Adrian Newey believes that Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel have both been "demonised" by the British media.

In particular, the design legend cited Sky F1, which although UK-based has its coverage broadcast throughout the English-speaking world.

Whether in the US, Canada, Australia or New Zealand, week after week viewers are subjected to the Sky team bigging up the hopes of the British drivers over their rivals, indeed over the Monza weekend they were almost bullying Zak Brown and Andrea Stella into implementing team orders in favour of Lando Norris.

However, it is the "demonising" of the likes of Verstappen and Vettel that disturbs Newey, who designed championship winning cars for both drivers.

"From the outside, I'm not sure people fully appreciate and understand Max, just like they didn't with Sebastian," he told the High Performance podcast.

"There's this sort of demonisation both of them suffered at times, which is very unfair," he continued. "Maybe that's also a little bit of the British media, if I'm honest. Sky have a huge influence around the world. Although viewing isn't truly international, their coverage is quite nationalistic, dare I say, and that can have an influence.

"It's this thing that now with journalism, typically," he added, referring to a practice that isn't limited to F1 drivers, "there is that trend to sort of either put people on a pedestal or knock them down."

Referring to Verstappen, who must surely already be finding space in his diary for a seat-fitting at Aston Martin in preparation for 2026, Newey said: "I think that he's very intelligent, and he's got an incredible ability to... it feels as if he can drive the car automatically.

"He doesn't, of course, but he can drive the car and has so much processing power left over that he can then think a lot about how he's driving the car, how he's looking after the tyres, what he might need to do on the settings.

"Or if he doesn't, if he's not sure, he'll ask GP on the radio what he should be doing, but highlighting the problems."

Reflecting on the controversial conclusion to the 2021 season in Abu Dhabi, where Verstappen won his first title, Newey said: "I think, honestly, Max is so self-assured. This is in a positive way. It's not in a negative way.

"There's arrogance and there is self-assured," he added. "Max is not arrogant, but he is very self-assured and self-confident, and he's a deep thinker. But he doesn't let things like that, I don't think, they don't really get to him. He's able to shut that off and just get on with his job and get on with his task and do what he loves doing, which is driving racing cars.

"Actually, I think it got to Mercedes," he said in terms of that controversial night. "And instead of saying OK, accepting it and moving on, it started to affect their psyche, which is an interesting one. That's from the outside, and I might be completely wrong. They just couldn't let it go. Psychologically, they couldn't let it go."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Editor, 13/09/2024 17:30

"
Ah, "Crofty", a grown man who actually giggles... often at his own 'jokes'."

Rating: Positive (4) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

2. Posted by Anthony, 13/09/2024 17:27

"I agree with others that the Sky team are dreadful. David Croft is the worst and I turn the sound off for most of the race."

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3. Posted by Editor, 13/09/2024 15:11

"Sky pays a lot of money to Liberty/F1 for its broadcast monopoly.

As for Liberty assembling a team... God forbid, it might not be as annoyingly nationalistic but it would probably consist of Taylor Swift, Brad Pitt and one of the Kardashians."

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4. Posted by NEEDFORSPEED, 13/09/2024 15:02

"I do not understand why Liberty media does not get an American Team to cover the races. We have had competent announcer for years.(Bob Varsha) The Sky Sports team is so British Biased it is not fun to watch the pre and post race coverage. I just watch the races with the sound down most of the time."

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5. Posted by Spindoctor, 13/09/2024 11:44

"Sky TV coverage is abysmal - yet another reason to not purchase it!
I only watch the highlights these days on FTA TV, though I'd pay F1 directly if it were available in UK at a sensible price.
Dorna's MotoGP streaming service, which I subscribe to, is very good & owing to the lack of British riders, not jingoistic.

"

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6. Posted by Chester, 13/09/2024 10:44

"I'm glad I'm not the only one who senses this "bias". I did leave Sky for F1 TV this year and do prefer it. But I do miss looking at Danica Patrick- but F1 TV does have the fabulous Ruth Buscombe."

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7. Posted by kenji, 13/09/2024 2:46

"@Meatball....Blatant British bias has been the 'raison d'etre' of this Sky team for a long time. Just give Lazenby/Hill and Davidson the Herbert treatment and 'lights out and away we go. Perhaps add Croft as well. Surely there must be better people with knowledge to handle this on an international basis.. "

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8. Posted by meatball, 12/09/2024 22:06

"I had one foot out the door with Sky F1 with how biased they already were, it is blatant.... Them bringing in Danika and her right-wing ignorance was all the help I needed in walking away... "

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9. Posted by Anthony, 12/09/2024 21:41

"I think that a national characteristic of Dutch people is to be fairly blunt. They are not being rude but simply saying exactly what they think. For a British person this can be a little disarming until one gets used to it and I think that it means that Max is a little misunderstood here in the UK.

I have been lucky enough to meet Max a couple of times and he was absolutely charming!"

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10. Posted by Celtic Tiger, 12/09/2024 20:25

"It doesn't take a genius to point this out but it nice when they do."

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11. Posted by Ricardo_sanchez, 12/09/2024 17:35

"The most interesting part of that interview is the bit about Mercedes being so badly affected by Abu Dhabi 2021. I think Newey is absolutely correct in what he says. I don’t think Mercedes will fully recover from that until next year when Hamilton has moved on to Ferrari. "

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12. Posted by danielmb, 12/09/2024 15:43

"Like all good villains, their last names start with a “V”, like Darth Vader, Voldemort and Cruella de Vil. Yeah, thats the ticket!!"

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13. Posted by Max Noble, 12/09/2024 14:32

"That’s why marketing hate having engineers in the meeting. They tend to speak their mind. Love this guy. A respectful gentleman… who politely speaks his mind…
"

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Vettel and Verstappen "demonised" by "nationalistic" British media, says Newey

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