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F1 Coverage - The Verdict: 2016 Season
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Ellie666
05-09-2016
Originally Posted by scardis:
“Something else I've noticed. Channel 4 seems to be getting quite a lock out on the podium interviews this year. So far EJ has done 2, Webber has done 3 and I'm pretty sure DC has done at least one. Martin Brundle has only done Monaco if memory serves correct, the loud RTL character has done 2 and the rest by celebrities. I doubt the TV companies they are working for have much to do with it but it's interesting nonetheless.”

Didn't Brundle say a while ago that he didn't like doing them and the time that Ted did one he'd been called up at the last minute to replace someone.

I'm sure when they're short of "celebs or special people" to do them they default to a person who has English as their 1st language and by default have CH4 or Sky and JH is already used by FOM often during the track parade so only leaves MB,DH or the CH4 lot. (and god forbid DH would do anything outside his comfort zone!!)
_SpeedRacer_
05-09-2016
Originally Posted by Ellie666:
“Didn't Brundle say a while ago that he didn't like doing them and the time that Ted did one he'd been called up at the last minute to replace someone.

I'm sure when they're short of "celebs or special people" to do them they default to a person who has English as their 1st language and by default have CH4 or Sky and JH is already used by FOM often during the track parade so only leaves MB,DH or the CH4 lot. (and god forbid DH would do anything outside his comfort zone!!)”

Brundle's at Monaco this year was also a last minute replacement for Bieber.
BenFranklin
05-09-2016
Croft is just so irritating. If the race is good you can kind of ignore him and focus on the action, but when nothing is going on you just want him to shut up.

Best commentator around at the moment is Jack Nicholls, very good on Formula E.
stefmeister
05-09-2016
I actually don't really mind David Croft & while there are things i'd change about Sky's coverage on the whole I quite like it & do still watch all there live content over a race weekend.

If I was going to change anything I'd drop the 1st half hour of build up, Or i'd at least just take the world-feed for the drivers parade/interviews & remove all of sky's own bits.

I'd like to see them make more use of Marc Priestley as pretty much everything he does when he's brought on offers good insight (Same when he did Formula E for ITV). I'd use Paul Di Resta more even when Ant is there & maybe get them both doing some of the Sky-pad analysis together to get more than 1 view on things. I'd actually like to see a bit more Sky-pad analysis overall, Especially with some of these new tools there getting from FOM that allow them to compare lines & stuff.

I'd possibly replace Lazenby although not sure who with outside of getting Jake back. I'd keep Hill & for as annoying as he's been more recently I'd even keep Herbert although maybe not use him at every race.

With Jenson Button available next year i'd push real hard to bring him in as he's great on TV & his experience would offer good insight... I'd even consider putting him alongside Croft & Brundle to make it a 3 man commentary team as that worked well when he did Monaco for ITV alongside Allen & Brundle in 2005.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xwc...co-part-1_auto
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xwc...co-part-2_auto
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xwc...co-part-3_auto
BenFranklin
05-09-2016
Would like to see/hear a 3 man commentary team, works well with other sports.
FOM Fan
05-09-2016
Please don't bring Jake 'CBBC' Humphrey back, he was atrocious from start to finish, and kept drawing out the ends of his setences for no apparent reason. Simon is far better than Jake IMO, he comes across more natural to camera in the way he speaks, it's much more pleasant to listen to.
brundlebud
05-09-2016
Originally Posted by BenFranklin:
“Would like to see/hear a 3 man commentary team, works well with other sports.”

I disagree. IMO it just makes it more difficult for anyone to get a proper word in. For Sky F1 I'm amazed at the number of times Croft keeps yammering when there's something else happening that he should be picking up on, and I'm sure Brundle must be begging to get a word in but he just keeps going! Imagine that with two guys trying to say something!
The Wanderer
05-09-2016
I think a third commemtator is best when they're only coming in at occasional interludes. Too much now I hear three voices on sports and it feels like every second of silence has to be filled for the sake of it
FOM Fan
05-09-2016
Interestingly, I've had a survey about F1 from Neilson pop through to my inbox today. Doesn't say who it's in partnership with, whether it's an official one or anything.

