Nov.30 (GMM) Toto Wolff has backed Formula 1’s decision to broadcast multiple replays of the horrifying Romain Grosjean crash on Sunday.
Daniel Ricciardo lashed out at the decision, admitting he felt “disgust and disappointment with F1” as the multiple replays ran during the red flag period.
“The way the incident of Grosjean was broadcast over and over was completely disrespectful and inconsiderate for his family – for all of our families,” said the Australian.
“We were going to go 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. It was entertainment and they are playing with all of our emotions.”
Valtteri Bottas agreed.
“I look at it once because I wanted to see what happened, but then I didn’t want to see it anymore – but it was being shown again everywhere,” the Mercedes driver told Ilta Sanomat newspaper.
And quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel explained: “I went to my room. I didn’t want to look at the accident very much.
“I know a lot of people like to see footage of fire like that, but this is about people. I think we shouldn’t show such accidents so much on TV.”
However, McLaren boss Andreas Seidl said his drivers actually wanted to watch the footage during the long red flag stoppage in order to understand what happened.
“I spoke briefly with my drivers before the second start,” he said. “Everyone processes it in their own way.
“Carlos and Lando looked at the images from the pitwall – that was their way of dealing with it.”
Bottas thinks Formula 1 fans should express their opinion about the way in which the sport handled the situated from a broadcasting point of view.
“I think the fans and viewers should be asked if they want to see it 20 times,” he said.
“Personally, I wanted to avoid it because I had a race to focus on.”
However, Bottas and Lewis Hamilton’s boss thinks the replays of the incident can be justified on the grounds of “transparency” in the internet age.
“If Romain had been more seriously injured, we would have withdrawn our cars,” said Toto Wolff. “Life is more important than racing.
“But we should show the replays of the accident. We need transparency,” the Mercedes chief added. “Otherwise, someone would have filmed it on a phone camera and put it on the internet.
“Either way, you can watch the recordings of what happened,” said Wolff.