Another thing I got to note above, Simon reading things into Twitter names by saying someone's had "too many numbers" and that 'XD' was "ex-directory" which was slightly odd. Nevertheless, he seemed a lot more relaxed today.
It was great to tune into my first live race of the year and the BBC's qualifying show was good as ever. There was the perfect mix off banter and "race talk". The show slipped by very quickly which is a good sign. Last year I fealt the qualifying show was becoming to formulaic and to a certain extent it still was. However they did mix up the order of the regular features nicely.
The race program was nice. Jake seems to have a good relationship with drivers that really helps get some good answers from drivers. Yet again the BBC have a relaxed but informative approach. The Lewis feature was a mix of quite a serious interview and some entertainment. The DC and Eddie grid walk could become a must see however it need's work. Maybe they should throw back and forth from Eddie and DC to mix it up a bit. DC looked a bit lost however I am sure he will settle into it. I sounded as if he was loosing his voice actually.
Commentary
Ben and DC are now working very well together. However DC does have a habit off butting in from time to time. He himself does I think realize and he does apologize to Ben. Ben was on fire today and yesterday. And FP1 for that matter. Those nerves and little mistakes seem to have disappeared and he and DC are bouncing off each other very well. By far this is the best commentary since the 2001 US GP. Ben was bob on all the way through that race and I am not sure he even made a mistake. Did he make a mistake?
Post Race And Forum
Smooth as always I must say. It was good how they stayed with the world feed for slightly longer to watch the pole lap in qualifying and we got the press conference on both occasions. There where two mistakes after the race the biggest being the incorrect constructors table. That was a little sloppy they must get those basics right. The other was an interview with senna I think did not play in quick enough. Notice at the end of the race they interviewed some people twice. Garry got Ross Brawn and then he was with Jake. That's not a new thing though thy have always double interviewed people in the past.
The Forum has good but not as good as the 2009/10 forum style. It may not be as good but it is defiantly still enjoyable to watch. Couple of good interviews, a bit more opinion, a few laughs and then they rounded it up. The magic of the forum is the feeling that it is spontaneous. Jake really thrives in that "Make it up as you go along" situation and he really holds that forum together. The sign of a great broadcaster.
Garry Anderson Watch
It was good to see him at the end of the forum and he brought something new to the table. During the race they did seem to use him more.
The problem is the volume issue. As mlt11 says he doesn't have a broadcasting voice. But I do believe it can be conquered. First off all someone need's to tell him to hold his mike properly. Did you notice in the forum how he held it way to far away from his mouth. He would then move it close but it would soon drift out. I think he need's a lip mike in the pit lane to filter out the noise.
He is slowly improving but I do miss Ted. And dare I say I sometimes miss Martin as well.Look but never stare!
Overall it was a solid weekend and the Beeb gave us what we expected. I was worried the quality of the live coverage would drop. Well it quite obviously hasn't. The viewing figures are going to be really fascinating. I don't think the BBC will win by a margin as big as some others are suggesting, sky will put a dent in the BBC figures for sure.
The only time I think sky can win the rating battle is in Canada an the US.
I think after the Massa bump on the head a few years back with that spring, FOM wouldn't dare do anything that could cause a question mark on safety inside the helmet.
And as much as I love that old champcar angle, I would rather have an angle similar with less risk
which is an absolute **** as sport is the only thing I watch on BBC television
I wouldn't be too worried about it.
It would seem that the bigwig's comments are designed to get a discussion going more than anything else, as they are a one or two inaccurate points in what he said.
brilliant race today, really enjoyed the competition for top 10 finish. I decided to watch the BBC coverage and was pleasantly surprised with the commentary, thought Ben was excellent and him and DC worked well as a pairing, definitely hasnt put me off watching future races on BBC.
glad to hear from reading feedback on here that Sky seem to have improved their performance and look forward to seeing the difference from their showing in Malaysia next week.
is the F1 Forum up on BBC site? Cant seem to find it.
brilliant race today, really enjoyed the competition for top 10 finish. I decided to watch the BBC coverage and was pleasantly surprised with the commentary, thought Ben was excellent and him and DC worked well as a pairing, definitely hasnt put me off watching future races on BBC.
glad to hear from reading feedback on here that Sky seem to have improved their performance and look forward to seeing the difference from their showing in Malaysia next week.
is the F1 Forum up on BBC site? Cant seem to find it.
forum is on iplayer, it was up very quickly after it aired
Having watched BBC's race will watch post race coverage later after the footie, I thought Ben and DC worked well but still think Croft and MB worked better and provide better race commentary, so will defo watch sky for all the action during the race, but I will find myself tuning into sky for the Grid Walk, so why not watch all of Sky's coverage? Very difficult to choose between the 2 which is great and find myself in the unique situation that I need to watch the race twice.
