514 replies to this topic

[YamahaV10]

I have been a full time fan for a year now and I've resisted this claim. Until now.

 

The Autosport podcast rated the Dutch grand prix race as a 5/10.

 

The Missed Apex boys started things off by bashing the Zandvoort track.

 

When Bottas takes out half the field on the first corner, hey great ! 8/10. Any race that Hamilton dominates is always a great race ! They just couldn't hide their homer attitude this weekend. Even though it was a great spectacle for F1. Coming back to an old track after 35 years. The hometown favorite winning.

 

 

Edited by YamahaV10, 06 September 2021 - 02:13.

[Marklar]

Are you seriously arguing that the race itself in Zandvoort was better than Budapest?

Well, there you have the definition of bias.

As for the question: everyone is a little biased, the British are saints in this department in comparison to everyone else.

[YamahaV10]

Are you seriously arguing that the race itself in Zandvoort was better than Budapest?

Well, there you have the definition of bias.

As for the question: everyone is a little biased, the British are saints in this department in comparison to everyone else.

Are you seriously saying that Budapest was a better race ? With the championship narrative wiped out in the first corner ? Lando has also been a good storyline this season and he was wiped out too. Reminds me of the Nascar fans who just watch for the crashes.

 

What people see in that cluster of a race I'll never know

 

F1 needed a good clean race this weekend and it got that. The championship contenders were competing till the last lap.  Not enough crashes for some ppl I guess

Edited by YamahaV10, 06 September 2021 - 02:32.

[Dratini]

I believe that there is obvious bias, but the example provided isn't a good one. The Hungarian GP was objectively better than the Dutch GP.

 

Lando and Max may have been taken out in Hungary, but that doesn't make it a bad race.

We had overtaking, a tense battle between Ocon and Vettel practically all race long even if nothing happened in the end; it was the belief that something could happen. Hamilton charging through, and of course the absolute highlight being his battle with Alonso.

What did the Dutch GP have? I enjoyed the race, but we had Bottas' antics with Max as well as Perez overtaking some slow cars. There is no comparison.

Edited by Dratini, 06 September 2021 - 04:29.

[baddog]

It was a pretty crap race. Great track for qualy not so good for racing. And I like the result but sheesh.

 

Also yes the British media are biased as hell but not because of this.

[dweller23]

I clicked Yes and it turned to No when results showed up, some kind of a weird bug.

[Squeed]

Are you seriously saying that Budapest was a better race ? With the championship narrative wiped out in the first corner ? Lando has also been a good storyline this season and he was wiped out too. Reminds me of the Nascar fans who just watch for the crashes.

 

What people see in that cluster of a race I'll never know

 

F1 needed a good clean race this weekend and it got that. The championship contenders were competing till the last lap.  Not enough crashes for some ppl I guess

Zandvoort is a procession, not a race.  You need a 2 second advantage to pass on track.  

[Squeed]

But to answer your question, yes the British F1 media is biased but the rest of the European F1 press is tabloid trash for the most part. 

[JimmyClark]

We had overtaking, a tense battle between Ocon and Vettel practically all race long even if nothing happened in the end; it was the belief that something could happen. Hamilton charging through, and of course the absolute highlight being his battle with Alonso.

There was a battle between Max and Lewis at zandvoort where nothing happened too, but there was always the feeling something might happen. It only needed one safety car and the race could have been very different.

Zandvoort had 25 overtakes, most missed by the TV. Hungary only had 18, mainly due to cars being out of position after the chaos.

I would argue Zandvoort was a purer race than Budapest, but obviously Budapest was fun too. Both were great events.

Edited by JimmyClark, 06 September 2021 - 05:53.

[Calum]

Come off it.


Did you miss the UK media bigging up fans and carnival atmosphere with praised all weekend?

Bigging up the track with praise for being thrilling, challenging, punishing and generally a rollercoaster?

It would be wrong to call the race a classic. They still hyped up a historic home result, and made references were to the 2022 rules maybe improving things in the next Grand Prix.


It was a fun event but to expect it be called perfection would be biased.

[Peat]

Lol, after Silverstone we had posters on here claiming that SkyF1 wasn't biased enough when they had the gall for blaming Hamilton for punting Verstappen half way back to Milton Keynes.  

[Dratini]

There was a battle between Max and Lewis at zandvoort where nothing happened too, but there was always the feeling something might happen. It only needed one safety car and the race could have been very different.

Zandvoort had 25 overtakes, most missed by the TV. Hungary only had 18, mainly due to cars being out of position after the chaos.

I would argue Zandvoort was a purer race than Budapest, but obviously Budapest was fun too. Both were great events.

Everyone's different I guess. To be honest I didn't get the feeling much was going to happen between Max and Lewis, at least not in the same way that I did for Ocon and Vettel.
 

