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BBC Formula 1 coverage

smooch71

BBC have impressed me already with their interactive service this morning.

Turned it on to see 2 classis Australian GPs, 1986 and 1994.

They broadcasted them as their old Grand Prix programme, that music really sends a shiver up the spine when it's played over the old intro.

Can't believe how much Steve Rider has aged though.

I could have spent the day looking at it but had to go to work.

I have a good feeling about this, James Allen will soon be a distant bad memory, and sorry Setanta, it looks like you haven't a hope of competing.

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amacachi

Moonbaby wrote: »

Umm...sorry but that is what you username sounds like in my head.

They never actually did know if he knew though....they (Patrick Head) just claimed they did.

Heh, don't worry, rare anyone spells it right. Even rarer that my real name is spelled or read out properly :P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7w5dGgLWQo About 1:15 in, be surprised if it wasn't damaged from that I'd be surprised

Half an hour til the start, I'm looking forward to seeing the Brawn GP cars, gonna guess they look pretty different than they did in testing.

Firewalkwithme

I've had the time to watch all of the classic GP coverage BBC showed today and one thing that has really struck me is how gracious Murray Walker could be when a British driver was unlucky not to have won the world championship in a couple of those races

The first time I noticed it was in his commentary for the 1986 Aus GP - Mansells tire blew out - Prost took the title. Walker could have spent the rest of the broadcast moaning about how Mansell was hard done by but instead he focused on the race and was generous in his praise for the eventual winner. If we had James Allen back then I'm sure it would have been very different.

Same thing in 94 when Schumacher won the title from Hill. Not a nice way to win the title - looking back on it I still have mixed feelings in that Schmacher was a better driver than Hill but played foul that day. Despite that, Murray Walker did his best to be gracious and not resort to too much mud slinging. Of course there were suggestions that the collision was intentional but Walker knew his racing well enough by that stage to know that these things happen so you congratulate the winner and continue to cover the rest of the race in a professional manner.

As I said - had James Allen been commentator for either of these incidents it would have been so very different. His biased approach to commentary has helped make Lewis Hamilton one of the most disliked drivers on the grid. I have no problem with Hamilton as such - he is still a bit raw and makes silly mistakes but he has achieved a lot so it is almost in spite of James Allen that I still respect him for his ability - as I do for anyone who drives in F1. Before Hamilton we had Button rammed down our throats too - I fully expect the BBC to partisan towards British drivers but I hope that they will take a more balanced approach than ITV did.

amacachi

Cartoon_Head wrote: »

I've had the time to watch all of the classic GP coverage BBC showed today and one thing that has really struck me is how gracious Murray Walker could be when a British driver was unlucky not to have won the world championship in a couple of those races

The first time I noticed it was in his commentary for the 1986 Aus GP - Mansells tire blew out - Prost took the title. Walker could have spent the rest of the broadcast moaning about how Mansell was hard done by but instead he focused on the race and was generous in his praise for the eventual winner. If we had James Allen back then I'm sure it would have been very different.

Same thing in 94 when Schumacher won the title from Hill. Not a nice way to win the title - looking back on it I still have mixed feelings in that Schmacher was a better driver than Hill but played foul that day. Despite that, Murray Walker did his best to be gracious and not resort to too much mud slinging. Of course there were suggestions that the collision was intentional but Walker knew his racing well enough by that stage to know that these things happen so you congratulate the winner and continue to cover the rest of the race in a professional manner.

As I said - had James Allen been commentator for either of these incidents it would have been so very different. His biased approach to commentary has helped make Lewis Hamilton one of the most disliked drivers on the grid. I have no problem with Hamilton as such - he is still a bit raw and makes silly mistakes but he has achieved a lot so it is almost in spite of James Allen that I still respect him for his ability - as I do for anyone who drives in F1. Before Hamilton we had Button rammed down our throats too - I fully expect the BBC to partisan towards British drivers but I hope that they will take a more balanced approach than ITV did.

Agree 100%. With Mansell's ridiculous bad luck/decision he could've pissed and moaned but didn't. Murray was like most BBC programming back then in that obviously he focussed more on the british drivers, and being somewhat partisan, but not to the point of giving the impression that he disliked the other drivers or would piss on their parade if a bit of luck sealed the title for them. He knew that in racing what goes around comes around, and that while Mansell was unlucky to have his tyre go, the next year the siuation could just as easily be the other way around.

The clip of Schumacher following the '84 race saying something like "I'm glad to hear that from you." to Murray when he congratulated him shows how much everyone thought of Murray. Why did you have to bring up Murray? Now I wish he was commentating again! :P

amacachi

First letdown from BBC, using the same commentary on Radio and TV. Should be interesting to see how it works though. :P

Firewalkwithme

amacachi wrote: »

First letdown from BBC, using the same commentary on Radio and TV. Should be interesting to see how it works though. :P

At least we are able to watch practice this year!

What are the mechanics attaching to the front wings of the cars when they come back to the pits?

wandatowell

De Hipster wrote: »

That Fleetwood Mac riff IS F1!

