[UK] So, how are you watching it?

[Dave B]

I'll be watching the Beeb highlights later to avoid Z-listers On Ice.

[BDunnell]

Excellent.

I didn't think it was bad of them talking and butting into each other as it happens from time to time. It was like they were commentating together for years.

Certainly it wasn't like Legard & Brundle who could never hit it off.

Quite so.

[Stuartf12007]

The BBC coverage was better than SKY's imo.

Sky have rubbish presenters.

James Allen i will avoid, as his voice does my head in, its like listening to Kermit the frog doing commentry...Awful!

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I'll be watching the Beeb highlights later to avoid Z-listers On Ice.

You know you're not forced to watch television. Why don't you read a book, or lean how to play the clarinet?

[christophulus]

I was impressed with the BBC coverage, the highlights were pretty comprehensive. I did miss a bit of the pre race build up but I think they managed to squeeze all the important info in there.

I imagine they aren't allowed to just show a full race re-run anyway, as part of the licensing deal.

[Mark]

The BBC's 2 hour highlights show was broken up as:

Intro - 10 minutes
Race - 70 minutes
Analysis - 30 minutes

Do we really need so much analysis? Why not have a whole race re-run and extended analysis via the F1 forum?

It's probably in the contract that they can only have a certain percentage of the race. It's not about the length of the timeslot.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

As long as Sky doesn't resort to this style of presenting.....

[youtube]JzU8DpM1oFA[/youtube]

[BDunnell]

My word.

[Robinho]

The BBC stuff was ok, I'd seen qually so the straight in approach I quite liked, the race edit was pretty good, although I'd obviously rather have seen more racing laps, and I did think the quantity of analysis was disproportianate to the racing, although I expect that was to do with the sky deal. Ben Edwards did a decent job, and I'll happily watch the BBC live races, but I think if I can see the other races live I will, but the highlights are a decent substitute

Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using Tapatalk

[acescribe]

I've got to say that overall Sky's coverage was excellent. You certainly can't fault their commitment, with a dedicated channel they had as much airtime as they needed and the length of the pre- and post-race shows reflects that.

They had some teething troubles, some of their interactive stuff didn't work in the early stages of FP1, but that's a function of the huge technical challenge of broadcasting half a dozen feeds from the other side of the world.

The weak links are Simon Lazenby, the presenter who is demonstrating just what a phenomenal job Jake does on the BBC; and the pointless waste of (not very much) space that is Georgie Thompson, who nods along like she's understanding Ant's analysis.

I agree with Jon that the BBC coverage seemed a bit lacklustre in comparison but it's not a fair test as highlights can't really compare to the excitement and atmosphere of a live broadcast. I'll watch the Chinese GP on the Beeb with interest but the benchmark has been raised again, as it was when they themselves took over from ITV.

I liked Sky's coverage, the race coverage with Brundle, Croft and Kravitz was a seamless shift from the old BBC. Nathalie Pinkham seemed to miss out on getting interviews with Schumacher and Grosjean though, there was even a live shot of the Beeb's Lee McKensie interviewing grabbing the latter. Oops. I simply was not around over the weekend when the BBC's was on, and I wasn't going to record it for the sake of watching both to compare, though we all already knew that Ben Edwards is a class act.

However, have to agree with Simon Lazenby, he had a look of "oh ****" on his face over the weekend - but Jake Humphrey is an extremely good presenter and few are at his level (remember Jim Rosenthal's efforts?!) Damon Hill is not doing Malaysia so it will be interesting to see who they have instead. Also have to agree with the diminutive Georgie Thompson - seems she is flown across the globe then to co-present the Friday show wielding an i-pad with Ted Kravitz and then just stand next to Ant Davidson for the rest of the weekend. Couldnt she just link to Ant and the rest from a London studio? And as for the dorks from Sky Sports News - why on earth did they need to be flown halfway across the world?

I did see a funny tweet over the weekend saying that Sky Sport F1 had just asked for 10 minutes for a certain someone, only to be told that said certain someone had just given 10 minutes to Sky Sports News. Hmmm...talk about right hands and left hands!