He was 2nd already. Riccardo had pitted before the VSC and i don't think it was worth his while pitting as he would have still needed another stop.

Just to forewarn you, Eddie Jordan is going to Mexico for Channel 4 so expect him on the podium.

Speaking of Channel 4, their highlights will be worth a watch. Commentary was excellent today, really kept on top of all the strategies being played out,.

Drinking out of a shoe it looks like jackass behaviour to me. Not sure it is best for F1.

Excellent suggestion. Surely that would have appealed to more of the fans than Butler.

Moet out of a crystal goblet designed by Adrian Newey, is that the sort of thing you mean?

Presumably they didn't get bored two-thirds of the way through and start talking about their dinner arrangements. I dunno about JB's theory about young people having too short attention spans for F1, but it's certainly true for Crofty. We have three great commentary teams in the UK, but it's only Crofty and Brundle who sometimes drift off mid race. Took Kimis retirement to wake them up again.

Not sure how true that is in terms of radio 5, I presume you mean the main team of Jack Nicholls, Allan McNish and Jennie Gow but this year Jennie is now on maternity leave and I'm not sure how many races Allan had attended. Even on a one day event of a Formula E race he bailed out before the race. BBC have been a bit unsure of themselves this year.
That said however Tom Clarkson, who I rated as the weakest link in the BBC'S tv coverage has come on really well and is a far better presenter than he used to be.

The shoeys have been the highlight of the podium celebrations for me this year.

Has anyone else watched the US GP on Now TV ? (Or tried to... I gave up!)

Did you have problems ?

Buffering and crashing from 8pm UK so I missed the start. It was ok up till then....
Low streaming quality on both a NowTV Smart box and a PC across all NowTV Sports channels.

Yes I know Sunday evening can be a problem on the net, but it's normally been ok and I was getting a steady 7-8 meg speed as usual via PlusNet.

Still no announcement on who won Driver of the Day. I wonder if it was Max Verstappen?

EDIT: And he has. How embarrassing.

https://twitter.com/EliGP/status/790312483336622080

He really did seem obsessed with her during the practice sessions, it was almost as if he was told to promote it. Sky commentary is played out in the Paddock, or least in the team's hospitality buildings.

I am really getting annoyed by the obsession with any celeb that is in the paddock from both FOM and Sky themselves. How many times do we need to see Lindsey Vonn this weekend. It wouldn't be so bad if these people genuinely had an interest in the sport but most of them just seem to go because they're offered the free tickets.

Every time I heard him he seemed to protest just a bit too much about "not" wanting to see her concert after all. He should just have gone, nobody would judge him for it

Please kill me now!!!!!!!

Never heard of Lindsey Vonn before this weekend, I even thought during the qualifying that crofty was mispronouncing Lindsey Lohan lol

On subject of crofty, did anyone else spot his error when he said every USA pole sitter that started the race has finished in top 2, when Rosberg started on pole and finished 3rd last year!!

He also said Nasr drives for Ferrari at the beginning when going through the grid lineup.

I've always said I thought Sky's actual analysis of the racing has been close to nonexistent but it's only today I could put my finger on where it falls short.

The best aspect of the BBC's coverage (2009 & 2010) was always the post-race analysis of the action using multiple angles and open discussion with Jake loosely directing the topic but anchored by replays of the key incidents. Sky's post-race is the polar opposite; a rigid question, answer, question, answer format with the pundits provided with no flexibility and no footage in order to form an opinion.

I think most here will agree Sky's best analysis (Ted's Notebook aside) is when Anthony forensically analyses incidents at the SkyPad and I think the reason for this is that it's literally the only time Sky actually devote to the best part of the sport; the racing on track. Discussing mentality and the bigger picture around the sport and championship are perfectly at home in the pre-race but post-race should be about the race we've just witnessed analysed in fine detail with the wider implications at the end of the show in the wrap up. Post-race is now a mere extension of the pre-race discussion.

I'd like to see the pundits, for 30+ minutes in the post-race show, be given free rein around the SkyPad without a time limit or set structure with a video library of every remotely notable overtake, pitstop & incident from every angle possible. Let Martin, Damon, Ant & Johnny choose the topics/incidents and allow them to direct the discussion as they see fit. They can speak at length about incidents and it allows them the freedom to form an opinion based on the video evidence beyond the repeated cliche soundbites they're confined to today and invite drivers to do the same.

Sky's coverage centres around issues off track by and large; they discuss the championship, contracts/impending moves, mentality & the future ad nauseum. Analysis itself is confined to Ant or Paul rushing through incidents alone in 2 minutes so we can get back to hearing how Damon & Johnny think all that might affect a driver's mentality in future or his contract negotiations in future or his approach to the next race in future. The focus is always on the future, never to reflect or discuss the race which is what the 2 hours after the chequered flag should be as was the case on the BBC F1 Forum.

Boom!
I could not agree more with this wonderful post!

This is the thing about Sky's coverage that confuses me. Why can't they keep all the feeds available for as long as FOM provides them?

F1-Addict.
Brilliant post.
Jp

убей меня сейчас.


Jp

I often wonder what all this US and F1 must be there talk is.
Was speaking to a group of US guys overnight and mentioned F1, not one of them watched it or know what's going on this year. They often talk about Nascar and Indy though. I even asked them what the US F1 team was this year, they could not. Once I told them they obviously knew what Haas was.
I have a few long term friends who I talk to regularly and are also Motorsport fans but watch no F1 or care about it.
Its on their main sports channels.
Is it only a small group who are interested, or are most of those interested and attendees Brits and other foreigners in the US?

seconded

Surely you've just hit the nail on the head? It's a massive market and yet brand perception even by those interested in motorsport just isn't there. It needs to be there to try and get some penetration into the public consciousness.

The best I remember was when Jenson happened to appear at the sky pad while ant was analysing a battle he had, was great for a driver to put across his point of view across the footage

We don't tend to see the pole sitter talk through their lap anymore