Max Verstappen's 'British bias' claims dismissed by Sky Sports F1 commentator

Karun Chandhok has dismissed Max Verstappen's claims of 'British bias' in the F1 broadcast and said that he's encountered a lot of discourse on both sides. The driver has been working with Sky Sports as a commentator, and the broadcaster has been specifically called out for its coverage, with many alleging a pro-British stance.

This was first pointed out by F1 legend and former Red Bull aero chief Adrian Newey in a recent interview. The claims of the 'bias' received further backing from Max Verstappen, who made it a point to mention the outrage involving his on-track battle with Lando Norris was 'because of his passport'.

That discourse has continued with Sky Sports F1 commentators now questioned about their coverage, where Martin Brundle was quick to deny any favoritism. Fellow commentator Karun Chandhok has also weighed in on the debate and felt that as a pundit, he's faced backlash from all fans. He told GPBlog,

“My Instagram is full of all the people telling me I’m biased," Chandhok said. "Unfortunately, in the job that we do when you’re facing the public, you have the Lewis fans who think you’re biased against Lewis. You have the Max fans who think you’re biased against Max. You have the Lando fans saying, why are you so biased against Lando? It’s weird right – people are sometimes so in love with their favourite driver that objectivity goes out the window. I understand their passion – but it’s our job to be objective."

He further reiterated that he was objective and didn't let claims of having any bias affect him.

“And in the end, I don’t care. I really don’t pay attention to the comments because it can consume you if you do. And most importantly – I know in my conscience that I’m not biased. I speak my opinion. If I think someone has done a great job, I say they’ve done a great job. If I think somebody has made a mistake or somebody deserves to be criticised, then I will do that. You learn very quickly in this sport that you can’t keep everybody happy. That’s okay, you have to learn to be okay with it."

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Karun Chandhok comments on the root of Max Verstappen's 'British bias' criticism

Karun Chandhok gave his theory on the whole situation amid Max Verstappen's comments and felt that there's a tendency to always fixate on the negatives. Discussing his experience with various facets of fans online, Chandhok said that any criticism of the drivers would be met with backlash.

“I think people only focus on the negative. The ones who say you are biased… they only focus on the one thing you have said that maybe they don’t like. I might have said 2000 amazing things about Max Verstappen or 2000 amazing things about Lewis, Lando or whoever. But if you say one bad thing about any of these drivers, their fans just focus on that. That’s the video that gets posted everywhere.”

The entire debate around whether 'British bias' exists in F1 is going to be subjective to an extent. But at the same time, Adrian Newey's argument on both Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel being unfairly 'demonized by nationalistic coverage' has several people in the F1 community urging for a detailed discussion.