Carlos Sainz rows back on 'spicy girlfriends' criticism of F1 after Singapore intervention

Carlos Sainz has backtracked on his criticism of F1's camera operations after the Singapore GP, believing the fact he mentioned driver girlfriends added "spice" to his comments. After the Marina Bay race, the Williams driver was critical of F1's world feed television direction, claiming that "they go overboard a little, showing the celebrities and girlfriends" at a cost of showing on-track overtakes and action. In Singapore, Sainz's battle from 18th to 10th drew little coverage, as did Fernando Alonso hunting down the brake-less Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages to finish within half a second, having taken 43s out of Hamilton in three laps. F1 produces the world feed footage, which is then picked up by broadcasters such as Sky Sports F1, meaning broadcasters cannot make their own in-race camera decisions.  However, two weeks on, Sainz has rowed back on his criticism of the TV coverage and felt that F1's direction is usually good, but that Singapore was an outlier, with his comments experiencing a boost due to his mentioning of driver girlfriends. "I think, like always, my comments were blown a bit out of proportion, and I think the fact that I mentioned the girlfriends or WAGs brought a bit of spice to the comment, and it went a bit more viral worldwide. "What it should have been was just a simple critique, about it was clear in Singapore that the broadcast didn't do a good job, as there are other races where they do an incredible job and show us incredible things and incredible track action. "For me, Singapore was not good, but at the same time, I have good weekends in my life where I perform at a very high-level and on other weekends, I don't do a good job, and you guys analyse it, you give me a rating of four out of 10 and then tell me I did a 10 out of 10. "Everybody has their own right to say, but for me, Singapore was not good enough, and it missed way too much track action, but that doesn't mean it is a criticism of them in the way they do the job. "Singapore as a race is difficult to overtake, and we miss so many on-track battles, and at the time, I mentioned the girlfriends, but looking back, they were not shown too much; they were more focused on Lando [Norris] vs Max [Verstappen], like there was going to be an accident or an overtake. "When you look at it, there was never going to be any action, but I hope that they didn't take it personally, or too hard, because it was just a simple criticism of Singapore not being good enough."