F1 driver Carlos Sainz has expressed frustration after camera crews turned lenses away from on-track action and towards drivers’ glamorous girlfriends.
His comments come after action at the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday, with the Williams driver claiming that viewers missed some of the race’s key moments including some of his and his fellow drivers’ daring overtakes.
Sainz’s own model girlfriend, Rebecca Donaldson, was spotted posing alongside rival Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc’s girlfriend, Alexandra Saint Mleux, prior to both drivers battling it out on the track.
During coverage the cameras also picked out Margarida Corceiro, Lando Norris’s girlfriend, while Sainz’s car whizzed past Lance Stroll, Gabriel Bortoleto, Franco Colapinto, Yuki Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar to finish 10th from an 18th place starting spot.
The 31-year-old Spanish driver fears F1’s fascination with wives and girlfriends could result in fans missing out on the real action on the race track.
Speaking to Spanish radio station El Partidazo de COPE, Sainz said: ‘It’s becoming a bit of a trend, which must have worked for them at one time, when people found it interesting to see our girlfriends, to see famous people on television, the reactions.
‘I understand that if there is an overtake, a very tense moment in the race, it is understandable that the production team might want to show a reaction shot, if they have seen that this has worked in the past, but only if the competition is respected and you are always showing the important moments of the race.’
He also addressed that the F1 coverage failed to show the dramatic contest between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, with the latter making a late burst to try and finish ahead of his rival.
Sainz added: ‘Last weekend, they didn’t show any of the four or five overtakes I did at the end, nor did they show Fernando’s pursuit of Lewis, they missed a lot of things. The other [showing the off-track things] is fine, but don’t lose sight of the main thing. For me, they go overboard a little by showing the celebrities and girlfriends.’
Despite initially finishing a fraction ahead of Alonso, Hamilton was penalised with a 5-second deduction demoting him to eighth place, one place below his opponent, after has brakes began to fail on the final few laps.
In response to what he saw as Hamilton’s dangerous behaviour, Alonso made an expletive filled rant to his radio team.
In it he said: ‘Is it safe to drive with no brakes? It should be f****** P7, you cannot drive like you are alone on track.”
Alonso, who competes for Aston Martin, has also come out in recent days to criticise F1’s coverage.
In a post on social media after the Singapore Grand Prix the driver wrote that F1 should ‘fine-tune the main coverage and bring all the on-track excitement to the fans.’
Fans have also noticed the coverage’s shift to focus more on the reactions to the action by partners, celebrities and family members of drivers.
Some have taken to X to complain that cut aways to onlooking girlfriends stood with pit crews means that important moments of action are being diluted.
One fan even shared footage shared on Sky’s live feed showing girlfriends looking on as their partners raced.
Sky Sports, which has the broadcast rights for the F1 in the UK, take race footage from F1’s world feed often meaning it has little control over decisions about what to show.
However the broadcaster does offer on-board cameras from which viewers can watch live action without interruption.
