Comments on: How will BBC TV cover F1 in 2009?

By: Alastair

Alastair — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:07:15 +0000

F1 is a sport watched by Anoracks and so should be aimed at Anoracks.
There is no such thing as a casual F1 watcher. There is no way that I could watch an F1 race unless I had followed the championship from the start. I love motorsport, but I only have time to watch F1. I cannot just watch an A1 race or Touring cars or whatever and get the same sort of enjoyment as I do from F1, because I know what’s going on in F1.
It irritates the hell out of me when the commentators repeatedly remind us about the white stripes on the tyres or some other thing that anyone who knows anything about F1 already knows.
This sort of dumbing down does not attract people to the sport and serves only to annoy the people who do watch it and are hungry for technical and strategic information from experts.

The pre-race build up should be a synopsis of the season so far, focussing on the last race, perhaps including important incidents from previous races that have a bearing on the current race and lots of highlights from the last race with plenty of expert analysis, so that somebody wanting to pick up on the season can do so (without boring all us Anoracks who have been following it every day). There’s no need to devote so much time to qualifying when it’s just been shown on another channel and the day before. A few highlights and the grid is all we need.
I’d like to see interviews with drivers from teams and nationalities other than Mclaren and UK. I’d also like to see interviews with Mechanics, Technical Directors, Race Engineers, Roadies, chefs and all the other F1 team members. I think that the pre-race build up should be an hour and the post race stuff limited to the podium ceremony and the post race interview, because most of us switch off after the race anyway.

As for J. Clarkson, he seems to genuinely enjoy F1 and might bring a bit of fun that the non-Anoracks might need to follow F1. He wouldn’t need to commentate, maybe just do an interview or two (I’d love to see him interview Alonso) or do some sort of things during the pre-race stuff.

ITV wasn’t bad. They were a bit too commercial, the competition used to annoy me and I loathe Louise Goodman, for some reason. Must be the voice.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:06:00 +0000

I am looking forward to the BBC coverage but anyone who thinks they won’t overhype Lewis Hamilton is really living in Cloud Cuckoo Land!

I give you Tim Henman and Wimbledon as a prime example of this, closely followed by Andy Murray

By: Wrenn

Wrenn — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 02:10:08 +0000

Bring back Dr Jonathan Palmer together with Martin Brundle they would make a great team. Ditch the wingeing whining Coulthard, he doesn’t have a quick enough brain.

For me its enough not to have to put up with the ads and super **** James Allen.

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:02:01 +0000

Dunno if it’s already been mentioned but with regards to nationalistic coverage have a look-see at the Moto GP coverage to see how much they worship James Toseland. I think it’s actually going to be WORSE than ITV.

By: andy suridge

andy suridge — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 12:44:55 +0000

What upsets me is the storytelling after each break of what we have watched already!!!
mr allen telling us “listen children before the break mr schumacher-mr I HATE ENGLAND hamilton- spun just before you left us”give us a break. THANK CHRIST beeb have it back.
Stick to your celeb programmes/soap operas itv AND IRRITATING gmtv!!!!!!!!!!!!

By: Keith Collantine

Keith Collantine — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:45:24 +0000

I agree with Bowks

In all seriousness, I have had a look to see if BBC are recruiting but no joy.

By: Bowks

Bowks — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:45:16 +0000

couldn’t be bothered reading all the posts on this one, far too late for me and need some sleep, but I thought that fans doing the commentary on a separate audio feed would be quite good too, maybe they could get a certain Keith Collantine to try his hand in front of the nation?

By: KB

KB — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:25:18 +0000

No matter what the BBC do, it cannot be worse than ITV. I for one cannot wait, and I am praying that they take a whole new team, and dont talk about Hamilton from start to finish, more race facts would be good

By: Alex Andronov

Alex Andronov — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:24:00 +0000

I don’t hate James either. The Murray / Martin partnership was the ideal template. One motormouth talking about what he can see and being excited about it, and one person interjecting with insight.

James wants to be Martin. Well that’s not going to work Martin is already Martin.

By: Josh J

Josh J — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 03:53:21 +0000

Mr Pippy, I agree that Steve matchett is good, as is windsor, but varsha and Hobbs are unbearable. I don;t care that he calls alonso fred, frankly at the montreal race he sounded drunk. Varsha knows even less than Steve Rider, and Hobbs is just a total pillock who ALWAYS gets it wrong, talking all over people, just saying really unprofessional stupid things, and not adding a thing.

As Isaid, Steve Windsor is great, but completely under-used during the actual commentary, and Matchett is good, but I really don;t think he actually says that much more than brundle and allen – I think it;s just that next to all the others his light shines that much brighter. If they could have him and windsor as the primary commentating cre then they might be onto something.