BBC Coverage

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by V12

Does anyone know if the BBC are planning to do an "F1 Night" on Saturday night/Sunday morning for Melbourne similar to what ITV did when they first got the coverage in 1997? (the only good point of their F1 coverage!)

Since the race has been inexplicably moved even later (better for the Australian fans I guess?), they'll have an extra couple of hours of Sunday morning to play with, and I think it would be great.

IIRC the ITV one had the Grand Prix movie, a review of the 1958 F1 season, and loads of other excellent and interesting programmes too

---

I remember ITV did a week long preview of the 1999 season with an excellent series of programmes, i still have them on video

On the Tuesday night before Australia, they showed a one hour documentary which was basically a video diary of Jordan's 1998 season. Then on Wednesday, Murray Walkers Top 10 Drivers, that i thought was excellent. Then On thursday night they had their official season preview show from Barcelona.

I dont think the BBC will do anything similar but i have noticed a few pieces of achive footage on the BBC Sport website including Murray Walkers Great GP's.

One thing though im happy about that will return, Martin Brundle's grid walks

If there was still any lingering doubt about The Chain, this snippet from Jake Humphrey's latest blogshould dispel it:

Quote:

---

We shouldn't underestimate how much people are keen to have The Chain kicking off every Grand Prix. I watched the new opening titles resplendent with that tune this week - I wish I could reveal what they're like but if I did there may be someone else introducing the first race. They're great, though - fast-paced, slick and certainly very different to what's gone before.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dave Brockman

If there was still any lingering doubt about The Chain, this snippet from Jake Humphrey's latest blogshould dispel it:

---

I've seen BBC advertising for the new season with The Chain in the background too

That advert is absolutely terrible. I'd go far as to say its an insult. Whoever came up with that silly concept deserves to have a shoe thrown at them at the very least.

At least they had the chain at the end! I would say thats garunteement of the chain in the opening titles, especially coinciding with that snippet by Jake humphreys from Dave.

Bring Forth "The Chain" makes me remember the good ol' days.

Any Canadians know if TSN will be using BBC feed?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewben..._the_winn.html

Can't wait to watch the 86 race!

OMG!

How great is it now that we no longer have to put up with Mark 'points to the obvious' Blundell anymore.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wedge

OMG!

How great is it now that we no longer have to put up with Mark 'points to the obvious' Blundell anymore.

---

I agree, it was really a breath of fresh air.

At first glance, i found their coverage to be quite impressive, right from the classic base solo from "The Chain" (excellent intro by the way as well) to their pre-race/qualifying build up devoting more attention to the rest of the grid.

I tried watching Speed TV for FP2, but had to switch to a BBC feed.
Peter Windsor wouldn't shut up about USGPE.
Then Steve Varsha assured me that they will be talking about it incessantly throughout the season
(not his exact words) F1 on Speed TV......"muerto"

I enjoyed the BBC's coverage of qualifying. They kept with a very similar format to that of ITV (pretty good in my opinion) but simply changed the presenters and pundits. It was so good to watch Formula 1 without commercial breaks!

Good fun to have red button coverage of the practice sessions too. It was great to wake up a little early on Friday and watch the last forty minutes of the the second practice before getting ready to go to work.

Lovely to have The Chain back.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by VkmSpouge

I enjoyed the BBC's coverage of qualifying. They kept with a very similar format to that of ITV (pretty good in my opinion) but simply changed the presenters and pundits. Good fun to have red button coverage of the practice sessions too. It was great to wake up a little early on Friday and watch the last forty minutes of the the second practice before getting ready to go to work.
Lovely to have The Chain back.

---

Agree with every word!

It was a bit rough around the edges this morning but in time that should subside. I was pleasantly surprised at how DC & EJ weren't as annoying as I thought they would be, Jake Wotsit was alright and Martin Brundle/Ted Kravitz were easily the best of the ITV bunch to bring over.

The only question mark for me is Legard but I'm sure once he switches out of radio-mode he'll grow on me.

I'll cut'n'paste my post from a broadcasting forum :p


Real shame about the lack of onboards or interactive coverage when, on Sky at least, one screen was being wasted showing a replay of practice.

Legard was impressive, sounding calm and authoritative. He didn't really gel with Brundle, but it's early days.

Great idea having DC and EJ bantering, but someone really needs to tell EJ not to hold his microphone like he's at a bad karaoke!

