Sainz: TV doesn’t do F1 justice

Michelle Foster
Carlos-Sainz testing pa

Carlos-Sainz testing pa

Television pictures aren’t getting the true speed of the Formula 1 cars across to viewers, rues Carlos Sainz.

The McLaren driver, who has previously had a go at Formula 1’s broadcasts for not showing enough of the midfield battles, feels the sport needs to do something to get across to the fans to show how fast the cars are going.

“The cars are amazing, but then you watch TV and they don’t seem faster than they were back then,” he told Motorsport.com. “And that’s what makes me nervous.

“Is there something we are doing wrong with the cameras, with the camera angles, or with high definition?

“Most people on Twitter agreed that cars, being longer and bigger, give the impression that they are slower.”

Sainz feels that yesteryears’ footage seems to makes those cars look so much faster than this year’s machines.

The driver, who is swapping McLaren for Ferrari at the end of this year, tweeted a video of Ayrton Senna in action at Silverstone asking the question ‘someone please explain to me why this looks quicker than nowadays, even though now we are a lot faster than back then?’

“This year’s cars are spectacular, it’s difficult to explain,” he added.

“I have known the evolution from 2015 to 2020, which is an evolution of almost 10 seconds of time per lap.

“I have been able to feel the improvements of an F1 car and how fast we go now in places like Hungary, Silverstone, Spa, Suzuka … it is something spectacular.

“Lap times are very fast. As much as past years’ F1s were lighter and more responsive, what really impresses inside a car is how fast you go through a corner, and what matters most is the lap time.

“As much as cars from years past were lighter and perhaps more spectacular to watch on TV, there is nothing in F1 history like this year’s cars.

“Even in brilliant years like 2004 or 2005, even with active suspension, traction control, cars that were 100kg lighter, it doesn’t matter.

“We are a few seconds faster now than we were then, we go through the corners faster, and we brake later. And also in qualifying we have 1000hp from the engine.”

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