OPINION: Austin 2024 and Brazil 2021 have clear
comparisons when it comes to contentious defensive driving from Max Verstappen.
But there was a broadcasting factor that became very important too and
continued to be so in Mexico last weekend. It’s something that Formula 1 really
needs to fix
Whatever way you slice many of the controversial overtaking
clashes in Formula 1 of late – particularly those involving Max
Verstappen – there’s one element that cannot be denied.
When it comes to drivers fighting hard, title rivals going
toe to toe, the best racing machines on the planet being thrown at each other –
it makes a great television spectacle. TV can’t replace the buzz of the crowd
and the raucous response to great or contentious overtaking moves, but F1 –
really more than any other – is a championship designed for broadcasting.
And yet, there is one development in all the excellent
output Formula One Management (FOM) produces for its world feed coverage that
needs to be undone for the sake of the championship’s sporting sanctity.
And it’s pertinent to the current furore over Verstappen’s
driving towards Lando
Norris at Austin. In that case, there was a healthy dose of deja vu
from Brazil 2021 and the Dutchman’s controversial clash there with Lewis
Hamilton.
This is how, in both episodes, the live onboard feed from
Verstappen’s car was pointing backwards at the time of each incident (in 2021
it cut there seconds before the clash Turn 4 occurred).
