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Welcome back to Prime Tire, where today we’re talking all things Formula One broadcasting — a topic that many drivers and fans have been discussing around recent controversies.
I’m Alex, and Madeline Coleman will be along later.
F1’s Latest TV AdditionsAnd the other sport eying its tech
I was lucky enough to tick off two things I’d long wanted to yesterday.
One was to hear firsthand from a motorsport legend: seven-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez. The other was to visit F1’s TV nerve center.
This is the Media and Technology Center, just a few miles further down from London’s southern edge. It’s on the same site as the always amusingly named London Biggin Hill airport.
You guessed it – it’s on a BIG HILL.
Like Silverstone, the area was once a World War II airfield. But Biggin Hill’s main F1 link was really forged when the championship’s former supremo, Bernie Ecclestone, based F1’s broadcast operations there in the early 1990s.
Over the years, the site has grown ever more advanced. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, it has housed most of the editing kit needed to air every F1 TV and audio broadcast.
Previously, this was all carted around the world to each race. But those horrible lockdowns forced F1 to bring forward a plan that was actually earmarked for 2025 by five years. It still has a TV compound on location at each race, which doubles as the broadcast production booth if the connection link to Biggin Hill is somehow severed.
This occurred during FP1 in Mexico a week ago, when nearby construction work disrupted normal operations.
But F1’s traveling TV production is much smaller than it used to be. Instead, the 650 terabytes of data captured at each race weekend are beamed to Biggin Hill for editing into every official F1 broadcast format.
It’s a very impressive place. Although there really aren’t a lot of windows.
Here are a few things I learned:
Remember the annoying advert for the F1 movie that was being superimposed above the Montreal hairpin during the Canadian GP? That and all of F1’s virtual signage is keyed into the cameras themselves, using various real physical points the cameras track as markers.
FIA race control audio could one day return to F1 broadcasts. But only with FIA approval.
And this would only cover race elements such as the announcement of virtual or real safety cars. This is what already occurs in Formula E and the World Endurance Championship, and would not be a repeat of “No, Michael, no, no!”
Marquez, who was attending the event as his Ducati team shares a sponsor with F1 in Chinese technology company Lenovo, is hoping MotoGP can soon have similar rider-to-team radio communication.
MotoGP star Marc Marquez ahead of his 2018 F1 test at the Red Bull Ring (Red Bull Content Pool)
“The biggest difference between F1 and MotoGP is the radio,” Marquez said, presumably forgetting the two wheels missing from his bike.
“The way that they have the connection between the driver and the (pit) box. We are testing that already. To maybe have the radio also in MotoGP in the future.”
The reason it doesn’t already is weight. Riders don’t want even 200g extra, as Marquez put it, for a microphone battery pack that could cause a potential serious issue in one of their many crashes.
Fair enough. The Spaniard had his right arm in a sling after breaking his shoulder at the start of the recent Indonesian GP. Resulting surgery has caused Marquez to miss the end of the 2025 season — where he’d been crowned champion again with five races to spare.
This was truly one of sport’s great achievements, given earlier injuries had already badly disrupted Marquez’s glittering career. His seventh crown also put him level with his legendary old foe Valentino Rossi, each with seven premier-class motorcycling world titles.
“We are crashing often, it will be a lot of kilos on that impact,” he joked of his concerns about the current attempt to replicate F1 team radio systems in MotoGP.
Marquez drove an F1 car once (above): a 2012 Red Bull car bedecked in the 2018 colors of what was then called Toro Rosso and is these days Racing Bulls. His best time at the Red Bull Ring was 10 seconds slower than the pole time of the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix — albeit when using less grippy demonstration tires.
I just love a motorsport crossover, OK?
But enough of my fawning. Here’s Madeline with an update on Red Bull’s 2026 driver dilemma.
Inside the Paddock with Madeline ColemanRed Bull’s 2026 conundrum continues
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies remained firm after the Mexico City GP: The team is going to “take all the time we need” to decide who will partner with Max Verstappen in 2026.
