F1 Hits Back At Drivers Over TV Broadcast Criticism

Two-time Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso has been told that the sport's television broadcast is "not his mouthpiece" after his latest jibe against F1 TV direction at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

The Spaniard has a long history of sarcastic or angry team radio messages being shown during the race by the broadcast, which F1 now controls in-house at its Biggin Hill operations center.

After he won driver of the day at the Singapore Grand Prix, Alonso was critical of the way he was portrayed in the race, where he told race engineer Andrew Vizard that he would "disconnect the radio" if he was continuously updated.

With pole position secured for the private radio broadcast, time to fine-tune the main coverage and bring all the on-track excitement to the fans! 💪💪 Vamos! 😂👍🤞🤞🤞 pic.twitter.com/XROoZPDeEo
— Fernando Alonso (@alo_oficial) October 5, 2025

This criticism was continued in Mexico, where he called out the lack of punishment for rivals skipping Turns 1 and 2 at the start of the race while alluding to his radio stardom.

“They broadcast it all in the radio that we do, privately, hopefully they broadcast this and they see the turn one, two. Hello? Did it not broadcast turn one, two?”

Ironically, this outburst wasn't broadcast by F1 TV and speaking to Autosport, F1's broadcast and media director, Dean Locke, said, "We have a responsibility to tell the story fairly and accurately - so we don't publish anything that is misleading or has other intentions," explained Locke.

Mexico start 2025 — Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

"Fernando is incredible; what he can do in that car and then still have time to think about it is admirable. But we are not his mouthpiece."

"Our goal is to stay honest in the story and get the fans involved. It's great what kind of stories we can tell, how we can show the race from the perspective of two teammates and things like that. But we have to be careful, because sometimes a driver is critical of his team without knowing all the facts.

"Then we have to guard against misrepresentation. We want to bring excitement, take the fans into the cockpit and show who the driver really is - but without overdoing it or sensationalizing it.

"I also remember that Fernando used to do his on-board radio in Italian, and when we subtitled it all into English, he stopped doing that. So yes, sometimes there are other intentions behind such things. We try to deal with that wisely."

Sainz criticism disputed

Alonso hasn't been the only driver to take aim at how races are broadcast in recent months. Compatriot Carlos Sainz was also frustrated after the Singapore Grand Prix, where he suggested that the TV direction was more interested in showing off the drivers' partners than the action on track.

But refuting that claim, Locke said: "During that race, for example, we showed a shot off-track three times, and not even during the action itself.

"We do have a responsibility to show the whole atmosphere of the event: what happens on the track, but also around it. That includes footage of the grid, the fans, or the podium afterwards."

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