Lee McKenzie seemed unsure whether Hamilton had scraped through to Q2, and completely missed her chance at a follow-up question. But again, early days.

Real shame that the last few minutes, including the press conference, seemed rushed. Hopefully the press conference will appear as a separate link on the website, or at least included in its entirety on the repeat.

Graphics are still annoying in the safe zone, but I appreciate that's down to FOM and not the BBC.

Overall I'd give the qualifying coverage 8/10. Far better than most of what ITV ever achieved, but definitely room for a little improvement.

BBC were definitely the better of the three coverages I watched, and better than ITV :up:

German RTL was boring and they sounded bored as usual.
Spanish La Sexta was nowhere near last year's Telecinco, but I guess they still have time to learn - maybe their football comentators could give them a hand :p :

http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_3_166.gif

My favourite bit of the BBC coverage so far: at the end of Q1, I found myself waiting for the ad break to start, and of course it didn't!

One unpleasant ITV habit that they seem to have picked up is the dismissive treatment of press conferences. On the live coverage we only got to hear Jenson's comments then they cut away to interview Richard Branson (who is undoubtedly newsworthy, bit we *do* want to hear the rest of the press conference!). Even in the replay this afternoon they only showed Jenson and Rubens, still omitting Vettel's interview.

On different forums Legard is now the new Cock.

There's something not quite right with Legard. With the likes of David Croft on 5live (who also commentates for Setanta with boxing), John Hindenhaugh or whatever it is on Radio Le Mans and domestic racing, Ben Edwards, you know you're hearing a commentary for motor racing, but with Legard it felt like the Grand National. Probably still stuck in radio mode.

EJ was great. Really need a range of opinions not sycophants, just like this forum needs the Tamburellos and Garry Walkers.

The intro, after 12 years, what a joy it is to finally hear The Chain again, makes me want to listen to some Fleetwood Mac now

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/moto...ne/7969481.stm

This i think is brilliant, they've gone away from ITV's treand of simply pasting a million images of Lewis Hamilton over Lift Me Up

I didn't like EJ. He just sounds like he wants to argue for the sake of it.

Well from our side in SA it was much better. I thought the main commentary was miles better than James Allan and his total focus on firstly MS and then lately Hamilton. And it was so nice not to have breaks cos that meant they kept the commentary going, rather than cutting but to the three morons in our local studio who, to quote Maurice Hamilton, wouldn't know a camshaft if they fell down one.

Well it seems really good so far :) Will have to get another box to plug my pc monitor into.

Red button takes too long - given up and gone to the PC

Press red now, there's an F1 Forum with plenty of highlights and punditry :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by grantb4

I didn't like EJ. He just sounds like he wants to argue for the sake of it.

---

He should join this forum.

I loved my setup: big widescreen with the main feed, and a smaller 4:3 with the onboard, plus laptop for live timing!

There were a few rookie errors; EJ needs to calm down and Lee McKenzie needs watch some VTs of Louise Goodman; but overall it was a mighty fine effort for their first GP in 12 years, and wonderful to see how they took advantage of the technology available to them.

And NO AD BREAKS! :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dave Brockman

I loved my setup: big widescreen with the main feed, and a smaller 4:3 with the onboard, plus laptop for live timing!

There were a few rookie errors; EJ needs to calm down and Lee McKenzie needs watch some VTs of Louise Goodman; but overall it was a mighty fine effort for their first GP in 12 years, and wonderful to see how they took advantage of the technology available to them.

And NO AD BREAKS! :D

---

I need another TV for the onboard :(

Fantastic job though. Forum on the red button and I'd imagine highlights throughout the day. Along with the practice coverage, classic GPs... if they doubled the licence fee next year it'd still be worth paying :D

Forum is great :) I'm certainly thinking of getting a freesat box and hooking my nice big 24" monitor up to that so we can have incar and the main feed all at the same time. One question. Will the F1 ever be streamed?

During quali i was all set to get up and make a brew in the ads before i remembered there would be no ads! EJ is a little bit too kiss arse for me, i reckon he and DC will have a right barney before much longer. DC has looked at him in a "WTF are you on about" manner a couple of times.

Other than that Brundles grid walk was great, commentary was good and thankfully no more James "stop the cock" Allen.

