http://jonmcknight.typepad.com/jon_mcknight/2007/10/f1-advertisers-.html

This blogger tracked the actual amount of race time lost to adverts, and as you can see it disagrees with your figure. I’d be interested to know why there’s a discrepancy.

But I think your accusation that I’m not being impartial is well wide of the mark – I gave ITV plenty of credit in this article. And if I was trying to “tell gross lies” I wouldn’t have included links back to the original data would I?

Even taking the highest of those we get:
5*90 seconds = 450 seconds

So that actual percentage of races missed is:
450/5640 = 7.98%

Your Figure was:
31 races/206 races = 15.05%

Nearly twice as much, and lo and behold that equates to the figure if you include the advets both before and after the race itself.

At least TRY to sound impartial and not just tell gross lies next time.

So, think yourself lucky if you are an F1 fan in the UK.
And congratulations to Oz channel Ten for destroying my passion for formula 1. Well done.

Why do so many ppl think this should be free? You think faeries wave a wand and it just happens? Get a grip!

I moved to Europe in 1990 and have since been watching F1 in different countries – but always pointing the dish in the direction of BBC. I moved to Germany in 2003 and have been watching RTL and Premiere there, as I also speak German. The “show” these channels put up is excellent, but the commentary is pitiful. So I have been watching the picture from Premiere – as they had no ads – and listening to BBC/ITV.

Since 2005 I’ve been going more and more for the internet services and find myself watching the feeds for cinemas and taking the commentary from different sources. This looks to be where I will be for some time: picking the best feed on satellite – preferably in HD – and then running the formula1.com live on the laptop and listening to British commentary.

The German commentators are really putting you to sleep and soooo inaccurate. But nothing compared to the guy on Austrian TV. He – still – doesn’t know who is driving where and who is in what position at any given moment. If it wasn’t so sad it would be funny.

And if you were to listen to and understand a Hungarian or Polish commentator you would never criticise any British guy ever again.

So, pick the best available and mix and match to suit your taste. But enjoy while it lasts as I’ve heard about the latest FIA plans, which will kill F1, which will kill the sport in the long run.

i’m british, i tune into a british tv channel to watch F1, hoping to see the british drivers do well. Hamilton is the best at the moment so they should concentrate on him.

give james allen a break for gods sake. he does a decent job when you consider he is only commentating from a tv monitor, with loads more going on in the background too. brundle is truly awesome, but i think he works well with allen. and don’t try and suggest murray walker was better – he was truly awful. my only dislike of allen is the way every GP starts with “and the …. GP is Go”, but I can live with that.

BBC coverage will, I’m sure, be excellent. They, as everything, have come a long way since they lost the coverage. ITV did a brilliant job when they took over, but the ads are the crux. Simply not acceptable.

But, other than the ads, I think the ITV package was generally very good.

Another thing to consider – if F1 was made a bit more exciting, by removing most of the aerodynamics and going back to huge tyres, so that drivers could overtake a bit more, there would be less room for idle chat in the commentary box. James Allen sometimes has to fill best part of 2 hours when there is simply nothing to commentate on, other than a boring procession.

ps well done lewis. A brit world champ!!

Lets not forget that Rosenthal and Ryder are exceptionally good, established and experienced sports presenters. Goodman and Allen know the sport inside out with decades of being involved in the sport. I cannot say the same for Humphries and McKenzie.

Many people posting should watch French, Spanish and Italian coverage of the sport to see what happens when you put pretty people that know nothing about the sport.

Good work ITV. With the BBC, we may be heading for Eurotrash.

But guys, The Chain era is long gone… Fleetwood Mac…Really? The BBC are trying to bring F1 to a much wider audience, Hamilton has been one of the main representatives in bringing f1 to the ‘street’ and thats why now, the beeb are giving everything to get the coverage back. Hopefully they’ll push some boundaries and not let some stupid mistakes ruin their brilliant output (Brand and Ross).

They’ll hopefully get the balance right. But it really is goodbye not good-riddence to ITV, I personally like the coverage, there’s enough of it and its shown twice on days when we cant be bothered getting up at 5am. probably because ITV has no other decent output.