[...] it looks very disappointing to only have a 80 min show next week for the Bahrain race. I think this is a clear case of the BBC not fully utilising their rights which is sadly reminiscent of the ITV era with live qualifying sessions going missing.
I recorded the BBC's 2hr re-run show just to see what they did - quick qualifying report and straight into the race, and just a few minutes of post-race. Entirely sensible I might add, as it's a re-run.
Perhaps they'll do similar with Bahrain highlights, quick lead-in and minimal post-race then put all the proper post-race analysis in a pre-recorded forum - that way they could get a similar amount of race content to Australia and Malaysia. That's what I'd prefer anyway, to get as much race content on screen as they're allowed. I agree 80 mins does seem a bit short for evening highlights though, weren't they originally saying 90 mins for evening highlights?
I recorded the BBC's 2hr re-run show just to see what they did - quick qualifying report and straight into the race, and just a few minutes of post-race. Entirely sensible I might add, as it's a re-run.
Perhaps they'll do similar with Bahrain highlights, quick lead-in and minimal post-race then put all the proper post-race analysis in a pre-recorded forum - that way they could get a similar amount of race content to Australia and Malaysia. That's what I'd prefer anyway, to get as much race content on screen as they're allowed. I agree 80 mins does seem a bit short for evening highlights though, weren't they originally saying 90 mins for evening highlights?
Bahrain is quite a long race as well (around 1hr 35/40mins) so plenty will be missed on the BBC....
Just watching the forum, not really different to 2010 or 2011, less analysis compared to Sky today in my opinion.
As for Lau: http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b01h0p7k/?t=43m29s - obvious plant is obvious. Jake asked the question knowing exactly what the response was going to be in my opinion. Eddie said otherwise, while Jake got a cheeky comment in at the end.
Did anyone else see the on board shot in the BTCC race three with the aircraft coming into land? One of the best shots I've seen all day!
I'm a bit surprised that the helmet cam is on the outside. Would be nice to get some shots from one on that new reinforced bit above the visor if it was allowed. With camera technology moving the way is is I can see a day when we have a camera embedded in one of the antennae just ahead of the driver.
One last thing, I was wondering if I had lost a Red Button feed when I couldn't find the pit channel (BBC) but I'm guessing its web only. Very good but maybe could go a bit further with the radio comms.
I agree 80 mins does seem a bit short for evening highlights though, weren't they originally saying 90 mins for evening highlights?
I can't be absolutely certain but the magical word "generally of 90 minutes duration" seems to have appeared in the "Coverage" page of the BBC sport website (regarding European races). I'm fairly sure I checked before when the 80 minutes highlights were first mooted as possible and no such caveat was mentioned.
Bahrain is quite a long race as well (around 1hr 35/40mins) so plenty will be missed on the BBC....
Closer to 90mins I think. Have to remember that the longest race there (1hr39 or so) was in 2010 which was on the extended track (which thankfully they're not going to be using anymore).
I forgot say about that actually, I thought there was a lot less team radio on the pit lane channel this race. Of course I wasn't monitoring it as much this race because there was so much on track action but it felt like there was very little..
Another thing I got to note above, Simon reading things into Twitter names by saying someone's had "too many numbers" and that 'XD' was "ex-directory" which was slightly odd. Nevertheless, he seemed a lot more relaxed today.
I saw that too .... the Twitter name was the name of the person and his date of birth which happened to be 491993, so it read 'Simon491993' and he said it was too long. :rolleyes:
Don't remember him saying someone had too many numbers, but I'm pretty sure he did say they were more than just a number.Oh and BenFranklin, I remember Australia someone posted a link to basically all the team radio that was broadcast on the pitlane channel. Not sure if the same was done for China, or if it'll be done for this race, but if memory serves, I think Australia had about 23 minutes of team radio broadcast.
Another thing I got to note above, Simon reading things into Twitter names by saying someone's had "too many numbers" and that 'XD' was "ex-directory" which was slightly odd. Nevertheless, he seemed a lot more relaxed today.
