Tech Draft: Is Alonso correct about British bias in F1?

Asked about Max Verstappen’s post-qualifying tirade Alonso replied: "He is not British so it will always be more difficult for him, so let's see. I have the impression always that when things get a little bit spicy or tense in the title fight, this sport, it is a British environment.

"The teams are British, most of the journalists and media attention, TV crews, everyone comes from the UK. Understandably, there is a little bit of preference on the guy from your country that can be competitive and keep winning. It is what I felt when I was racing and it seems I was the bad guy in Formula 1 when I was trying to fight against, normally, British guys.”

Even though agreeing with Alonso’s sentiments will more than likely put a target on my back and expose me to wrath of the Poms that are reading this and do not agree, I must confess that I think Alonso is right.

It would be remiss not to acknowledge that Britain has a significant place in the history of F1, and indeed is the ‘Silicone Valley’ and operational centre of the modern F1 industry, but the usual response to comments such as Alonso’s from the British is that the bias towards them on many fronts is warranted because they are the prime audience.

Nevertheless, F1’s largest English-speaking broadcaster, Sky Sports F1, not only beams into the UK, but also on-sells its feed, including the pre and post-session shows, to an audience that is collectively far larger than the UK audience, yet with little concern for their outwardly obvious bias.

The usual retort is of course that Sky’s content is Brit biased because it is a Brit feed aimed at Brits simply does not cut it because the rest of the English-speaking audience outside of the UK pays substantial fees for the presentation and consequently deserves a degree of impartiality and variety for which it has little other option because even the F1TV live feed is not available in every country.

Indeed, even the F1 owned and produced alternative media platforms, such as the popular F1 Nation podcast, are often biased towards the UK audience.

Of course, media bias in F1 has been going on for decades and has been cyclical according to which drivers are dominating, but in the modern era of inclusiveness and diversity, and indeed F1’s #WeRaceAsOne initiative, which Sky seem to openly support, then it only seems fair that the sports supporters around the world have an unbiased and assorted narrative to their feeds.

GrandPrix247 founder and editor-in-chief Paul Velasco gave his perspective: “Formula 1 has always had waves of different nationalities, there was the French era when a large chunk of the grid was from there; Italy had its time, as did Brazil, Germany, Spain and now British once again.

"The British have been fortunate in that Lewis Hamilton has been at the forefront of the sport since he took it by storm in 2007 and has not stopped gathering headlines since then, which in turn has kept the English audience interested.

"But all glorious reigns end, and I predict that once Lewis calls it quits, the mass-market interest in the sport will dwindle, no matter who replaces him.”

At the midpoint of the 2021 season the intense level of competition that we have already had the privilege of witnessing on our screens between Hamilton and Verstappen has already made the year one that many will remember for a very long time, and while it is the responsibility of media outlets such as Sky to bring the championship to our living rooms, perhaps a more balanced coverage might be in the best interests of the sport from a broader perspective.