A furious Daniel Ricciardo blasted Formula 1 for repeatedly replaying Romain Grosjean’s awful crash on the broadcast during the red flag period of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The cameras followed the leaders after the Frenchman’s car went up in flames upon hitting the barrier on the opening lap, only returning to the scene once it was established Grosjean had emerged from the wreckage.
However, with the teams and drivers watching on in the pit-lane, the coverage went on to show the accident and Romain’s subsequent escape from multiple perspectives for much of the 70-minute race suspension.
“I don’t want to comment too much on the race,” Ricciardo told Ziggo Sport in the paddock. “I want to express my disgust and disappointment with F1.
“The way the incident of Grosjean was broadcast over and over, the replays, it was completely disrespectful and inconsiderate for his family, for all our families, watching.
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“We are going racing again in an hour and every time we look at the TV it is a ball of fire and his car is cut in half.
“We can see that tomorrow. We don’t need to see that today.
“For me, it was entertainment and they are playing with all our emotions and I thought it was pretty disgusting.
“Hopefully, some other drivers have spoken up but if that is not how we all really feel I will be very surprised.”
Sebastian Vettel also admitted some discomfort at the continued crash coverage.
“People like to see this stuff, I guess, otherwise the director or whoever wouldn’t show it again and again and again,” he said via RaceFans.
“People like crashes and maybe sometimes they forget that we are behind the wheel. So I guess you could say it’s part of the show. So that’s why I disappeared and tried not to look at the images too much.”
On the accident itself, the four-time world champion voiced his relief at Grosjean’s escape but did admit it was tough to go racing again.
“First I didn’t understand. Then obviously I saw the fire and then I was asking all of the time if he’s out and they said they don’t know, that was a bad feeling” he said.
“Obviously once I jumped out of the car and I realised he’s out that’s the main message of the day. I hope he’s as good as he can be. I don’t know how he managed to get out because the car seemed to catch fire immediately.
“It wasn’t easy to get back in but I think it was probably best to get straight back in rather than wait for a week.”