F1 photographer counters Carlos Sainz’s TV girlfriend-focus claim

A renowned photographer has countered Carlos Sainz’s criticism of the F1 broadcast during the Singapore Grand Prix.

Williams driver Sainz slammed the TV coverage for missing key on-track action, most notably Fernando Alonso chasing down Lewis Hamilton, who was nursing his Ferrari home with a brake issue in the final few laps.

The 31-year-old claimed F1 is going “overboard a little” by showing driver’s girlfriends and celebrities rather than focusing on what is happening on track during races.

"Last weekend they didn't show any of the four of five overtakes I did at the end, nor did they show Fernando's pursuit of Lewis. They missed a lot of things," Sainz told Spanish radio station El Partidazo de COPE.

"I understand that if there is an overtake, a very tense moment in the race, it is understandable that the production team might want to show a reaction shot if they have seen that it has worked in the past.

"But [they only should] if the competition is respected and you are always showing the important moments of the race. The other [thing] is fine but don't lose sight of the main thing. For me, they go overboard a little showing the celebrities and girlfriends.”

Fellow Spaniard Alonso criticised F1’s TV coverage, replying to a post on X: "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!"

F1 photographer crunches the numbers

Sainz’s comments sparked debate online and prompted F1 photographer Kym Illman to conduct his own investigation onto the matter.

“From lights out to just after the chequered flag, the race broadcast ran for one hour and 41 minutes,” Illman said in a video on his YouTube channel.

“Now, during that time, how many girlfriends did they show? Five? Six? Two! Rebecca Donaldson [Sainz’s girlfriend] at the back of Carlos’ garage, for eight seconds, and Lando’s girlfriend, Magui, for seven seconds.

“Now that is a total of 15 seconds in a telecast that ran 6,060 seconds. Now that’s a quarter of one percent of the broadcast focused on two girlfriends. Is that overkill?”

“On top of that, there was a shot of Lance’s sister and husband Scotty James for seven seconds. The only other time they cut away from track action was to show Toto Wolff for 15 seconds, McLaren crew on pit wall six times for a total of 36 seconds and single shots of Fred Vasseur, Bono, VCARB’s team manager Peter Bayer, and Aston Martin’s team principal Andy Cowell, each for about seven seconds.

“That’s a total of 86 seconds or a little over one percent of the coverage.”

Going on to analyse the post-race coverage, Illman added: “What about post-race? Different story there. George’s girlfriend Carmen dominated there. She was on screen five times in just 24 minutes for a total of 31 seconds, and Magui popped up for three seconds.

“Interestingly, the longest shot of the three girlfriends that appear in this video is a shot of Carmen down in parc ferme post-race. It pulls back to reveal me talking to her about pictures I’ve taken of George and her when George had come over to celebrate.

“George had no other family at that race so Carmen was the only friend or family member that the director could cut to for that personal connection.

“In the past Lando’s parents have been focused on in parc ferme and during the race, Oscar’s manager Mark Webber has been focused on, as has Max’s dad, so there’s nothing unusual there.

“I understand why F1 cuts to those shots, because all of us want to see that human reaction if something exciting happens. Certainly Formula 1 is more interested in showing the more human side of the sport, so I can’t see them changing that strategy any time soon.”

Illman agreed with Sainz’s comments about the TV broadcast missing key on-track moments in Singapore.

“The thing that I think was the more important part of Carlos’s comment in that radio interview was the fact that the F1 coverage didn’t show any of the important battles,” he said.

“They missed the Alonso-Hamilton battle, which in hindsight turned out to be one of the most interesting, given that Lewis had no brakes for those last two laps.

“The comment on Sky’s coverage was pertinent. When watching McLaren celebrating we should be watching the track because Fernando Alonso, who was 43 seconds behind Hamilton, crossed the line four tenths behind him.

“It’s important to note they weren’t crossing to Carmen, or Magui at that time. They were showing the McLaren crew celebrating and other goings on in parc ferme.”

FOM responded to the criticism, arguing: "We always focus on giving our fans the best possible footage of the race and never compromise the key focus - the racing on track.

“Our team does a great job of covering a highly complex situation with multiple cars at different points on a track and also provide great context moments of the grandstands, high profile guests and the locations we race at. We are always in pursuit of excellence and improvement in what we deliver.”