Anyone that is a member of LoungeLab (The Sky research site) they're currently running a survey on the Sky coverage of F1 and also asking for opinions on Channel 4's too!
Not happy with Sky's offerings, now is the time folks!!

Yep had that survey. Was very interesting.
Obviously cant say what was in it, NDA and all that, but for me it was all praise for Sky. They keep all my feed of F1 happy.

On a compare theme, watched a bit of the C4 f1 from the weekend that I had recorded, it was a live race I noticed.
It was not bad, but did think that for the crash that shouty Ben and Coulthard made a bit of a mess during that commentary. Not sure if that was because Id heard Croft/Brundle and Ant go through it all live and watching a secondary recording later it was an anti climax. But did seem they were caught out and were both talking over each other at the time. Do they do that both talking over each other often?
The presenter guy did seem quite relaxed in what he was doing but felt that Coulthard seems to try and take control often.
Their graphics were very messy at times, not sure what's with the 50p piece.
Not sure how others feel as do not know many who watch it on C4, but they seem to be doing ok.

Sky should just give every penny they spend on F1 to whisper films

Some people are saying that they get as far as saying that they watch F1 on C4, and the survey mysteriously crashes

Regarding the C4 coverage, I was amazed at how little post-race analysis there was. Certainly not to the depth of Ant analysing the Mercedes crash. They just played a couple of replays, showed the interviews with Lee, Speculated (whereas Ant didn't) for a bit and that was it...

We didn't get any forward facing T-cam shots from the Ferrari from Imola to Hungary that year. We got shots from the rear facing T-cam, Nose-cam, Mirror-Cam & the one infront of the driver looking backwards but nothing from the now traditional forward T-cam.

I think it was because they had just brought in there quick change brake bias system & didn't want anyone to spot it. I also think that was one of the system's McLaren were later accused of 'borrowing' during the spy-gate scandal 2 years later.


The system was basically an extra lever along with the usual dial that allowed them to adjust the brake-bias by pre-determined intervals. If you go back & watch OnBoards from the Ferrari in 2005/2006 it was something that Schumacher in particular would constantly be adjusting from corner to corner to optimize braking force/stability.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leG01_S9Mmg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9--ATZR3lE


All the control boxes for the OnBoards used to be located in the right hand sidepod of the car. If thats still he case then it could be that the system got damaged when Lewis hit Nico's car.

Its a real backwards step from bbc days. pre race c4 is good but post race is not long enough especialy with ads. There is no reason why they can't stay on air for another hour(with ads) to compensate. The pre and especialy post race used to be really enjoyable to watch now its just "i say this", adbreak, driver chat, adbreak = no flow and having no tech stuff has left a gap in the coverage.

Fantastic. Less is more.

Pre-race stuff, yes. Post-race, absolutely not IMO.

I know we haven't always seen eye to eye on here, but I agree there. I'm comfortable with less pre race as ultimately post race is where people are more likely to take an interest, stick around etc, especially if it's either been a thrilling race or like on Sunday you have a crash with possible penalties to be handed out, things like that. Obviously the main issue there though in a sense is if it's quite a short race (eg Monza) or quite a dull race with not a lot to talk about or look at that's of great interest, then more post race isn't such a good thing (but obviously we don't know these things in advance).

The race results are provisional post-race. I personally don't see the point of discussing drivers or cars (that could still be disqualified or penalised by race stewards/scrutineers) in extensive detail until the race result is official.

From CH4 point of view, the audience drops off sharply at the end of the race, so the incentive to carry on for an hour just doesn't exist. 15-20 mins is enough to cover the major points.

Then add in, the fact of them being screwed over for the TV rights, I guess they will do just enough to get what they want. They probably think "F1 can go **** itself" privately.

I'm sure they were aware of the TV rights situation after 2019 before they made their offer tbh. They're in the industry after all...

Off Topic a bit but Ben Edwards is hosting the unveil event for the new Gran Turismo Sport game (Launching November 16th on PS4 if your interested) which it seems will involve some FIA backed in-game/online leagues/championships, The Pre-season championships which will be run tonight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXxcjCNkHCU

They were not aware at all. The decision was made months after they agreed to take over from the BBC.

In other news, look (or listen) out for Allan McNish on FE this weekend

Gran Turismo is about as realistic as Forza (i.e. not much). IMO the FIA should have partnered with iRacing or Assetto Corsa or something like that.

https://youtu.be/Atrll2yr8Ds?t=51s

https://youtu.be/ztsd93Q_3Ow?t=2m40s

Pretty sure Mr Todt would be correct in describing this one-make racing as "the pineapple of motorsport."

That maybe true but GT & Forza have a much larger player base.

I also think that both GT & Forza have moved a bit more in the sim direction thanks to the improved hardware of the modern consoles allowing for more complex physics models.

Maybe C4 should do a GamesMaster styled F1 feature on racing simulators with Eddie Jordan in the role of 'GamesMaster'.

Got through the survey and completed it before i posted on here it was available!
Just hope they take on board the comments as i know alot are unhappy with Sky's coverage.

The decision about 2019 may not have been announced until the day after the Australian GP, but that doesn't mean the deal wasn't done before that.

When the BBC was first looking at offloading the rights, another broadcaster wanted to do a deal which involved taking the final three years of the BBC contract, and at the same time extending the rights by four years. That option wasn't available from FOM, and is one of the primary reasons that broadcaster went no further with its interest.

If Channel 4 didn't ask about a similar deal, that would be very naive of them. If they did ask, then they should have realised what a "no" meant.

ITV you're talking about. (ITV and C4 were the only interested parties)
And that wasn't the primary reason. It was because they were not prepared to go ad-free and that was something FOM wanted but ITV refused.
But i know Channel 4 were not aware of a deal between Sky and FOM for exclusivity. Weather they asked or not im not sure but they didn't know which would suggest it was done behind their back because C4 are not stupid, they have a good team behind the scenes and i think they were shafted.

Did this survey too
Who is unhappy?
We really enjoy Sky F1 and all their sports coverage as do all my friends and neighbours
Certainly loads of it to watch and the commentary team are all so fun, knowledgeable and so happy
Not seen any of C4, but then why would I
Thinking, do not know anyone in my world who does not have Sky or Virgin, except some really old folk who still have those old freeview boxes, big tube TV's, no record or catchup, and no broadband, daft things
Must be disappointing to only have some race live, expect they cut highlights down to bare bones
Do hate highlights, just takes all excitement away

By the way have not been on here for a while, my daughter now works behind the scenes producing for one of the big teams and helping many of the others in the F1 show earning a nice whack (Mum is proud for her) and loving it
If you remember some of you helped her from here when she started that journey, so bless
Off to Canada F1 next Month, love it there and Japan in October, quite a cultural shock, for sure

That's not an excuse. Results aren't official until something like 4 hours after the race has done, are you seriously suggesting they don't discuss things in detail until then? Which obviously is completely unfeasible.

Unfeasible on a channel entirely devoted to F1?
Online video? Podcasts? Print journals like Autosport?

There's a difference between in detail and extensive detail. If the winning car gets DQ'd by the scrutineers, what's the point in spending one hour after the race saying the winning driver X had a perfect race. They could still go home with nothing.

There's nothing wrong with a simple 20-30 minute post-race round up.