I'm still not sure what to think about the new F1 owners, from the sounds of it & from all the reports, it looks like they will be placing "Entertainment" above "Sporting" in terms of F1. Dear god I hope it doesn't turn into a Motorsport WWE in 10 years time

And given that the proposed new CEO is apparently best buds with Murdoch & is a director in his companies, then I don't think it'll be coming back to FTA any time soon

But maybe i'm being too pessmistic?
gd49
05-09-2016
Originally Posted by stefmeister:
“I wish BT would just take the US Pre-race show rather than using there own commentary as were seeing all the video for the NBC features/interviews with BT's own commentary that doesn't match.”

I agree, even stranger when they show part of an NBC feature like the track guide then cut away to what I assume is the international feed? Can't understand the logic of that.

Originally Posted by FOM Fan:
“Interestingly, I've had a survey about F1 from Neilson pop through to my inbox today. Doesn't say who it's in partnership with, whether it's an official one or anything.

I'm still not sure what to think about the new F1 owners, from the sounds of it & from all the reports, it looks like they will be placing "Entertainment" above "Sporting" in terms of F1. Dear god I hope it doesn't turn into a Motorsport WWE in 10 years time

And given that the proposed new CEO is apparently best buds with Murdoch & is a director in his companies, then I don't think it'll be coming back to FTA any time soon

But maybe i'm being too pessmistic?”

I think the only hope for FTA will be if going to pay TV does so much harm to F1 they have to go back to FTA to rescue the situation. But that'd mean going through a few years of pain to get there...
Jonpollak
05-09-2016
Originally Posted by stefmeister:
“I wish BT would just take the US Pre-race show rather than using there own commentary as were seeing all the video for the NBC features/interviews with BT's own commentary that doesn't match.

I hope there not going to provide there own commentary throughout the whole race as they did back at the Road America. While the BT commentary itself wasn't awful we were missing a lot of the information from the US broadcast (Pit reports, Team radio, Strategy info) which made the race much harder to follow.”


I love the fact that BT go ad free during the US breaks.
However, Kevin Lee, Townsend Bell and especially Paul Tracy are now, HANDS DOWN, the best commentary team in racing.

Where else are you going to get comments like...
PT:" Yeah, outside of Andretti the only other ride Marco will get is with UBER."
I both spilled my beer and dropped the remote at that one

I did not find the BT studio PiP all that annoying. Alas poor #Adrian sounded a bit stiff but perhaps not too bad of a debut for someone from the 'internet'.
But someone needs to tell BT studio team to TALK ABOUT WHAT'S ON THE TV SCREEN.
duh..

Still....IndyCar is far and away the best car racing on the planet.

Hope DJ Willy P will be cleared for Sonoma. Would be terribly anticlimactic to have the championship decided by Charlie Frickin' Kimball's crap driving.

Jp
mjr
05-09-2016
Oh yes Indycar has been great this year - particularly the second half of the season. My nerves were already shot after Pocono and Texas Part II (particularly the last 50 laps of each), and the race at Watkins Glen had everything yesterday. Mid Ohio was also great as I recall.

Those road courses would be great venues for modern F1 to come (back) to, though that will almost certainly never happen, and I'd worry they'd get turned into car parks in the process.

Definitely appreciate BT providing ad-free coverage, it's so much easier to follow now! I kind of like the mix of discussion and commentating we get when we cut to BT, but I wouldn't mind if it was just commentary.

Definitely hope Power will make it to Sonoma, would be a shame for the whole sport if he can't be.
stevvy1986
05-09-2016
Couple of things. One is that I had the same survey as FOM Fan, though bizarrely most of the questions were about the European GP/Azerbaijan/Baku, such as would you be interested in volunteering for that race next year, how aware are you of Azerbaijan, etc.

