Adrian Newey criticises Sky’s “nationalistic” F1 coverage against Max Verstappen

Adrian Newey has hit out at Sky Sports’ “nationalistic” F1 coverage which led to the “demonisation” of Red Bull drivers Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen over the years.

Sky has been the UK’s F1 broadcaster since 2012, taking over from the BBC.

Sky’s introduction into F1 coincided with Red Bull’s dominance with Vettel, who won four straight titles.

Fast forward a decade, it’s Verstappen who has won three consecutive drivers’ titles - and is on for a fourth in 2024.

Both Vettel and Verstappen were seen as Lewis Hamilton’s main rivals over the last decade, with various title battles and on-track incidents.

Red Bull boycotted Sky’s coverage during the 2022 Mexico Grand Prix weekend after they were unhappy with a claim made that Hamilton was “robbed” of the title in 2021.

Speaking on the High Performance podcast, Newey explained why he feels that Sky’s coverage can “have an influence” on how Vettel and Verstappen were viewed.

“From the outside I’m not sure people fully appreciate and understand Max, just like they didn’t with Sebastian,” Newey said.

“Because first of all, there’s a sort of demonisation that both of them suffered at times which I think’s very unfair.

“Maybe that’s also a little bit of the British media, if I’m honest, Sky have a huge influence around the world, their viewing is truly international but their coverage is quite nationalistic, dare I say, and that can have an influence.”

Newey feels that Verstappen is still underrated, particularly with how he’s able to drive an F1 car “automatically” which likened a comparison to Fernando Alonso.

“It almost feels as if [Verstappen] can drive the car automatically,” Newey added. “He doesn’t, of course, but he can drive the car and have so much processing power left over that he can then think a lot about how he is driving the car, how he is looking after the tyres, what he might need to do in the settings or if he’s not sure, ask [his race engineer] on the radio what he should be doing, but highlighting the problems.

“Reading the race still fascinates me – Fernando is another one that can do that, he seems to be able to read the race but [they] haven’t got all the stuff in front of them.”