Irritation inside the paddock, but F1 remains dependent on Sky Sports

20:23, 05 Aug

byNicole Mulder

Sky Sports is under scrutiny in the Formula 1 paddock. There is – not for the first time – irritation over the attitude of some presenters. At the same time, the influence of the British broadcaster is not to be underestimated: with exclusive broadcast rights, multi-million contracts and direct access to almost every team, Sky has secured a position that even the sport itself cannot ignore.

Privileged position and multi-million contracts

Sky Sports reportedly pays hundreds of millions for the broadcast rights of Formula 1. In 2022, the channel extended its exclusive deal with Formula One Management until the end of 2029, good for annual more than 2 million British viewers per race.

The Italian and German editions are also added on top - both, likewise, very large markets. That makes Sky by far the most important media partner of F1: the deal is so big that F1 has become partly dependent on the success and reach of Sky.

The channel has exclusive access to gridwalks, team radios and direct interviews with drivers, often before other media get access. Journalists from Sky are also often the first to be informed about important news. Even though Sky Sports operates formally independent, it has become so intertwined with the sport that it is impossible to ignore.

Meanwhile, there is irritation among the paddock about Sky's methods of operating. The moment when Sky analyst Nico Rosberg confronted Jos Verstappen live on the grid with old statements about former Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner led to irritation reaching the highest levels of the sport, as GPblog learned from various sources in the paddock during the Grand Prix weekend in Hungary.

Also, Aston Martin found the reporting of the German branch of Sky Sports unbalanced due to Ralf Schumacher's critical statements about Lance Stroll.

Earlier, a similar situation led to an actual boycott over the race weekend in Mexico 2022, where Red Bull didn't speak to any Sky journalists. This was the result of the attitude of the British broadcaster towards Max Verstappen, who his team judged was treated differently than British drivers.

F1 can't ignore Sky Sports

Irritation or not, the fact remains that Formula 1 can't ignore Sky Sports. The British broadcaster has established a powerful position in the sport through multi-million contracts, exclusive rights and access. The FOM is financially dependent on Sky due to the hundreds of millions paid by them, and thus, criticism on the attitude of some presenters ultimately doesn't affect the position of the channel.