Sky Sports Formula 1 pundit Martin Brundle has hit back at the British media bias accusations from Red Bull driver Max Verstappen and design guru Adrian Newey.
Speaking on the High Performance podcast, Newey claimed Sky Sports’ F1 coverage vilified Verstappen after the 2021 Abu Dhabi showdown, in which he won his first title.
The technical genius said that Sebastian Vettel went through the same thing at Red Bull and that Sky’s coverage can tend to be “quite nationalistic”.
Verstappen, meanwhile, agreed with Newey over his comments and he even took a swipe at the British media after his epic victory at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
In a post-race press conference he said “I don’t see any British press, did they have to run to the airport?”.
Before the race weekend in Brazil, Verstappen stated that all of the criticism that he was receiving was because he had the “wrong passport”.
After all of the complaints of bias, Brundle has responded on the Sky F1 podcast, when he was asked if the UK television channel does in fact favour British drivers.
“No, I don’t think we do,” he responded.
“I don’t think there’s any… I mean, I’m a Brit, I’m a former British Formula 1 driver, and we’re broadcasting primarily to a British broadcaster.
“Others take our feed all the way around the world, so do we?
We’re nothing like… 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.”
Brundle: ‘We get flack from pretty much everybody’
The former McLaren driver has been an iconic voice on Sky’s F1 coverage since it secured the broadcasting rights in 2012.
Brundle is well known for his grid walks before most races, interviewing A-listers and drivers before most Grands Prix.
But the 65-year-old knows all well too much about the criticism he and his broadcasting team receive for its coverage of F1 races.
“And actually, we get flack from pretty much everybody, because what I have learned in these 27, 28 years is that you can say 1000 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” he continued.
“And 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.'”
However, Brundle did reveal that one driver showed appreciation for his commentary back in 2016.
“I did have it once, actually,” Brundle remarked.
“It was Nico Rosberg, and he came up to me in Malaysia, a million years ago, said, ‘I’d like to thank you for what you said about me last weekend.’
“I said, ‘Okay, I really appreciate that, because I’ve got to be honest with you, you’re the first driver that’s ever said anything to me like that and by the way, the last.’
“I said, ‘If you don’t mind, what did I say that you liked? Just for my reference?’ He said, ‘I don’t know. My mum told me I needed to thank you.’
“So actually, I still haven’t been thanked by a driver for something!”
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