Formula One Management has denied claims by fans they edited footage of Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s pole-winning lap to disguise his car “super-clipping”.
No onboard footage was shown from Antonelli’s car as he set his pole-winning lap time at the beginning of Q3.
FOM subsequently uploaded footage of Antonelli’s pole position to YouTube. Ordinarily the entire lap is shown from the driver’s onboard camera, as was the case for the two previous grands prix this year.
However the footage of Antonelli’s lap cuts away from his onboard camera to trackside views as he rounds the Spoon curves. No onboard footage is shown over the rest of the lap.
Therefore there is no footage of him passing through 130R and into the chicane. This is the section of the lap where drivers’ speed reduces most significantly due to their power units running low on electrical energy and ‘super-clipping’.
Many fans accused FOM of deliberately editing the footage to hide the ‘super-clipping’, which has become a widely-criticised feature of the new rules. YouTube’s data from the two previous pole lap videos F1 uploaded this year show viewer attention was highest at the points on the lap where the cars slowed for this reason.
FOM denied the allegation. “Unfortunately Kimi’s onboard camera had a technical issue part way through his lap, meaning we are unable to bring you the lap onboard in full,” it stated in a reply.
During the live broadcast, the official Formula 1 channel showed a replay of onboard footage from Russell’s car passing through the same section of track on his Q2 lap just five minutes before covering Antonelli’s pole-winning lap.
Onboard footage which is not available for broadcast from cars live is often released after sessions are completed. This has even led the stewards to change in penalty decision on past occasions.
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2026 Japanese Grand Prix
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Published by
Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 – when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring journalist, Keith began running the site full-time in 2010, achieving a long-held ambition to dedicate his full attention to his passion for motor racing. View all posts by Keith Collantine