Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft had to reprimand his co-commentator Karun Chandhok during the FP2 broadcast at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. It came after the ex-HRT driver used blasphemous language.
The pair were discussing a dedicated Williams fan in the stands at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, when the cameras showed a supporter with a homemade sign saying: “I flew 10,000km to see Carbono’. This was a reference to the fan-made nickname for Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon.
Lead commentator Croft took this opportunity to share a fact about both Williams drivers having appendectomies, while also noting that their replacements, Oliver Bearman and Nyck de Vries, both scored points on their debuts.
“I need to call Anthony Davidson to find out if he had a more tenuous link, because I can’t remember it,” Chandhok responded, unimpressed by Croft’s trivia. Croft retorted: “I’m just backing up their efforts. I applaud that fan.”
Chandhok wasn’t appeased, and continued: “Why don’t we just say that?’I applaud that fan,’ rather than the world’s most tenuous link. Jesus Christ! Amazing. Crofty has officially lost it. [He] needs to go to bed.”
Croft soon stepped in, demanding an apology from his co-commentator. “And I know it’s Easter, but watch your language,” he said. Chandhok responded: “What do you mean?
This prompted the reply: “Your exclamation of my tenuous link there. Apologies, ladies and gentlemen, if anyone was offended by that.”
The drama during FP2 wasn’t confined to the commentary box either. As the clock dwindled down, Yuki Tsunoda made a mistake at the final corner, hitting the inside wall. The resulting damage broke his steering, causing him to crash into the outer barriers.
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With fragments of carbon fibre scattered across the track, the marshals had no choice but to wave the red flag.
“I just turned in too much and clipped the inside wall and had damage,” Tsunoda explained in the media pen. “After that, [I had] just no control, so yeah, apologies to the team. Pace was looking good, so [it is a] shame.”
He continued: “I mean, the confidence level is pretty good. I mean, the last soft run was a bit compromised with the warm-up and everything, but so far, pretty okay.
“I mean, I got limited time with the long run, which I caused by myself, so I can’t really complain. I definitely wanted to end it in a nicer way, for sure.”
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