OPINION – F1 may be viewed as the pinnacle of motorsport, but Australian Supercars puts the championship to shame when it comes to broadcast quality.

Miniboxes are great, but Supercars is streets ahead of F1 when making a feature of the on-track action.

Supercars follows the action; F1 follows the leader

It is absolutely true that there is no way of pleasing 100 percent of people 100 percent of the time, but it has been particularly notable this year that there has been an increase in complaints over F1 race broadcasts.

While some have centred around issues caused by the regulations – speed graphics conveniently going missing when super clipping is happening or, notably at Suzuka, onboard cameras being unavailable in those moments – these can be excused as a PR exercise.

It is also likely that this was the broadcast team adapting to the new era, so while this did create a storm on social media, these are minor gripes in the grand scheme of things.

The larger focus is the amount of action that F1 misses.

In reaction to complaints that battles were being missed, mini-boxes were added to the broadcast. Initially, this was a welcome addition, but it was quickly obvious that these were – and still are – not being used properly.

Putting my fan hat on for a moment, these should be used to show action only when the battle at the front if fierce, thus keeping viewers informed with battles elsewhere.

However, if there is no chance of a pass of the action at the front has cooled, use the mini-box to house the leaders, while the interesting stuff gets top billing on the full screen.

Singapore was perhaps the worst example so far this season.

Although the final race of the triple-header was admittedly not the most thrilling of races, viewers were left to follow a lacklustre ‘fight’ at the front, while battles raged behind – Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon getting feisty yet being placed in a screen so small it was all but pointless.

Bringing Supercars into the mix, I turn to the first race of last weekend’s Gold Coast 500.

Like Singapore, there was rain on a street track. Like Singapore, there was driver who escaped and was comfortable at the front. Like Singapore, the race objectively wasn’t the most thrilling affair.

However, you wouldn’t have known this from the broadcast. Chaz Mostert quickly put himself to the front of the pack and disappeared into the distance.

But instead of following him as he pulled out an ever-increasing lead, the focus switched moment to moment, following whatever was the most interesting action at any given moment.

A battle for 17th place? Yes please. Drivers well out of the championship picture? Yes please. If there was action, it was shown.

Yes, there were, of course, moments where things were missed, and replays were required, but those moments were the exception and not a consistent fumble. Even better, all this was achieved without the use of miniboxes.

The main gripe here is that Supercars currently have great-looking cars, arguably the best-looking touring cars on the planet, but the action this year has often been lacking. Aside from the last few laps of the Bathurst 1000 earlier in October, the showpiece event was a real damp squib.

But this listlessness is often masked by a broadcast that seems to work overtime to create something to demand your attention. This isn’t through the commentary team going nuclear or squealing in such a high pitch that even dogs would struggle to hear; it’s through the pictures and a healthy element of wheel knowledge being used to find where something is about to kick off.

It should be noted that F1 appeared to hear some of the criticism that came its way following the Singapore weekend, with an improved showing in the United States.

This was partly helped by a track that promotes closer racing and more overtakes, but it must be conceded that the use of miniboxes was improved, with the leaders, as suggested above, pushed to one side more often than not for the greater action.

However, for the most part of the season, and this is only how it has come across and is not an aspersion on anyone involved, there feels like an element of arrogance in that this is F1 and you’re hardly likely to switch off because a pass in the midfield was missed.

Of course, this train of thought would be correct with a one-off race, especially for the hardcore fans.

However, those with a shorter-term connection to the championship may see a continuous series of races with no action and do just that. There are only so many laps that you can follow the leaders, being kept on tenterhooks by a gap that is shrinking by a hundredth per lap.

For the good of F1, I implore the broadcast team to down tools between the United States and Sao Paulo Grands Prix, and use the flashy Biggin Hill production room to study the Gold Coast Supercars broadcast.

As said at the start, you will never satisfy everyone 100 percent of the time, but if there is a focus on the action, regardless of which position it is for, there will be an immediate upturn in the fan response.

Let’s not leave all of the best bits to be picked up by social media or a highlights reel.