Claims Suggesting Sky Sports' British Bias Dismissed By Brundle
F1Wednesday, 13 November 2024 at 22:00
Martin Brundle, a commentator and former F1 driver, dismissed the notion that Sky Sports's broadcast is biased against non-British drivers.
Sky Sports is one of F1's official broadcasters from the United Kingdom. Broadcasting in the English language naturally makes Sky Sports accessible to a huge audience, and official F1TV offers Sky Sports commentary for the race as an option for all subscribers.
The problem is that many F1 fans feel that being British also makes the commentary from Sky Sports biased. F1's legendary car designer Adrian Newey started the outrage this year when he said he felt like Sky Sports' coverage was quite "nationalistic."
Newey also suggested that Max Verstappen from Red Bull Racing has been demonized by the British media. The Dutchman himself also spoke out this year saying he could feel that Biritsh media naturally favors their own drivers.
The Dutchman suggested he could feel this, especially after controversial incidents with British drivers like Lewis Hamilton or Lando Norris.
Martin Brundle from Sky Sports, however, disagrees. Speaking on the latest episode of the Sky F1 podcast, the former F1 driver said he doesn't think Sky Sports tends to focus on the British drivers.
No, I don't think we do. I'm a Brit. I'm a former British F1 driver, and we're broadcasting primarily to a British broadcaster. Others take our feed all the way around the world."
"When I watch the Olympics or the World Cup or the European Cup, obviously, your commentators are fervently pro whichever country they're from. I don't think we do that. I like to think we're pretty balanced. I really do."
Most recently that Martin Brundle spoke out against Verstappen was after the Dutchman's battle with Norris at the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix, which he felt was definitely over the line.
On the other hand, Brundle has also praised Verstappen countless times, most recently after the 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix, which the triple World Champion won after starting from P17. The 65-year-old added:
"We get flack from pretty much everybody, because what I have learned in these 27, 28 years is that you can say 1,000 positive things about somebody and one negative will get back to them and their fans get onto it, or their family and friends tell them."
"I get a few cool, sideways glances sometimes. Nobody ever comes up to you and says, 'Thank you very much for what you said about us.'"
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