Sky’s Monza Music Cutaway Splits F1 Fans: Grid Gigs Take Center Stage
The tifosi packed into Monza came for the scream of V6 engines. For a few minutes, they got a different kind of soundtrack.
Formula 1’s Grid Gigs returned at the Italian Grand Prix with Laura Pausini delivering a two-song set on a purpose-built stage, backed by a live band. The Grammy Award-winning Italian star sang in Italian and Spanish in front of the famous old grandstands, a made-for-TV spectacle dropped right into the heart of race day.
This time, though, it wasn’t just a trackside show. Sky Sports F1 cut away from its pre-race build-up to air Pausini’s performance in full. No split-screen. No picture-in-picture. The usual grid walk, strategy talk and last-minute tension gave way to a concert broadcast to millions.
When the music stopped, the cameras swung back to the paddock and the familiar faces on the Sky desk. The analysis resumed. But the interruption had already lit up social media.
Some viewers loved it. One fan called for Grid Gigs to become a permanent fixture, describing Pausini’s set as “absolutely brilliant” and saying they “thoroughly enjoyed it.” Another admitted they had never been fully convinced by previous Grid Gigs but felt this performance “can persuade me.”
The other side of the debate came in hard. The issue wasn’t just the music; it was the timing. Cutting into the build-up to one of the sport’s most historic races proved a step too far for plenty of traditionalists.
“If ‘Grid Gigs’ are going to be a thing in the future, I might have to rethink when I start watching this coverage,” one viewer wrote.
“Was Sky F1 forced to show this?” That suspicion was echoed elsewhere, with one fan asking: “Have FOM forced Sky F1 to show this Grid Gigs thing, I wonder? I’m pretty sure they’ve never bothered with it in the past.”
The reaction to the performance itself was just as polarised. Some branded it “embarrassing” and “drivel.” Others fired back with the opposite view, calling the show “amazing” and “emotional.” The divide could hardly have been clearer: those who see F1’s pre-race window as sacred, and those who are happy for it to double as a stage.
Pausini is no stranger to major sporting spotlights. Earlier this summer she appeared at the World Cup final in New Jersey, sharing the stage with Robbie Williams and Nicole Scherzinger for their ‘FIFA Anthem’, Desire. F1, eager to sharpen its own entertainment edge, has been building this Grid Gigs concept for a while.
The idea first appeared in Austin last year, where country artist Drake Milligan performed before the United States Grand Prix. It then surfaced in Las Vegas, with former One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson taking the microphone, and again in Miami this May, fronted by Colombian singer-songwriter Manuel Turizo.
Monza, though, was billed by F1 as its “biggest ever” Grid Gigs show, headlined by Pausini, the only Italian artist to have won a Grammy. The official announcement made it clear the performance would be live-streamed across F1’s social media platforms. It did not, however, spell out whether TV rights holders such as Sky would be expected to carry the concert live.
That silence now sits at the heart of the row. Was this a one-off editorial decision by a broadcaster chasing spectacle, or the start of a new obligation in the rights package? Fans watching at home don’t yet have an answer. What they do have is a new fault line in the modern F1 experience: where the sport ends and the show begins.
At Monza, for a few songs at least, the show won.
