It is a well-known fact among the Formula 1 community that the media coverage in the prestigious motorsport is composed of mostly British-based people. Due to this, fans within the sport more often than not expect at least some sort of ‘bias’ to come from the commentary team from F1’s largest English-speaking broadcaster, Sky Sports. However, there are instances where the ‘bias’ becomes disgustingly obvious with the commentary team drooling over British achievements in the sport — almost as if the media doesn’t care how overly apparent it may seem for viewers around the world. This season in particular when their national hero was being challened for the championship the biased became worse than ever before.

The usual argument when members of Sky Sports are called out for this ‘bias’ is that the content is primarily broadcasted on a British feed that is Brit-based and aimed at British viewers and consumers. However, this content is not exclusively dispersed around the UK, but to English-speaking audiences around the world. The biased narrative towards British drivers and teams makes it rather unfair for non-Brit fanbases who pay subsequent fees and reserve several weekends of the year just for English Formula 1 coverage who would prefer a degree of impartiality and variety throughout the grid. The argument is often made that other countries broadcasts are biased as well, but one must keep in mind that the Sky commentary is broadcasted worldwide and for a lot of countries (where they don't have their own broadcasting team) is the only broadcast fans have access to, therefor Sky sports has an obligation to be more objective. Not to even mention the unprofession biased opinions being shared by the Sky team on F1's official YouTube channel, a place that should be completely objective since it isn't linked to a country, but unfortunately is anything but that.

Many fans will be searching for alternative ways to stream the Formula One races as the blatant bias and childish tantrums from some of the commentators is sickening. This has been ever present in the sport, however this seasons race in Monza where Damon Hill who should be an impartial commentator explicitly accused Max Verstappen of causing an accident with Lewis Hamilton on purpose is absolutely unacceptable.

Following on from this, Johnny Herbert basically throwing a temper tantrum in the post race interviews was hard to watch. There could be mentioned many other situations were this happened, the bias is going to drive more and more people away. Nico Rosberg, Jenson Button and Anthony Davidson are fantastic and well able to view a situation from an impartial standpoint most of the time and I would urge those in charge to give them more air time. Unfortunately the majority of the Sky presenters are heavily biased towards the three British driver who in their eyes can do no wrong, while drivers of other nationalities get scrutinized for the smallest things.

Unfortunetaly many won't be seeing it anymore as we have had enough of the love-in for the British drivers and the tone deaf treatment of any other driver who dare race them. The treatment of Valterri Bottas by Coulthard during his post race interview is evidence of this.

In an attempt to showcase this ‘bias’, we can take a trip down memory lane — back when Sebastian Vettel won his 4th consecutive world drivers’ championship, and consequently, Red Bull’s 4th constructors’ championship in a row at the conclusion of the Formula 1 2012-13 season.

Martin Brundle and David Croft did not seem too pleased about the success of the pairing as both commentators gave back-handed comments towards Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, and Red Bull aerodynamicist and car designer Adrian Newey — implying that Vettel’s success had nothing to do with his ability on the track — and everything to do with the prowess of the team to create a motorsport masterpiece. While when British driver Lewis Hamilton wins many titles due to having an unbeatable car, according to the Sky commentators it apparently is all down to his talent and the car has nothing to do with it. This exact thing could be seen this season - everytime Verstappen wins or gets pole the commentators try everything in their might to make his accomplishments look less impressive, yet even the tiniest thing done by Hamilton get's massive praise. 

Earlier this year, Max Verstappen was repeatedly questioned on the 51-G collision caused by Lewis Hamilton at the British Grand Prix. In one pre-race interview that featured Hamilton and Verstappen in the same segment, the Dutchman finally snapped at the interviewers as he had enough of the media’s efforts to insinuate controversial statements from the situation. Not that their constant efforts to make Hamilton look like the victim, and act like he did nothing wrong weren't bad enough.

Fernando Alonso shared his thoughts and experiences on the alleged bias British media has towards certain drivers. In fact, Alonso states that he, along with Max Verstappen, are both painted as villains of the sport.

The rankings the British drivers receive from the Sky team is also a clear indicator of the prejudice towards Hamilton, Russel and Norris, often getting way overrated. For example; after the most recent Turkish Grand Prix, Skysports F1 gave Lando Norris a post-weekend driver rating of 7.5 after beating out teammate Daniel Ricciardo. However, other than that it was quite an uneventful race for Norris — starting 7th on the grid and finishing 7th as well. While Esteban Ocon, netted a score of 7.0 even after starting from 12th on the grid to finishing within the points at 10th, all while surviving on only one set of intermediate tires, becoming the first driver to finish a race without making a pitstop since 1997  isn’t that something worthy of a higher driver rating?

Sky Sports please put in an effort to make your broadcasts more impartial, you are absolutely unbearable to listen to. Unfortunately for most of the world the Sky broadcast is the ONLY broadcast available and we have to put up with your incredibly unprofessional commentary. Please regain some integrity and judge all drivers the same.