After the season finale in Abu Dhabi, the TV direction of Formula 1 is again under criticism.
The fact that decisive overtaking manoeuvres were not shown on the last lap infuriates Sergio Perez. For him, the TV directors are “not doing a good job”, further Carlos Sainz has repeatedly complained in the past that he’s not being shown in the coverage enough.
These two drivers were the ones who have been affected again in Abu Dhabi. Perez overtook Lando Norris on the last lap, which enabled him to catch the British driver in the fight for tenth place in the overall standings. Sainz also made a decisive manoeuvre on the final lap, snatching sixth place from Pierre Gasly.
However, neither of these moments were shown because race winner Lewis Hamilton drove his last lap. For Perez, the fight in midfield is clearly more spectacular than at the front.
“It’s fantastic. The problem is they don’t show it on TV,” he says. “The TV directors aren’t doing a good job,
“Yet it’s exactly the kind of thing he’d want to see as a fan.”
Sainz feels similar, but he is no longer surprised saying “I’ve been disappointed before,”
“I won’t say much about it, but everyone has been talking about the fight for sixth place all weekend beforehand – and then it’s all about the final lap. It was one of the last corners – and yet they don’t show it on TV,” clearly annoyed.
“Of course it’s very strange that everyone was hyping up this fight for sixth place, but in the end no one showed it on TV,” the McLaren driver wonders.
Haas team boss Günther Steiner shares this view. He would wish that the TV direction would pay more attention to the midfield.
“Not much happens at the top anyway, and you have to show the spectators the big picture,” he says. “It would be nice if they showed more of our perspective.” concludes the Haas team boss.
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