I was hoping that they were going to use the song "Formula One" by Cozy Powell but alas it wasn't meant to be

Firewalkwithme

First 'Lewis Hamiltons Dad' shot of the new season after 8 mins

amacachi

Cartoon_Head wrote: »

At least we are able to watch practice this year!

What are the mechanics attaching to the front wings of the cars when they come back to the pits?

True enough, don't get why Setanta just leave out this one session.

Cartoon_Head wrote: »

First 'Lewis Hamiltons Dad' shot of the new season after 8 mins

:P Wonder if Ron Dennis is at the GP, it'll be weird going through the weekend without seeing him looking intensely at a screen.

Min

Jarno is funny.

Grim.

Cartoon_Head wrote: »

First 'Lewis Hamiltons Dad' shot of the new season after 8 mins

lol

Grim.

ahh theres big ron now

amacachi

Pity the rest of the teams didn't darken the outer parts of the front wings like Williams did.

smooch71

amacachi wrote: »

First letdown from BBC, using the same commentary on Radio and TV. Should be interesting to see how it works though. :P

Think that's just for the practice sessions, the qualifying and race will have a different crew.

I thought the guys doing the commentary were ok.

GrayD

I'm lucky enough to have Setanta Ireland free on our NTL package, its not on Sky package...

Given that, how could you POSSIBLY justify watching it on BCC or ITV for the matter in the past?

It's insufferable to listen to English commentary of their own. It'll be 2 hours tommorrow of listening to them completely ignoring the actual exciting race at hand and "appologising" for not showing the 18th placed Hamilton. Anyone rememeber Nick Heidfelds qualifying lap in Malaysia 2 years ago? No? Well you must have been watching ITV who apologised at the time that the "stupid director" of the foreign station would not show Hamiltons outlap...

ridiculous... give me Setanta any time...
At least David Kennedy has some knowledge of what he's saying and can you fault Garry Anderson? I know where I'll be watching some class IMPARTIAL and insightful coverage.

vectra

GrayD wrote: »

I'm lucky enough to have Setanta Ireland free on our NTL package, its not on Sky package...

Given that, how could you POSSIBLY justify watching it on BCC or ITV for the matter in the past?

It's insufferable to listen to English commentary of their own. It'll be 2 hours tommorrow of listening to them completely ignoring the actual exciting race at hand and "appologising" for not showing the 18th placed Hamilton. Anyone rememeber Nick Heidfelds qualifying lap in Malaysia 2 years ago? No? Well you must have been watching ITV who apologised at the time that the "stupid director" of the foreign station would not show Hamiltons outlap...

ridiculous... give me Setanta any time...
At least David Kennedy has some knowledge of what he's saying and can you fault Garry Anderson? I know where I'll be watching some class IMPARTIAL and insightful coverage.

I will be watching the same race as you on freesat and will enjoy it no matter who is comentating
What goes on out on the track is what i want to see.:cool:

smooch71

GrayD wrote: »

I'm lucky enough to have Setanta Ireland free on our NTL package, its not on Sky package...

Given that, how could you POSSIBLY justify watching it on BCC or ITV for the matter in the past?

It's insufferable to listen to English commentary of their own. It'll be 2 hours tommorrow of listening to them completely ignoring the actual exciting race at hand and "appologising" for not showing the 18th placed Hamilton. Anyone rememeber Nick Heidfelds qualifying lap in Malaysia 2 years ago? No? Well you must have been watching ITV who apologised at the time that the "stupid director" of the foreign station would not show Hamiltons outlap...

ridiculous... give me Setanta any time...
At least David Kennedy has some knowledge of what he's saying and can you fault Garry Anderson? I know where I'll be watching some class IMPARTIAL and insightful coverage.

I agree with you on ITV's commentary being appalling but in fairness I think we have to give BBC a change before writing them off and accusing them of Hamilton-mania.

Overall, their coverage package seems to be impressive. Setanta's coverage is dire, for example, coverage starting 5 minutes before qualifying? Come on..that's not good enough. Their Premier League build up is longer so why not Formula 1?

That's not the fault of the presenters though and I do think Kennedy and Anderson know what they're talking about (when you can hear what Gary is saying that is) Declan Quigley I could live without quite frankly.

The BBC's interactive service is good whether you dislike them for being English or not. I hope that there is a multiscreen service during the race just like we had when Sky briefly covered Formula 1, 2002 I think it was, where you could choose camera angles, in car shots etc. I don't really think Setanta are at the races. Pardon the pun.

While I realise that BBC are British and will support British drivers, I am hopefull that they don't enter into the kind of hero worshipping ar$e licking of "Lewis" we saw from James Allen on ITV over the last two years. I hope they're more professional and while it's their right to support their driver, I hope it's not rammed down our throats but I'm confident it won't be.

In fairness, Martin Brundle remained impartial for most of last year.

amacachi

I won't diss Brundle, he's said himself that Alonso is more than likely the best driver out there at the moment.

Anyone else feel that BBC's coverage is a bit overdone? Production-wise I mean. A lot of graphics and atmospheric music over the interview with Webber. Also the generic BBC sport graphics in the captions just isn't nice.

