Shocking in F4 China: car races with livery copied from Ferrari, broadcast hides images
09/16/2024 02:36 PM
Wang Yi poleman… invisible
Imagine watching a race on TV and the poleman’s car is obscured by the broadcast due to copyright issues. This shocking incident happened to viewers of the Chinese Formula 4 championship, which took place this weekend at the Shanghai track: starting from the formation lap of one of the four scheduled races, the car of leader Wang Yi was literally hidden from viewers by applying a noticeable pixelated patch in the middle of the footage.
The copy of the Ferrari SF-24
The reason is simple: Wang’s car, number 68, took to the track with a livery that is a carbon copy of the Ferrari SF-24’s design, complete with sponsors and white and yellow stripes on the sidepods. All of this was done without any authorization from the Maranello team — which is not affiliated with the driver — nor from its commercial partners. This prompted the broadcast to take precautions by partially obscuring the footage to avoid potential legal actions.
Una cosa graciosa que pasó en esta ronda es que Wang Yi decidió usar una livery sospechosamente parecida a la de Ferrari y para evitar problemas legales tuvieron que censurarle cada vez que aparecía en pantalla. El problema es que en la segunda carrera salía desde la pole. https://t.co/jdmwAi9dxZpic.twitter.com/J00hKdQCPh
— Coronas de Laurel (@CoronasLaurelF1) September 15, 2024
The case of the 2024 Chinese GP
This isn’t the first time that Wang's car, managed by Champ Motorsport, has caused controversy: back in April, during the first round of the Chinese F4, which was a support category for Formula 1 at the 2024 Chinese GP weekend, the car appeared on track with the SF-24 livery (photo in the tweet above), catching the attention of some journalists present at the event. Since then, the team has slightly modified the design, mainly by applying some personalized sponsor logos and Champ Motorsport stickers on the sidepods (photo below). Evidently, it wasn't enough to convince the broadcast to stop hiding the images…
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