‘Getting out of hand': Fans call out Sky Sports' perceived broadcast bias against Aussie Oscar Piatri

News.com.au

4 days ago

Oscar Piastri has won the Belgian Grand Prix, extending his championship lead to 16 points, but fans were left fuming as the broadcast once again focused on his teammate Lando Norris instead.
Norris – who started on pole – was passed almost immediately by Piastri, who pinched the lead after only a handful of corners and never looked back.
It appeared, however, the race may have been taken away from the Aussie with tyre strategy coming into play.
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With Norris on the better compound for a one-stop strategy, the British driver threw away his chance at victory due to three costly mistakes as Piastri oozed class and kept his cool.
As Norris began to close the gap to Piastri, he ran wide at turn 10 and lost more than a second before losing another half a second thanks to a big lockup.
With only three laps to go and the margin down to three seconds, Norris once again locked up at turn one and saw the margin blow back out to around 4.7 seconds.
But even those errors were not critiqued, instead, the broadcast applauded the Brit's driving.
'It's a brilliant charge from Lando Norris,' Martin Brundle said on Sky Sports.
While David Croft added: 'Those two little errors have cost him. If not, he would have been in Piastri's slipstream by now.'
'He's certainly got his head down and is gaining, but he's going to run out of laps.'
Those miscalculations ultimately allowed the Aussie to hold off his teammate and secure his sixth win of the season.
However, fans were left furious at the commentary, which seemed to downplay the Aussie's masterclass and instead hinted that Norris was somewhat unlucky not to win.
Piastri's win was put down to 'superior race management', while instead of stating that Norris was simply outdrove, they put it down to 'unfortunate miscalculations'.
And it's not the first time Sky Sports has almost ignored the Aussie's superior driving in favour of his British teammate.
In Bahrain earlier this year, Sky Sports didn't even show Piastri cross the finish line, instead focusing on Norris and George Russell's battle for second place.
And fair to say fans are fed up with the broadcaster's insistent love of Norris at the cost of Piastri.
'Insufferable dribble coming from Crofty. Piastri, no mistakes on higher degrading tyres with something left in the tank at the end not mentioned at all. Let's talk about his race management skills, which are superior to Lando's. The bias of Crofty is oozing out of him,' one fan wrote.
'As an Aussie, the absolutely anti-Piastri commentary from Sky Sports has been disgraceful. Brundle and Crofty normally love listening to both of you every race, but today's obsession with Lando was incredibly biased, English or not,' another said.
'Tell Crofty his sh** British Lando bias is getting out of hand! Lando is making mistakes left, right, and centre, and Croft still has him winning! Even after Oscar crossed the line and won, Croft was STILL crapping on about Norris. It's time for him to go,' a third added.
The world broadcast feed is produced by Formula 1 Management, based at a facility in Biggin Hill, south of London.
That base product includes on-screen timing, graphics, and replays.
From there, the video is distributed to rights holders, such as Sky Sports, where commentary is then added.
Last year, Croft opened up about the process, where he revealed he has no control over what is shown, and he simply has to call what he sees.
'You try and follow the story wherever that story might be, and Formula 1 is unique in that there are many different stories that happen during the course of the race,' he told Speedcafe last year.
'You've also got to talk to the pictures, which we have no control over, on Sky, at all – they're all from a world feed – so you're reacting to what that director wants to put out there.'