[CHIUNDA]

There are people who still rated Spa a perfect 10!! :-)

[ArrowsLivery]

Zandvoort is a procession, not a race.  You need a 2 second advantage to pass on track.  

Which is how it should be. Nothing bores me faster than a DRS fly by. I could watch cars going by on the highway if that was interesting to me.

[Requiem84]

The British F1 media is in any case definitely less biased than the Dutch media. Our F1 coverage is so extremely biased it makes me cringe.

[prty]

You picked a bad example, but yes they are biased. And of course, it gets much worse when a British driver is closely fighting for the championship.
Examples being 2007 or Silverstone this year, trying to steer the narrative from Hamilton taking someone off, to Verstappen being too aggressive.
And being biased is normal, but then there shouldn't be any attempt to portrait themselves as non biased.

[ClubmanGT]

Are you seriously arguing that the race itself in Zandvoort was better than Budapest?

Well, there you have the definition of bias.

 

How was that the 'definition of bias'. The Budapest race was a ****-show. 

[Retrofly]

Which is how it should be. Nothing bores me faster than a DRS fly by. I could watch cars going by on the highway if that was interesting to me.

This feels like Stockhom sydrome for bad aero. Is this how far we've come to say you have to have a 2 second delta to pass anyone?

It Absolutly shouldnt not be like this, I dislike DRS but without it we would have completely stagnent races.

The areo rules need to be fixed to be rid of such crazy deltas AND DRS.

[PayasYouRace]

I don’t think any media is completely free from bias, but the British F1 media is very objective.

This example is quite poor. The Hungarian GP was one of the most exciting races of the season, with drama and action throughout.

The Dutch GP was OK. A middle of the road 5/10 is entirely in keeping with a race that had little going on, and a lead battle that never fully developed into anything.

[Retrofly]

Speaking of bias, if Hamilton had won from the front yesterday the reaction would absilutly not have been the same from some people.

 

"Just another boring Hamilton win" etc.

[restless]

Are you seriously arguing that the race itself in Zandvoort was better than Budapest?

Well, there you have the definition of bias.

As for the question: everyone is a little biased, the British are saints in this department in comparison to everyone else.

Zandvoort is way way better than Budapest and Monaco. As a track.

[Ultraviolet]

There was a battle between Max and Lewis at zandvoort where nothing happened too, but there was always the feeling something might happen.

You may have had the feeling that something might happen. Unlike with Vettel v Ocon, where I could easily see it going either way, I didn't. It seemed blatantly obvious that Max had everything Merc did easily covered.

[JimmyClark]

You may have had the feeling that something might happen. Unlike with Vettel v Ocon, where I could easily see it going either way, I didn't. It seemed blatantly obvious that Max had everything Merc did easily covered.

A safety car could have changed all that, given the driver in second tends to be able to go opposite.

[Requiem84]

You may have had the feeling that something might happen. Unlike with Vettel v Ocon, where I could easily see it going either way, I didn't. It seemed blatantly obvious that Max had everything Merc did easily covered.

Nope, had Mercedes not fluffed Hamilton’s stop, Verstappen would have exited the pits 0.2-0.3 ahead.

[JeePee]

There is nothing wrong with a bit of nationalism. You don't want the Dutch to take over the sphere. Our commentator was noticably relieved after the first few corners that Max got through cleanly.

[smitten]

Are you seriously saying that Budapest was a better race ? With the championship narrative wiped out in the first corner ?

There's your problem.  The quality of the 'race' and the 'championship narrative' are not the same thing.  Lots of times there's a large overlap between the two, but they are not the same thing.

[loki]

Is the Pope Catholic?

 

 

 

   

[Kev00]

In terms of the two races in question I really enjoyed both and there’s very few races I actually consider boring like a lot of people on here. I don’t know what most people expect or want to see in an F1 race.

But I also don’t see how people are saying Hungary was much better than Zandvoort. Other than the first corner carnage both races were very similar and played out in the same way. The leader pretty much in control, a Red Bull and Mercedes fighting their way through the field and a couple of decent midfield scraps.

And in terms of the British media yes of course they’re biased. Just look at how Alonso, Vettel and Rosberg were portrayed over the years when they were in battle with Lewis Hamilton.

Edited by Kev00, 06 September 2021 - 07:21.

[smitten]

And in terms of the British media yes of course they’re biased. Just look at how Alonso, Vettel and Rosberg were portrayed over the years when they were in battle with Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton is not universally loved by the 'British' press.

[w00dy]

Yes, they are biased. Everyone is. But it gets to new heights when the British champ is in danger.