Second, like a lot of others I skip most of the pre race stuff, I generally only tune in for the gridwalk onwards with Sky (haven't given C4 a proper go yet), as most of their buildup is very dull, samey, and when it comes to VT's, you've seen most of it in their "coming up" bits before ad breaks, meaning you see naff all when they get round to showing it properly.
alexj2002
05-09-2016
Originally Posted by The Scout:
“That reminds me... in Spa they showed a Sky Italia interview with Vettel after the race. The woman was asking him questions in Italian and he was answering the questions in English. What the hell was going on there? Was she actually asking him questions for the benefit of Sky UK's coverage? I found that quite bizarre.”

Is Vettel fluent in Italian? It might be he's picked up enough to understand questions, but is more comfortable answering in English.
lettice
05-09-2016
Had that Nielson survey too.
Did wander what the volunteer question was all about, marshals?
Obviously had some weight towards Baku and tourism.

Do agree Indy is always great racing.
I'm lucky that I can watch some of it via NBC Sports live online (job perk).
But I also watch a lot from the official youtube channel, highlights get put up there quickly, with full day coverage not long after.
Very much enjoyed the Pacona and Firestone races recently.
But agree the Ohio race was the best of this year.
Its very much 'wheel to wheel' racing as they often say.
markmag
05-09-2016
Originally Posted by stevvy1986:
“Couple of things. One is that I had the same survey as FOM Fan, though bizarrely most of the questions were about the European GP/Azerbaijan/Baku, such as would you be interested in volunteering for that race next year, how aware are you of Azerbaijan, etc.

Second, like a lot of others I skip most of the pre race stuff, I generally only tune in for the gridwalk onwards with Sky (haven't given C4 a proper go yet), as most of their buildup is very dull, samey, and when it comes to VT's, you've seen most of it in their "coming up" bits before ad breaks, meaning you see naff all when they get round to showing it properly.”

I do find it quite staggering the number of people on this thread who are fed up of Sky's coverage, yet haven't even tried Channel 4 when they're live at the same time. Fair enough if you try it and it's not for you, but I think some people just end up thinking because they pay for Sky they must watch that and not consider the alternative.

On a non-live weekend C4/Whisper operate a much cut-down operation, but when they go head to head they are more than a match for Sky - lacking in some areas yes, but significantly ahead in others too. Trying to take the "I can't stand person X / I love person Y" aspect of the presentation out of the equation is tricky, but I would say for buildup Channel 4 are absolutely streets ahead (from the point they start - obviously if you really value the drivers being interviewed while waving on the back of a truck stick with Sky until C4 come on), although Sky get post race on level of analysis and covering all teams (via the notebook). You may agree/disagree, but you won't know if you don't try!
Ellie666
05-09-2016
Originally Posted by markmag:
“I do find it quite staggering the number of people on this thread who are fed up of Sky's coverage, yet haven't even tried Channel 4 when they're live at the same time. Fair enough if you try it and it's not for you, but I think some people just end up thinking because they pay for Sky they must watch that and not consider the alternative.

On a non-live weekend C4/Whisper operate a much cut-down operation, but when they go head to head they are more than a match for Sky - lacking in some areas yes, but significantly ahead in others too. Trying to take the "I can't stand person X / I love person Y" aspect of the presentation out of the equation is tricky, but I would say for buildup Channel 4 are absolutely streets ahead (from the point they start - obviously if you really value the drivers being interviewed while waving on the back of a truck stick with Sky until C4 come on), although Sky get post race on level of analysis and covering all teams (via the notebook). You may agree/disagree, but you won't know if you don't try!”

You'll probably find most people have tried CH4 but like myself can not stand Steve Jones, the appalling gfx or more importantly EJ
markmag
06-09-2016
Originally Posted by Ellie666:
“You'll probably find most people have tried CH4 but like myself can not stand Steve Jones, the appalling gfx or more importantly EJ”

Each to their own. Jones over "Lazers" any day, innovative gfx over tired and bland, and give me EJ 4 times a year over Herbert at nearly every race. Sky viewers don't even escape EJ as he's always on the podium
cegueira
06-09-2016
Steve Jones is terrible, a real let down for C4 coverage. This last weekend was the final straw for me. I have no idea if there's a word to describe the way he presents but it is incredibly annoying.

