F1 News: Martin Brundle Defends Sky Sports Colleague Ted Kravitz Over Red Bull Boycott
Sky Sports F1 reporter Martin Brundle has come to his colleague, Ted Kravitz’s defence over the Red Bull boycott saga.
The whole Red Bull team refused to do any Sky Sports interviews at the Mexican Grand Prix after Kravitz made a comment in his Ted’s Notebook post race show following the Austin Grand Prix about how Lewis Hamilton was “robbed” of the victory in 2021.
Kravitz said:
“[Hamilton] doesn’t win a race all year, and then finally comes back at a track where he could win the first race all year, battling the same guy who won the race he was robbed in the previous year, and manages to finish ahead of him.
“What a script and a story that would have been. But that’s not the way the script turned out today, was it? Because the guy that beat him after being robbed actually overtook him, because he’s got a quicker car, because of engineering and Formula One and design, and pretty much because of [Adrian Newey, Red Bull’s chief technical officer] over there.”
Red Bull were not happy about this and “made a point” by refusing to speak to Sky Sports. Team principal, Christian Horner, has since explained their decision to boycott the broadcaster and revealed that they would return to interviews at the next GP in Brazil. Horner said:
“There were some derogatory comments made so we took a break from Sky for this race. Max was upset. We were upset and we made the decision to stand together as a team.
“It won’t have done Sky any harm for us to lay down a marker. Some of the commentary is fair but some pieces are sensationalist, and saying we robbed anyone of the championship, as was said in Austin, is going too far. It is not impartial or fair or balanced. We have said our piece and will go back to normal next race.”
Martin Brundle has taken to his Twitter to defend his colleague. He said:
“For the avoidance of doubt my friend and colleague for the past 26 years @tedkravitz has my full support. Face to face dialogue is the only way to sort out issues and disputes in the relentless crucible of the F1 paddock. We all have opinions and different jobs to do, that’s life”
For the avoidance of doubt my friend and colleague for the past 26 years @tedkravitz has my full support. Face to face dialogue is the only way to sort out issues and disputes in the relentless crucible of the F1 paddock. We all have opinions and different jobs to do, that’s life
— Martin Brundle (@MBrundleF1) November 1, 2022
This whole situation has divided fans with many saying that Kravitz should remain impartial as a reporter, when others argue that he was stating the facts after the way the 2021 season ended in Abu Dhabi. Luckily for Sky Sports, the interviews will re-start at the Brazilian Grand Prix, but it is not clear yet as to whether the team will be willing to speak to Kravitz himself.