Both broadcasters need to realise that one click on a "wacky" username will reveal the persons real name, in all likelyhood
I have a motorsport twitter account called @slywheel (hey, follow along folks! Jason Plato haters get a cookie!) but my real name is right there if you click once on my username...
And guess which one I'd prefer you reading out to the nation
I know they're busy people and have a LOT of tweeting traffic coming through, but surely one click on the comment they want to read out can't take up too much can it?
Don't remember him saying someone had too many numbers, but I'm pretty sure he did say they were more than just a number.Oh and BenFranklin, I remember Australia someone posted a link to basically all the team radio that was broadcast on the pitlane channel. Not sure if the same was done for China, or if it'll be done for this race, but if memory serves, I think Australia had about 23 minutes of team radio broadcast.
yeah found that link, there was 23m50s for Australia, 42m33s for Malaysia (but we had the race stoppage of course which explains that). Will keep an eye on it, fingers crossed he's going to upload the channel for every race !
yeah found that link, there was 23m50s for Australia, 42m33s for Malaysia (but we had the race stoppage of course which explains that). Will keep an eye on it, fingers crossed he's going to upload the channel for every race !
Good point about the race stoppage as far as Malaysia goes (and thanks for mentioning Malaysia, as it's made me just spot that I was talking like China was the 2nd race as well as the 3rd race......whoops!)
I only lasted about 10 laps with the BBC coverage (I wanted to see what they were like), but after that I just switched back to Sky for the rest of the race. When it comes down to a straight choice between the two, I just can't see a reason to choose BBC at the moment.
Comments
Another thing I got to note above, Simon reading things into Twitter names by saying someone's had "too many numbers" and that 'XD' was "ex-directory" which was slightly odd. Nevertheless, he seemed a lot more relaxed today.
It was great to tune into my first live race of the year and the BBC's qualifying show was good as ever. There was the perfect mix off banter and "race talk". The show slipped by very quickly which is a good sign. Last year I fealt the qualifying show was becoming to formulaic and to a certain extent it still was. However they did mix up the order of the regular features nicely.
The race program was nice. Jake seems to have a good relationship with drivers that really helps get some good answers from drivers. Yet again the BBC have a relaxed but informative approach. The Lewis feature was a mix of quite a serious interview and some entertainment. The DC and Eddie grid walk could become a must see however it need's work. Maybe they should throw back and forth from Eddie and DC to mix it up a bit. DC looked a bit lost however I am sure he will settle into it. I sounded as if he was loosing his voice actually.
Commentary
Ben and DC are now working very well together. However DC does have a habit off butting in from time to time. He himself does I think realize and he does apologize to Ben. Ben was on fire today and yesterday. And FP1 for that matter. Those nerves and little mistakes seem to have disappeared and he and DC are bouncing off each other very well. By far this is the best commentary since the 2001 US GP. Ben was bob on all the way through that race and I am not sure he even made a mistake. Did he make a mistake?
Post Race And Forum
Smooth as always I must say. It was good how they stayed with the world feed for slightly longer to watch the pole lap in qualifying and we got the press conference on both occasions. There where two mistakes after the race the biggest being the incorrect constructors table. That was a little sloppy they must get those basics right. The other was an interview with senna I think did not play in quick enough. Notice at the end of the race they interviewed some people twice. Garry got Ross Brawn and then he was with Jake. That's not a new thing though thy have always double interviewed people in the past.
The Forum has good but not as good as the 2009/10 forum style. It may not be as good but it is defiantly still enjoyable to watch. Couple of good interviews, a bit more opinion, a few laughs and then they rounded it up. The magic of the forum is the feeling that it is spontaneous. Jake really thrives in that "Make it up as you go along" situation and he really holds that forum together. The sign of a great broadcaster.
Garry Anderson Watch
It was good to see him at the end of the forum and he brought something new to the table. During the race they did seem to use him more.
The problem is the volume issue. As mlt11 says he doesn't have a broadcasting voice. But I do believe it can be conquered. First off all someone need's to tell him to hold his mike properly. Did you notice in the forum how he held it way to far away from his mouth. He would then move it close but it would soon drift out. I think he need's a lip mike in the pit lane to filter out the noise.
He is slowly improving but I do miss Ted. And dare I say I sometimes miss Martin as well.
