
PB
12th September 2024, 17:45
We could see with our own eyes that the safety car rules were broken in the final laps in a way that reversed the result.
We didn’t need sky demonisation to conclude it was stolen.
Verstappen pitted ceding position for the benefit of fresh tyres, Hamilton did not for the benefit of position ceding tyre state.
Either Verstappen had to make up his position and pass on fresher tyres or it was over.
Instead Masi, under Red Bull radio influence, did not follow protocol which was allow complete lap to unlap all lapped cars and finish under red flag but instead broke the rules, removed the intervening cars materially affecting Verstappen’s position and unfairly handing him both forms of advantage, thereby stealing the title.
some racing fan
13th September 2024, 4:35
On the inverse side, Nigel Mansell was lionized by the British media as a perfect driver, even though he was far from it. He had that classic English inferiority complex- he only ever seemed to be really fantastic at any round in England- the British GP or otherwise. Anywhere else, he was either good or very good. In ‘86- he wasn’t as quick as Piquet- even though he scored more points- and he threw the championship away at Brazil when he clashed with Senna, and in Mexico- when he actually forgot to engage first gear. Then in ‘87, where he was probably quicker than Piquet because of the latter’s crash at Imola- he clashed with Senna and took himself and Senna off at Spa, and he did have his share of bad luck- like at Hungary and Adelaide the year before, and he had that fabulous drive- at- guess where- Silverstone. So yes. The British media is definitely nationalistically biased. Maybe not the specialist corps- like Keith- but the general media.