Woden

I enjoyed the banter between Coulthard and Jordan this morning

bennyx_o

Have to say, I enjoyed the BBC coverage. Not brilliant by any means, but good. Should hopefully get better as the season progresses.

Not a fan of that Jonathon fella on commentary. Seemed to say one instead of first and so on. Hopefully he'll improve as the season goes on too.

The banter between Jordon and Coulthard was good, too

G-Money

Was it just me or was anyone else waiting for the ad breaks to come on?

It was strange, I was sitting there almost expecting the ad breaks and then I remembered "oh yeah, this is on the BBC".

I'm not that bothered about the graphics. They do seem a bit over-done. I have to admit I don't really like the opening credits, the cars and camera angles are all moving around too much, it's very very jarring I find. But it's a small price to pay for it being back on the BBC.

I've only seen the qualifying so far, but they didn't seem especially obsessive about the British drivers. They seemed to give all the teams and drivers equal coverage IMHO. I almost got the impression yer man Jake Humphrey's was tip toeing walking on eggshells by even mentioning Hamilton and McLaren's plight.

I will have to head home to the north soon for some F1 weekend. We can receive Freeview up there and it has the "red button" functionality. I'm pretty sure the red button functionality is not available on Magnet.

bennyx_o

grandmaster wrote: »

I've only seen the qualifying so far, but they didn't seem especially obsessive about the British drivers. They seemed to give all the teams and drivers equal coverage IMHO. I almost got the impression yer man Jake Humphrey's was tip toeing walking on eggshells by even mentioning Hamilton and McLaren's plight.

+1

They seem to be pretty even with the teams/drivers. At the start Legard asked Brundle something about Hamilton/McLaren and he brished over the question as if to avoid getting into a Hamilton debate.

Suprised no ones mentioned Richard Branson's interview yet. :pac: Wonder how many complaints they'll get about it

G-Money

Yeah, I'm sure a few nelly's will get their knickers in a twist about it alright. I think Martin Brundle actually said all the teams protesting the diffusers were "bitching" over it. I was surprised that no-one on the BBC made a comment about that. Although for me, neither comment was offensive or anything. But sure you know how it is, there'll be someone out there who will start moaning and yapping about it.

I still find the most annoying thing that was said recently was during the podium ceremony in Canada last year when Kubica won and James Allen said "he might be no Brad Pitt". I mean like what does that have to do with anything? It still kind of annoyies me that he said that.

BoardsRanger

Well its great that there are no ads at all! I was expecting to at least have ads during the pre-qualifying session.
Am enjoying the banter beteen Jordan and Coulthard and particularly enjoyed Eddie shooting down DC about Button not being in the same league as Schumacher and IMO, hes right. Comparing the two is like comparing a vw lupo with a veyron.
Think Humphrey is doing a great job as anchor but Legard's commentary needs to be improved, and quickly!

muckwarrior

bennyx_o wrote: »

Suprised no ones mentioned Richard Branson's interview yet. :pac: Wonder how many complaints they'll get about it

Why what did he say? Feckin power went off just as he started talking :mad:

cherryghost

he started talking about world domination by cutting power in homes first before total power.

BASICALLY Eddie Jordan seemed unconvinced and was asking him 'Why now?' kind of thing, because Eddie tried getting him onboard with Jordan years ago, but Branson said new fuel changes in the pipeline and stuff prompted him to make his move

Jor

I only saw the 1pm programme, not the live one and I don't have "red button" so cannot get the old races.

I agree with the comments about the opening sequence. It did not match the music at all. The inclusion of classic clips of F1 down the years (Mansell & Senna racing head to head, sparks flying etc) would have made it much better.

The main commentator (I think he was BBC Radio commentator) did not bring much life to it but he will probably grow into the roll. At least Martin Brundle is there to add some sense of excitement.

The part between quali stints seemed to be wasted a bit. ITV would have given just as much info, even with an ad break. It should not take 3 people to discuss what has happened.

I assume that the major changes in F1 (KERS, aerodynamics) were given some detal in the live programme because they were not explained well in the later programme.

I cannot believe how clumsy/ugly the new cars look. They look like the were from the 70's, but if it makes for close racing, then we will put up with it.

smooch71

bennyx_o wrote: »

Not a fan of that Jonathon fella on commentary.

He sounded like he was commentating on horse racing.

Hopefully he'll chill out a bit as the season goes on. He's sounds a bit stiff or something. Considering he's supposed to be the main commentator, it was Brundle who seemed to be doing most of the talking.

Dcully

Not impressed with Jonathan commentating either.
I was watching practice on Friday and the guy that does Moto GP commentating on Eurosport was far better, cant think of his name [well i think it was him]

corcaigh07

Moonbaby wrote: »

Schieesee! I can't get BBC interactive with FTA can I.
Classic GPs are a brilliant idea.

yea you can, on the red button on a box or its under a "STREAM-#" channel on my Lidl FTA box.

lovinit

I have to say I was impressed with the BBC's coverage, they did not turn it into the Lewis Hamilton show which is surprising, was not impressed with the commentator but I am glad they brought Martin Brundle from ITV. I was not a big fan of Coulthard anyway but I did enjoy the banter between himself and Eddie, Roll on next week.