He was better earlier on when he wasn't over confident.
scardis
06-09-2016
This last weekend because Lee was preparing for Rio, Steve had to lead in practice coverage and I thought he did pretty well. I laughed at his intro to FP3 where he said he had his heels on and practicing his Scottish accent to stand in for Miss Mckenzie.
It was said above that C4/Whisper do a big scale back on non live weekends. I can tell you from a international feed point of view (Eir Sport for example) that is not the case. Ben, Karun, Tony and Lee/Holly all cover Free practice as usual, just with World feed pictures only and no big pauses in commentary to opt in and out of breaks. Practically no difference in how qualifying and race commentary is approached by anyone whether or not it's a live weekend or highlights. I feel pretty lucky that for 10 races I'm one of the few who gets an advance screening of Channel 4s coverage ahead of the UK and even without any build up or post race analysis, it's better value than Sky Sports sub.
stefmeister
06-09-2016
Early in the year I was watching both Sky & C4 pre/post race shows side-by-side as I always did with the live BBC races, But something about the C4 coverage just didn't click with me & to be honest i'm not totally sure why.

There were times the past few year's for the non-live highlights where i'd use iplayer to see bits of pre/post race stuff or bits of the races themselves to see how they handled commentary for incidents & how they discussed them. However I don't do that for the C4 because using there catch-up player/apps & having to sit through what feels like an hour of ad's not just at the start of the program but also when you skip through a program really irritates me.

I've got no problem with having to watch advertisement's on these catch-up services, But the way the 4OD service handles them is really annoying, More so than other similar services i've used which often leads me to just quit playback. Maybe it's not a big deal & i'm just not as patient as I used to be?
FOM Fan
06-09-2016
I don't like Steve Jones, he's too jokey, but I guess that makes sense for C4 as they're trying to attract a more casual audience.
lettice
06-09-2016
Originally Posted by markmag:
“I do find it quite staggering the number of people on this thread who are fed up of Sky's coverage, yet haven't even tried Channel 4 when they're live at the same time. Fair enough if you try it and it's not for you, but I think some people just end up thinking because they pay for Sky they must watch that and not consider the alternative.”