 

Example:

Mercedes dismisses "special solution" amid Red Bull FIA engine query

By: Jonathan Noble

Sep 4, 2021, 11:33 AM

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has played down talk of his Formula 1 team having a ‘special solution’ to help boost engine power.

 

They only run the denial, not the original enquiry. Contrast this with AMuS, that had a separate story on the issue.

[Rodaknee]

There's a simple solution to your imagined problem.  Don't read the stuff you don't like.

 

Simples.

[pacificquay]

British F1 media is probably the least biased in the world.

 

Things get exaggerated on this forum which is generally very anti-British.

[ClubmanGT]

British F1 media is probably the least biased in the world.

 

This has to be some sort of hilarious joke. For non-British English speakers, the coverage can be at times pretty alienating. Incidents involving certain drivers are 50/50 at most, while others get full blame apportioned to them almost right away. 

 

It may not be as bad as it was pre-JB's first race win (Allen lmao) and Murray wore his heart on his sleeve with such enthusiasm and passion that it made it hard to dislike him for it one bit. But now it's just kind of weird - and it's not just in the main game either. Dan Ticktum must have dirt on every single British commentator that has ever picked up a mic, I can't recall a single accident that guy has been involved in being called for what it was. 

[ClubmanGT]

There's a simple solution to your imagined problem.  Don't read the stuff you don't like.

 

Simples.

 

Bit hard when this stuff goes out on the world feed for English-speaking countries.

[statman]

^^ just for the record, the overtakes this season (excl. the first lap):

 

Bahrain: 75

France: 60

Spain: 51

Portugal: 43

Imola: 41

Austria: 38

Great Britain: 28 (Sprint: 10)

Azerbadjan: 27

Netherlands: 25

Styria: 24

Hungary: 18

Monaco: 0

[Requiem84]

Really guys, it's extremely impressive how relatively objective the British F1 media is. 

 

That's something to be very proud of. Most other countries have a much much more nationalistic way of reporting F1. 

[Kleli]

The incident at the British GP shows clearly that the British media is biased. Because the narrative from the British media was the opposite to the rest of the world. The scary thing was that a lot of Brits here just dismissed that as being "anti-british". You live in a strange little bubble when you start to think that the rest of the world is wrong.

That being said, I think no media can be completely unbiased. But when you start to think that your own country's media is "better" and less biased than other countries then you are just fooling yourself.

[Cliff]

Of course they are biased, just like every other media from every other country. The question is: what’s wrong with that? They are all catering to their main audience, which is from said country, and is ultimately what pays their bills.

[ClubmanGT]

The question is: what’s wrong with that? They are all catering to their main audience, which is from said country, and is ultimately what pays their bills.

 

It makes people watching the world feed and getting some pretty one-sided takes a bit put-off? If something is going out on the world feed, it should at least be neutral. 

 

Supercars might have issues with their coverage of Triple 8 but you would never for a second accuse the Supercars commentary team of favouring drivers based on nationality.

[TheFish]

Of course they're biased. Every country's media is biased.

[Zmeej]

Yes.

 

Part of the culture of its bias are the amusing/annoying claims by folks in/from the UK that it isn’t biased or is much less biased than that of any other country, particularly ceux du Continent. and/or

 

Kinda like claims that the British Empire was the sweetest-smelling empire in the history of civilization…

Edited by Zmeej, 06 September 2021 - 08:47.

[noikeee]

I need to take a break from the forum, what am I reading here.

The British media is biased like any other media, but it's probably one of the least biased or at least the bias is far more subtle or unconscious and they at least try to be fair to all drivers. You guys should listen to Portuguese MotoGP broadcasts, they are actively cheering on Oliveira shouting stuff at the TV like "fly falcon, fly!" (his nickname is "falcon") I know similar stuff happen in other countries. The level of cringe is so much lower on Sky and even Crofty is a saint by comparison.

I think you're clearly in the minority if you enjoyed the Dutch GP more than the Hungarian. Sure, it's fun to watch the cars go around in Zandvoort, and if you're watching only for the battle between the leaders I guess Max being taken out in turn 1 is frustrating. But in Zandvoort there wasn't really much of a race after the first pitstop and after Max passed a struggling Bottas on the old tyres. In Hungary we had tension until the last lap on whether Ocon was going to hold on to the lead or Lewis would catch him. I gave the Dutch GP a 5/10 too, Hungary I think it was an 8 or something.

Someone mentioned the forums are anti British, that's not right neither ffs. Most people here are British. Autosport is British. The spoken language is British. What are you on about.

[ClubmanGT]

I need to take a break from the forum, what am I reading here.

The British media is biased like any other media, but it's probably one of the least biased or at least the bias is far more subtle or unconscious and they at least try to be fair to all drivers.

 

Somewhere there's an old clip of the different commentators calling the Sato on Alonso pass and it's honestly one of my favourite things. Sometimes bias is fun.