Overall it was a solid weekend and the Beeb gave us what we expected. I was worried the quality of the live coverage would drop. Well it quite obviously hasn't. The viewing figures are going to be really fascinating. I don't think the BBC will win by a margin as big as some others are suggesting, sky will put a dent in the BBC figures for sure.
The only time I think sky can win the rating battle is in Canada an the US.
Apologies for the long one!
Ken
I think after the Massa bump on the head a few years back with that spring, FOM wouldn't dare do anything that could cause a question mark on safety inside the helmet.
And as much as I love that old champcar angle, I would rather have an angle similar with less risk
I wouldn't be too worried about it.
It would seem that the bigwig's comments are designed to get a discussion going more than anything else, as they are a one or two inaccurate points in what he said.
"I havn't been this dissapointed since Shrek 2"
(that Dave is genuinely not me for anyone wondering.
glad to hear from reading feedback on here that Sky seem to have improved their performance and look forward to seeing the difference from their showing in Malaysia next week.
is the F1 Forum up on BBC site? Cant seem to find it.
Dave Mark Newton.
Ken;)
forum is on iplayer, it was up very quickly after it aired
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01h0p7k/Formula_1_2012_The_Chinese_Grand_Prix_Forum/
Having watched BBC's race will watch post race coverage later after the footie, I thought Ben and DC worked well but still think Croft and MB worked better and provide better race commentary, so will defo watch sky for all the action during the race, but I will find myself tuning into sky for the Grid Walk, so why not watch all of Sky's coverage? Very difficult to choose between the 2 which is great and find myself in the unique situation that I need to watch the race twice.
I recorded the BBC's 2hr re-run show just to see what they did - quick qualifying report and straight into the race, and just a few minutes of post-race. Entirely sensible I might add, as it's a re-run.
Perhaps they'll do similar with Bahrain highlights, quick lead-in and minimal post-race then put all the proper post-race analysis in a pre-recorded forum - that way they could get a similar amount of race content to Australia and Malaysia. That's what I'd prefer anyway, to get as much race content on screen as they're allowed. I agree 80 mins does seem a bit short for evening highlights though, weren't they originally saying 90 mins for evening highlights?
No idea why but maybe he will appear on Sky for the BBC live races?
Also, nobody mentioned it at all this weekend but who was the former racing car driver they chose to be Steward for the meeting?
Bahrain is quite a long race as well (around 1hr 35/40mins) so plenty will be missed on the BBC....
As for Lau: http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b01h0p7k/?t=43m29s - obvious plant is obvious. Jake asked the question knowing exactly what the response was going to be in my opinion. Eddie said otherwise, while Jake got a cheeky comment in at the end.
I'm a bit surprised that the helmet cam is on the outside. Would be nice to get some shots from one on that new reinforced bit above the visor if it was allowed. With camera technology moving the way is is I can see a day when we have a camera embedded in one of the antennae just ahead of the driver.
One last thing, I was wondering if I had lost a Red Button feed when I couldn't find the pit channel (BBC) but I'm guessing its web only. Very good but maybe could go a bit further with the radio comms.
I can't be absolutely certain but the magical word "generally of 90 minutes duration" seems to have appeared in the "Coverage" page of the BBC sport website (regarding European races). I'm fairly sure I checked before when the 80 minutes highlights were first mooted as possible and no such caveat was mentioned.
Closer to 90mins I think. Have to remember that the longest race there (1hr39 or so) was in 2010 which was on the extended track (which thankfully they're not going to be using anymore).
I saw that too .... the Twitter name was the name of the person and his date of birth which happened to be 491993, so it read 'Simon491993' and he said it was too long. :rolleyes:
Both broadcasters need to realise that one click on a "wacky" username will reveal the persons real name, in all likelyhood
I have a motorsport twitter account called @slywheel (hey, follow along folks! Jason Plato haters get a cookie!) but my real name is right there if you click once on my username...
And guess which one I'd prefer you reading out to the nation
I know they're busy people and have a LOT of tweeting traffic coming through, but surely one click on the comment they want to read out can't take up too much can it?
yeah found that link, there was 23m50s for Australia, 42m33s for Malaysia (but we had the race stoppage of course which explains that). Will keep an eye on it, fingers crossed he's going to upload the channel for every race !
Good point about the race stoppage as far as Malaysia goes (and thanks for mentioning Malaysia, as it's made me just spot that I was talking like China was the 2nd race as well as the 3rd race......whoops!)
The commentary itself is inferior.