The logic is to “give these guys as many chances as they can to demonstrate on track who is the best,” Mekies added.
The comments came on a weekend when Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad participated in FP1 in place of Verstappen. He set the sixth-fastest time in that session. Yuki Tsunoda (who was 0.093 seconds slower than Lindblad in FP1) also enjoyed one of his strongest recent weekends. His Q2 lap time just 0.2 seconds slower than Verstappen.
As Mekies said last Sunday, “Yuki had his best weekend in a long time. We have said that a few times, but it is true.”
Tsunoda started 10th, but was up to eighth by Lap 2 of 71, surviving the early chaos. According to Mekies, he was then only slightly slower than Verstappen’s impressive pace on their long first stints with the tricky medium tires.
Red Bull delayed Tsunoda’s pit stop to hold up McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, then his service ended up being “a slightly long pit stop. So we killed a few points that he would have scored on merit,” Mekies said. The Japanese driver ultimately finished the race in 11th, just shy of points.
“It’s one of the reasons why we want to take a bit more time before we make a decision on the drivers,” Mekies continued. “Yuki is making steps forward, the other kids are making steps forward as well, so we have no reason to rush the decision. We will take a bit more time.”
F1 2025 is rapidly coming to an end. Only four grands prix and two sprint races remain, and neither Red Bull nor Racing Bulls have a fully confirmed driver lineup for 2026.
Of the other “kids,” Isack Hadjar has starred this season, and Lindblad has impressed Red Bull with his pace in Formula Two. Plus, Liam Lawson could yet secure his F1 future.
But the only certain spot right now is Verstappen’s. He’s staying put for another season.
Meet This Mercedes JuniorKenzo Craigie: Coming to car racing soon
Sam Joesph, a huge F1 fan in addition to being one of our superstar news editors at The Athletic, produced this great piece to mark the end of Black History Month in the UK as October concludes.
Sam interviewed Kenzo Craigie — a 15-year-old Black karting racer who is on Mercedes’ F1 books as a junior driver.
Watch Craigie’s sensational (and controversial) battle to win the 2024 FIA Karting World Championship in the Open Kart junior class. Then be impressed by his mature comments on his hopes for his motorsport career in Sam’s piece, as well as how he’d one day like help his idol Lewis Hamilton improve F1 diversity.
Kenzo recently revealed he’ll now no longer be racing in karting — typically the very first step on the single-seater ladder for a young F1 hopeful.
Lewis Hamilton and Kenzo Craigie at the 2024 U.S. Grand Prix (Mercedes)
He teased on his Instagram page that he’s heading to full car racing in 2026, which would likely mean entering one or more Formula Four or Formula Regional championships.
Mercedes has a strong history of backing talented young drivers — including its current F1 lineup of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, plus Haas racer Esteban Ocon.
Russell in particular had to win successive championships for Mercedes to keep progressing him up the ladder.
So, to use one of Mercedes boss Toto Wolff’s favorite metaphors, Craigie will also have to swim fast and avoid sinking if we’re to continue hearing his name on the long path to F1.
Outside the points
🍿 Madeline revealed that Aston Martin has announced a charming new collaboration with Pixar.
‼️ Ex-F1 driver Felipe Massa’s “Crashgate” lawsuit hearing concluded in London on Friday. A ruling will take at least another few days to emerge (possibly next week), but here’s a summary of the key arguments heard in court this week.
🇺🇸 Luke Smith revealed the latest on Cadillac’s progress toward its 2026 F1 debut.
📣 And it wasn’t just George Russell getting incredibly sassy during last Sunday’s Mexico City GP when it came to the Lap 1 corner cutting. Fernando Alonso was too, as revealed in this team radio mash-up on F1’s official YouTube channel.
🤓 We’ll be running a full feature on how F1’s team radio broadcasts work early next week.
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