 

Although they might not be as bad as they were with Pre-Brawn Button, their coverage of Hamilton is kind of weird - and I hear more about the incidents involving Schumacher from his ex-team mates/rivals which seem to be all over the coverage than I do about the ones involving Hamilton, who is a current driver. I think it's a stretch to say it's that subtle - if you weren't British then perhaps it would be a bit more obvious.

 

Like I say, Supercars doesn't do the nationality thing because they'd have nothing to talk about - the series has been dominated by Kiwis for years now. 

[Zmeej]

Agree that, as a whole, this forum is not anti-British, and the suggestion that it is was .

 

Re the language, Precisian’s Note: It’s English, and, of course, it’s not “spoken.”

[FirstnameLastname]

How are the Dutch media rating the race?

Of course there’s bias - but it’s mainly from the fans isn’t it. The Dutch fans yesterday will rate that race/day highly. First Dutch GP in a generation with their home lad on pole and winning the race, taking the championship lead in the process - they’ll bloody love that, and rightly so.

[FirstnameLastname]

For years in the UK we had James Allen fawning over a german driver.

[Kao18]

I need to take a break from the forum, what am I reading here.

The British media is biased like any other media, but it's probably one of the least biased or at least the bias is far more subtle or unconscious and they at least try to be fair to all drivers. You guys should listen to Portuguese MotoGP broadcasts, they are actively cheering on Oliveira shouting stuff at the TV like "fly falcon, fly!" (his nickname is "falcon") I know similar stuff happen in other countries. The level of cringe is so much lower on Sky and even Crofty is a saint by comparison.
 

 

English F1 media have a much wider audience than just Brits. Unlike Dutch media or Portuguese media and so on. They have to maintain some form of objectivity. This can not be ignored, especially in the way F1 is covered on tv, but also internet.

 

I dont believe in one nation being more or less biased. Perceived subtilty also stems from Brits being pretty reserved in general imo.

Edited by Kao18, 06 September 2021 - 09:05.

[noikeee]

Agree that, as a whole, this forum is not anti-British, and the suggestion that it is was .

 

Re the language, Precisian’s Note: It’s English, and, of course, it’s not “spoken.”

 

Yeah sorry that was written on the phone and i noticed but didn't have the patience to edit it. 

 

English F1 media have a much wider audience than just Brits. Unlike Dutch media or Portuguese media and so on. They have to maintain some form of objectivity. This can not be ignored, especially in the way F1 is covered on tv, but also internet.

 

I dont believe in one nation being more or less biased. Subtilty also stems from the Brits being pretty reserved in general imo.

 

Fair, that's true. The Sky commentator team knows they're not only being heard in the UK so they don't have the luxury of cheering on Lewis or Lando if they wanted to.

[P123]

In terms of the two races in question I really enjoyed both and there’s very few races I actually consider boring like a lot of people on here. I don’t know what most people expect or want to see in an F1 race.

But I also don’t see how people are saying Hungary was much better than Zandvoort. Other than the first corner carnage both races were very similar and played out in the same way. The leader pretty much in control, a Red Bull and Mercedes fighting their way through the field and a couple of decent midfield scraps.

And in terms of the British media yes of course they’re biased. Just look at how Alonso, Vettel and Rosberg were portrayed over the years when they were in battle with Lewis Hamilton.

 

The British media loved Vettel; still do.  I'm not sure how Rosberg was ever treated badly; Sky used to have a celebratory tone whenever he won a race- Brits love an underdog.  "Nico's back!" was their main thing.  As for Alonso, he barely got a mention, certainly never treated in the same manner as Schumacher and Senna were.  And I only heard effusive praise from Sky and others for the event at Zandvoort.

 

Naturally, I'm sure you can point to a fair and balanced national media.  I'm sure the Spanish, German, Dutch, etc are glowing in their praise of Hamilton, for example, .... or do they write the sort of stuff you like to read...  

 

Let's face it, this forum has it's own 'rate the race' topics.  I do think we all know the likes of yourself and many others would be giving the race a zero, "done with F1", "I fell asleep" (not hard to find, Lewis has won many a close fought race to great unsatisfaction all round), had the finishing positions been reversed.  As ever, those who complain most about 'bias' fail to understand they themselves are among the worst.

[Arundo]

Ofcourse they are and thats fine, the wrong thing is that because they are English their opinion is way more far reaching then lets say German or Dutch opinions.

Ziggo is ofcourse also very biased but apart from maybe Belgium those opinions wont go very far from the Benelux.

 

After Silverstone you could see it very clearly, again thats fine F1 just needs to watch out that their general coverage does not get biased because of that. 

Edited by Arundo, 06 September 2021 - 09:07.