Niki Lauda is to question Bernie Ecclestone on the lack of TV coverage of Suzuka winner Hamilton.

Only two things appeared to match McLaren-Honda for poor performance at Suzuka today, the official F1 app, which didn't begin working until 27 laps in to the race, and the TV coverage.

Viewers were left frustrated as the cameras focused on empty bits of track, corners where the action had already moved on and everything else bar race leader Lewis Hamilton. Indeed, once past Nico Rosberg in T2, the TV cameras rarely appeared to capture the world champion again.

"I don't know why," said Mercedes non-executive chairman Lauda when asked why the TV director appeared not to show Hamilton for much of the afternoon. "Somebody must do the filming here, and I have to ask what is wrong with it.

"It was funny, to be honest, because I was watching TV for a long time, and funny enough I saw Saubers and a lot of Honda cars and all this, but no Mercedes.

"I have to ask. I have to see Bernie next week and ask him what is the reason because you ask a question and you get an answer.

"At the moment I can't say much but it was funny today. Even the pit stop of Lewis the leader, we only saw him driving out. We didn't even see how he changed his wheels. So it was interesting."

Amidst claims that the official Formula One Management coverage blanked the race leader in return for Mercedes decision not to supply Red Bull with engines, Lauda said: "I think you cannot go in that direction because I spoke to Bernie in a couple of occasions about this engine deal, and it was very clear that Mateschitz never really approached us for the reasons he never really liked Mercedes from the past, nothing to do with today. So Bernie is not upset about us about the engine, that's for sure."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by karel, 08/10/2015 6:21

"Maybe it tells something on how exciting f1 is these days"

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2. Posted by Mocha, 27/09/2015 23:03

"At the end of the day, corporations care about one thing, making money. The advertising aspect of F1 is the ONLY reason a team like Mercedes is involved. There is no passion, which is why it's hard to be passionate about certain teams. "

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3. Posted by scf1fan, 27/09/2015 21:55

"Darn!! Here I was, all set to watch the "marketing" and a darn race got in the way!!! ;-)

(Actually the dominance MB is "enjoying" is exactly why many of the corporate marketing types leave a SPORT! Porsche did it, and Honda did it before as well. Of course there is the opposite end, where a company has no success, Ford/Jaguar, Toyota and Honda again. And that leaves . . . the Sportsman, like Williams, Sauber, McLaren and even Ferrari.)"

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4. Posted by Kkiirmki, 27/09/2015 19:36

"Although I'm not really interested in seeing Hamilton waltz off into the distance, I'm less interested in seeing a McLaren and Toro Rosso fighting for 11th and 12th position for lap on end. "

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5. Posted by nonickname, 27/09/2015 17:52

"Oh dear, marketing raises its ugly head again.Fist Red bull attacks Renault for poor engines that don't help the brand and now Nikki is cross because poor TV did nothing for his brand. And there 1200 people working for the brand...damn"

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6. Posted by F One, 27/09/2015 15:32

"No one is remotely interested in watching a boring boring Merc by itself at the front doing nothing remotely interesting.
They need to at least try and pretend that there is an actual race going on by showing some cars that are actually trying to change position."

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7. Posted by markscottuk, 27/09/2015 15:23

"Maybe its because the people watching the race know that the Mercs will finish 1&2 and would rather see something that will be more entertaining."

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Lauda baffled by Hamilton TV black out

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