I really enjoy the Sky coverage and have been doing so since it started. Have only looked at C4 a few times this season to compare.
My main thought is that its just the old Beeb production moved over, so nothing new there. I'm sure they spoke of some coverage game changers at their launch.
Never did like the Edwards and Coulthard commentary and just hate EJ.
Seeing the EJ mess up on the podium this weekend, certainly would not want to see or hear him.
I did check out C4 at the start of the season and just watched some of it this morning on All4 (good grief what an awful experience All4 is, the ads!). Was only a short one off highlights prog for C4 available via Sky On Demand.
I do not like the presenter, just awful in my opinion.
As for Sky, having watched it on there for many years now, it has become routine.
Do like spending the whole weekend with all the pre and post race stuff and do really enjoy the iPad Sports app and red button for all the onboards etc.
Agree that sometimes they do have some fillers that are not to my taste and they have tried many things over the years that have not worked.
The F1 show audience thing was just garbage. Do like the F1 show they have now and have enjoyed the mid week shows mainly for Mark Priestly.
Do enjoy the Croft and Brundle commentary, have no issues there. Maybe some of it is what you are used to it, but their partnership works well for me.
Do think that Simon has done a good job and have enjoyed his style, very different from Jake. Rachel also does well for the practice sessions and the F1 show.
It has certainly been better this year without Natalie, who always just dumbed down the coverage and do cringe at Johnny often, but at least his enthusiasm and comedy is genuine. But when he is sensible he is worth listening to.
Really sure we could have so much more, but we are spoilt with what we get now, having read of the coverage from other countries.
Shame its not 2019 next year as I'm looking forward from what I've read, we could have some great innovations for the coverage. With the new F1 owners I'm sure there will be some more offerings.
As for Sky, having had it and a sports subscription since sky began (love Cricket, golf, football...), do love the whole style across their sports and so perhaps you get tuned into that style.
The old Beeb style for me really did seem very old fashioned and dated for their Motorsport, football and golf and it seems C4 have just followed that pattern for F1.
Do think it is sad the BBC have lost so much sport, as they have set some standards over the many decades since the 1960s that I have been watching and I would certainly be happy to pay for a BBC sport channel.
C4 have some very odd graphics on screen, not sure where they dragged them from. Ghastly springs to mind.
Must admit of all my friends, family and work colleagues I do not know anyone who watches the C4 F1 overage as I do not hear it ever getting mentioned.
The many local pubs here have quite a sell out for F1 weekends, its all sky and the three largest have multi sky sports rooms/areas when football and F1 clashes.
Must say I rarely watch C4 as a channel, but I have seen almost no promotion anywhere of the C4 F1 coverage.
If it wasn't for visiting on here Id probably just have forgotten that they had any coverage.
lettice
06-09-2016
See the draft F1 calendar for 2017 is out today and looks like Le Mans and Baku clash.
Do think the Le Mans weekend should not be an F1 weekend.
Be a better fit for Baku after Russia, they are only 14 hours by road and 7 hours by air for a quick week turnover.
But with another 21 race calendar and having to have the August three week break, its going to be difficult
See the start in Australia is back to end of the month, was 2011 when it was last at the end of March. Something to do with the teams have been give a little extra time to get ready for the 2017 rule changes.
markmag
06-09-2016
That's all fine for you lettice, but with the greatest respect you are far from a typical supporter. As you point out, you are fully tuned into the sky sports style of presentation and was so way before they got the rights to F1. I doubt from reading on here there are many who wish it was 2019 already. There does seem to be a real concern, considering just how much Sky have cut investment into programming already, what coverage we will be left with when they have a monopoly. The viewing figures of course don't match your personal experience that everyone watches Sky and nobody watches C4. If you don't watch channels owned by Channel 4 yes you're unlikely to see their promotion but that works in reverse too. Both channels have probably spent similar amounts in terms of billboard/web advertising etc. Also I find it a bit odd to say Whisper's coverage is tired because they haven't changed it since BBC, then also say how much you don't like everything they've changed drastically to stop it being tired (ie presentation style, graphics). I do get part of what you mean - for instance the absolute determination to show us the current rankings and season table at the same point at the start of coverage every time - but then Sky are equally guilty of that sort of thing too.

I do think it's a false comparison some people are making to say that they went back and watched a bit on Awful (sorry I mean All4) and that put them off. Particularly if that's based on the start of the season, or on a race with delayed coverage. Putting the All4 experience together with the team finding their feet on the more rushed highlights coverage and it really isn't a fair comparison with the live show Channel 4 have done since say Silverstone.

For me the vast majority of the team at Channel 4 are just more relevant than Sky (excluding Ant), particularly DC and Webber but also Chandhok and Wolff. Maybe that's why they end up doing the podium interviews more - Webber and DC are are going to be known well by younger supporters to whom Hill, Brundle and Herbert are (with the greatest respect) names in the history books - there's a clear generational difference there with Channel 4 coming across as a younger cheeky upstart. Crofty is a brilliant Master of Ceremonies when I've seen him fulfil that role (certainly kept RoC going last year) but makes too many mistakes in race mode as commentator for me. As for Jones I do fully get why some can't stand him but for me he is always consistant and professional within his demeanor. Lazenby is normally very good but I've also found him both bland and offensive which is quite some trick. The biggest plus though is that Whisper have been doing some great pre quali/race films and unlike Sky they don't heavily promote them and hack them to bits - they just edit them to perfection and then show them.
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