F1 Fanatic

@f1alex agree mate, I dont think Damon was bad at all. Like I said, hes stuck with this guy in the Paddock and having to be the polish to Lazenbys turd. Hill’s comparable to DC who I like, but I remind myself of his Redbull bias and suddenly Damon is even better as presenter

@prisoner monkeys It would be nice! but its less annoying then some other “gems” that people have used over the years.. ‘he’s on a charge’, ‘Guestimate’ etc

Oh, and did anyone notice that Lazenby seems to have stolen Jake’s iPad? Maybe Sky poached it along with Brundle et al

From a stream, it all looked very good, other than that awful ‘skypad’. It’s exactly the sort of stupid, unnecessary gimmick that I knew Sky would bring to the table.

I couldn’t disagree more with people who are enjoying the sky coverage. It’s filled with adverts, patronising hosts and every chance they get they either bang on about how it’s in HD and 5.1 (I’m watching it – I KNOW!!) or tell me (in detail) about how to watch F1 with different mediums/devices. The only positive I can draw from it is Crofty and Brundle.

I’m struggling with which broadcast to choose to watch the race. I’m not going to be up at 6, so watching it live isn’t a factor. It just depends on how much the BBC race will be cut down. the BBC qualifying show (on now) really is just highlights. I watched the countdown clock drop from 19:00 to 16:00 to 11:00 in just a minute :/

I will definitely be watching the races that BBC have live with them.

@ajokay @Althasil You’ve just reminded me, Im sure they said that there wasnt going to be any breaks and was shocked when watching the FP1/2 yesterday but assumed it was because it was a replay. Yet, 15mins into the pre-qualy show, the 1st advert pops in. Sky will probably backtrack and say they meant no adverts during the Race/Qualy but its fine between (same as in their Football coverage)

Ive just finished watching the Beeb show and even without them having Brundle and Kravitz, I prefere their coverage still. Its less “Show’y” but the presentation is better and I never thought Id prefere to see Jake Humphrey fronting an F1 show. Thats not to say Im giving up on Sky ofcourse, they still have a better commentry team. But when the Beeb get their 10races, its going to be a switch job between Beebs pre/post race stuff and Sky for commentry.

Here you go, check the date on this: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2011/07/29/sky-show-f1-races-adverts-2012/

After watching Sky’s coverage on my brother’s Virgin Media Box, I decided I’d watch BBC’s (Shortened) coverage for a rough comparison.

As soon as I heard Simon Lazenby’s first words as an F1 presenter, I thought, ‘he’s definitely there just to present something.’ I didn’t particularly like him that much. Georgie Thompson was also pretty useless. Anthony Davidson and Damon Hill weren’t too bad.

I will say that even though the BBC’s highlights coverage was a bit unusual to watch, both commentary teams were superb to listen to. Sky definitely have the better pit lane reporter in Ted Kravitz although Gary Anderson is more of an unknown until the first live race.

The adverts are irritating but bearable. But if someone says “Dolby 5.1 surround sound” again, me and Sky are really going to fall out. I like Martin Brundle a lot, but he’s obviously been told to push “HD” and “surround sound” at every opportunity, even during the commentary.

But even disregarding the adverts and commercial breaks, I still wasn’t at all impressed with the coverage. Simon and Damon were just so bland and dull, and the Sky Pad seemed pretty pointless. I know people are saying it will take time for the team to “gel”, but I don’t remember Jake, EJ and DC being like this when they first started together.

Jake, EJ and DC, apart from anything else, are just entertaining to watch- on several occasions last year they had be laughing out loud. No matter how much Simon and Damon and the others “gel”, I don’t see them being like this.

I know a lot of people have been praising the commentary, but I don’t agree. I hated Croft’s Practice commentary last season, and he’s no better this year. Brundle is good- he’s always been good- but his partnership with DC last year was miles better.

In summary, I’m not impressed. Sky’s only saving grace is Martin Brundle, but even he gets drowned out by Croft during the commentary. I’m definitively going to be watching the BBC’s live coverage when available.

I thought it was good – I was willing it to be bad but it wasn’t. Well edited, lots of historical references, lots of knowledge, good commentary. The Sky-pod thing is skin crawling, I’d rather just have Ant there…..and despite everything I thought I missed Eddie Jordan and the shear madness of the BBC. But it was good, it will get even better I suspect and the HD is brilliant.