But given that the suggestion to swap positions actually came from Hamilton to start with, Vasseur has called out FOM for trying to create drama.
“I think this is a joke from FOM because the first call came from Lewis,” he told the media in Shanghai. “Lewis asked us to swap, but to make the show, to create the mess around the situation, they broadcast only the second part of the question.
“I will discuss with them.”
The Ferrari team boss revealed Ferrari had already spoken with the drivers about doing what is “best” for Ferrari in the pre-race briefing.
“Yeah,” he insisted. “I think we have to work for the team and to consider that we have to do the best for Ferrari, and it’s agreed between the cars and the drivers before the race, and it’s not an issue.
“It’s even the best proof of this is that it came from the drivers that ‘okay, I’m losing the pace that I am keen to swap’.”
I don’t think that they tried to create drama for Hamilton / Ferrari. I think they try to create drama for all the drivers and teams by throwing shit at the wall and hoping it somehow makes The Product better.
For years they’ve been playing radios with no context specifically to make things seem more dramatic. It’s lying, it erodes the truth, it affects how drivers are treated, it affects the narratives within the fan base, it’s trash TV. But it’s a lot easier than being responsible with how you present reality.
They know that the drama and soap opera of it all is much more compelling to a wider audience than good racing. That’s why Formula 1 is extremely globally successful while other series with inarguably better wheel-to-wheel action aren’t.
If you can afford F1TV there is at least the Multiviewer app, which has automatic live transcriptions of driver radios. Gives a much better view of what is actually happening than whatever cherry picked messages the TV director chooses to display.
When I tried to go into a driver’s live onboard feed on F1 TV on Sunday, it no longer had the car audio and radio messages. It was the regular broadcast audio, which was super disorienting because you weren’t hearing the car you were looking at.
I hated it. I want the old onboard audio and radio back.
I don’t know if it’s different live as I’ve only watched the replays yet this season due to time zones, but you can choose audio track when in cockpit view, either “team radio” or a commentary language.
The one thing I’m missing from my F1TV sub is the driver cam with team radio. After the first lap I’d almost always rather listen to the teams than the commentators. Still can’t decide if the commentary isn’t very good or if my tastes are just too specific.
Watching an onboard with (almost entirely) calm radio is like watching Bob Ross paint… while going 200 mph.
Compared to that the normal broadcast is like an episode of MXC. I wouldn’t say it’s bad but it’s definitely a different experience.
That’s an interesting analogy lol. Pretty accurate too.
I started to dislike the Sky commentators, mostly David Croft and Karun Chandhok, and switched to the international feed. These days I think Alex Jacques is more of a sensationalist like Crofty and that feed isn’t as enjoyable as it once was. The last couple seasons I’ve mostly watched the McLaren team feeds but using alternative streaming methods comes with some sacrifice.
And why Drive to Survive is such dog shit.
Radio context and radio timing could use some serious work. Who the hell is always like, “Action on screen with intense commentary?? Drop the radio message now! NOW!”
Race direction in general could be so much better.
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