Broadcaster Sky Sports has been forced to pull a ‘disrespectful’ TV advert which wished F1 fans a “Merry Christmas” while showing footage of Max Verstappen’s shocking crash at the British Grand Prix earlier this season.
Red Bull racer Verstappen and Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton are gearing up for a thrilling finale this weekend as they head into the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix level on points.
The build-up to the race has been tense with challenger Verstappen accused of reckless driving last time round in Saudi Arabia, where Hamilton took the checkered flag to move onto 369.5 points alongside the Dutchman.
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The pair have clashed frequently throughout their title battle this season – including at Silverstone back in July, when a collision resulted in Verstappen plowing into the trackside barriers.
The Dutchman reportedly lost consciousness in the impact and was airlifted to hospital for precautionary checks before being cleared.
Predictably, there was outrage among some F1 fans when Sky Sports used the incident in an advert aired during a practice session at Abu Dhabi on Friday.
After a slow-motion reply of the crash, a “Merry Christmas” message appeared on screen, making clear Sky’s loyalties to British star Hamilton as he seeks to win a record eight world title.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Who thought of this?? Who edited this?? WHO APPROVED OF THIS??? <a href="https://twitter.com/SkySportsF1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SkySportsF1</a> this is so disrespectful to use a crash as a Christmas greeting?? <a href="https://t.co/O1nzlSq8wm">pic.twitter.com/O1nzlSq8wm</a></p>— D 🏁 (@dazalexf1) <a href="https://twitter.com/dazalexf1/status/1469251073462386694?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 10, 2021</a></blockquote>
There was outrage online, with one fan sharing the clip and writing: “Who thought of this? Who edited this? Who approved of this? This is so disrespectful to use a crash as a Christmas greeting.”