Martin Brundle does not believe the Sky F1 coverage is leant towards the British drivers, with colleague Karun Chandhok also now denying any bias to his work.
Sky F1 has held the live broadcasting rights for the UK and Ireland since 2012, with their coverage also simulcasted in other key markets such as the United States. But, there has been finger-pointing from Max Verstappen and Adrian Newey towards the British F1 press, questioning the neutrality of their coverage.
Karun Chandhok can’t please Hamilton, Verstappen and Norris fans
It was during a recent appearance on the High Performance Podcast that Adrian Newey, Red Bull’s former F1 design guru who is heading for Aston Martin – claimed there has been a “demonisation” of Verstappen and fellow multi-time World Champion with Red Bull Sebastian Vettel, influenced by the “British media”.
He would single out Sky F1’s coverage as “nationalistic” despite their audience being “truly international”.
When presented with Newey’s claims, Verstappen confirmed that “I basically agree 100 per cent, yes”, while criticism of his driving in combat with Lando Norris in Mexico, where he picked up 20 seconds worth of time penalties, prompted Verstappen to claim that he “has the wrong passport for this paddock”.
He followed that up with a cheeky quip towards the British press after pulling off a sensational victory drive in Brazil, going from P17 on the grid to P1 by 19.5 seconds over Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, effectively securing his fourth World title.
“I have a quick question here,” Verstappen said to the Brazilian press as the post-race press conference ended.
“I mean, I appreciate all of you being here, but I don’t see any British press.
“Did they have to run to the airport — or they don’t know where the press conference is?”
Sky F1 co-commentator and pundit Martin Brundle, during the Sky F1 podcast, expressed his belief that their coverage is “pretty balanced” amid the criticism of the British press, with his Sky F1 colleague Chandhok also speaking out and insisting he is “not biased”.
“My Instagram is full of all the people telling me I’m biased,” Chandhok told GPBlog.
“Unfortunately, in the job that we do when you’re facing the public, you have the Lewis fans who think you’re biased against Lewis. You have the Max fans who think you’re biased against Max. You have the Lando fans saying, why are you so biased against Lando?
“It’s weird right – people are sometimes so in love with their favourite driver that objectivity goes out the window. I understand their passion – but it’s our job to be objective.
“And in the end, I don’t care. I really don’t pay attention to the comments because it can consume you if you do. And most importantly – I know in my conscience that I’m not biased.
“I speak my opinion. If I think someone has done a great job, I say they’ve done a great job. If I think somebody has made a mistake or somebody deserves to be criticised, then I will do that. You learn very quickly in this sport that you can’t keep everybody happy. That’s okay, you have to learn to be okay with it.
“I think people only focus on the negative. The ones who say you are biased… they only focus on the one thing you have said that maybe they don’t like.
“I might have said 2000 amazing things about Max or 2000 amazing things about Lewis, Lando or whoever. But if you say one bad thing about any of these drivers, their fans just focus on that. That’s the video that gets posted everywhere.”