In the post-race discussion on the red button, EJ needs a sock in his mouth. He's spoiling what was in every other respect a brilliant bit of television. :s

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dave Brockman

In the post-race discussion on the red button, EJ needs a sock in his mouth. He's spoiling what was in every other respect a brilliant bit of television. :s

---

Just a bit. But that said it did make for interesting TV imo. I thought Coulthard was right in backing Vettel's apology :up: Vettel lost nothing through it and probably only gained respect.....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Daniel

One question. Will the F1 ever be streamed?

---

Might have misunderstood what you're asking but it's streamed on the BBC F1 page for UK viewers.

I actually enjoyed the arguments between DC and EJ, I thought they were fun! Especially the debate about Vettel's apparent apology to Mario Thiessen... DC saying it was a smart bit of diplomacy, then EJ coming straight back with "no, it's a sign of weakness" :)

Damn it's gonna cost me a fortune getting a couple of extra TV's, but it'll be worth it!
Good coverage, really enjoyed the forum afterwards, still not changed my opinion of EJ but I was pleasently surprised with DC.

A fairly balanced approach to the British drivers, was expecting more fake excuses for Lewis and fawning over Jenson, but they kept it to an acceptable level.

I actually jumped up a couple of times for toilet/coffee breaks expecting it to go to commercials - could get used to this :)

The only thing that spoilt the coverage was that I didn't have to get up at 4am to watch it!

I thought the whole coverage was great. Jake Humphrey was very capable, Coulthard was very good too. Eddie Jordan? Well, I'm not sure really. He needs to know when to be quiet but he has some interesting views.

The forum was excellent. A whole hour of interviews and analysis is fantastic. I enjoyed the interview with Vijay Mallya, they didn't go on about Hamilton, they rightly praised his performance today, which was great, and I agree with DC about Vettel.

Young Seb number one :) is friends with Mario Thiessen, probably Robert Kubica as well, and there's no point losing friendships over something like that. Webber and Vettel get on ok despite their coming together in Fuji 07.

To say that it's a weakness is stupid on Jordan's part. There is no way in hell that Vettel will not fight Robert next time they come across each other on the track.

I think the new BBC F1 presentation line-up is good. I'm glad that they got Martin Brundle. Good to see that Ted Kravitz is still down in the pit lane too.

Jonathan Legard is good but I'm not sure that his style goes well with that of Martin Brundle.

Really glad that James Allen has disappeared though. That was my greatest wish for the BBC line-up.

The coverage was good, for some reason I kept expecting ad breaks lol.

I like the EJ DC debate as Eddie says it how it is where old square chin dances around it.
I just hope DC dosn't go on in every race about when he was a driver
Get over it now David your on the tele and not racing now

Well done to the BBC

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Triumph

Really glad that James Allen has disappeared though. That was my greatest wish for the BBC line-up.

---

He should be back in the pitlane I think.

Not a great commentator but he was better than Kravitz in the roving pitlane reporter role and his blogs are excellent.

Overall very good. Also found myself waiting for ad breaks to make a cup of tea!
If i was going to be picky for me Legard just talked a bit too much. Maybe coming from radio gives a tendency to leave no dead air and try to describe absolutely everything that's happening but at least he is knowledgeable which is the most important thing.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Malllen

He should be back in the pitlane I think.

Not a great commentator but he was better than Kravitz in the roving pitlane reporter role and his blogs are excellent.

---

I've been really impressed with his blogs, he certainly knows his stuff but as a commentator he was really poor. Overall a great first attempt from the BBC

I was very impressed. A few more detailed comments:

Jake Humphrey did a very capable job, but I feel he is probably still over-compensating for maybe being seen in some quarters as a children's presenter. He seemed to be trying very hard to be serious and 'proper', and came over as a little stilted as a result. I'm sure he will become very good given a short time, though.

Lee McKenzie really didn't impress me at all, not that she had much chance to. Again, probably 'first time' nerves. Ted Kravitz is very good, though, I think.

Jonathan Legard seems like an excellent choice as main commentator, though he is maybe a little verbose. I'd probably put this down to his transfer straight from radio, as of course a radio commentator has to say more in order to 'paint the pictures' than a TV equivalent. Martin Brundle was really excellent as ever, and I reckon the pairing with Legard will gel pretty quickly.

I didn't watch the post-race discussion with EJ and DC; from what we saw pre-race, maybe Jordan is a bit 'excitable', shall we say, but this is surely why he's been employed. Coulthard is exactly as good as I thought he'd be — articulate and reasoned.

All in all, a great start by the BBC, and I'm impressed how quickly the coverage has hit the spot.