Alonso and Sainz renew criticism of F1’s TV coverage

Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz have once again criticised Formula 1’s television coverage, saying the sport’s broadcast priorities can sometimes misrepresent events on track.

Both Spaniards had voiced frustration after the Singapore GP, Alonso over how F1 edits and airs radio messages, and Sainz over what he saw as misplaced focus from the world feed

. In Austin, Alonso said the issue lies in how selectively chosen team-radio clips are presented. “Unnecessary sometimes, poorly broadcasted and chosen by the one choosing which radios to broadcast,” said the Aston Martin driver.

 “Misunderstood 99.9% of the time because they are private conversations with your engineer or your team that maybe you went through on Sunday morning in the strategy meeting, you know?”

He added that overreliance on radio drama can expose a lack of real on-track excitement. “Sometimes when the radio broadcast is the protagonist of the race, that also is very sad, that the race was so poor in terms of entertainment, so yeah, that’s something we need to improve all as a group in the sport.”

Sainz, meanwhile, said his own comments from Singapore - in which he complained about cameras showing drivers’ partners instead of mid-field racing - had been “exaggerated” in the aftermath.

“My criticism was exaggerated due to the way it was portrayed,” the Williams driver said. “I only pointed out that they didn’t show enough overtaking and on-track action, nothing personal. There are races where the coverage is excellent, and this was simply an exception.”

He added that Singapore’s broadcast missed “too much on-track action” at a circuit where overtaking is already rare. “That’s not meant to be a criticism of them or the way they do their job, it’s just Singapore as a race,” Sainz said.

Clarifying his “girlfriends” remark, Sainz continued: “Looking back, they weren’t shown too much. They were just very focused on that moment like there was going to be an accident or an overtake, when there wasn’t. I hope they didn’t take it too personally. It was just simple criticism, Singapore wasn’t good enough.”