This has made me laugh a lot. What a great diplomatic answer to the 'benefit' of adverts.

Give the man a chance. Judge him after a few races including atleast 2 live races.
You can't make a solid judgement based on his first ever weekend in the job. Its unfair

I have to agree, the breaks meant I could go and get some food without missing anything. I didn't midn them at all.

Definitely enjoyed C4 coverage this weekend, some fresh ideas and new faces already.

I'm going to start with Steve Jones because he was probably going to be the most talk about member this weekend. I think he did well better than what I expected him to do, he's already bonded with DC and Webber and is not afraid to ask questions and I thought he handled interviews very well and asked the correct questions, I also thought he also handled the qualifying mayhem well. Just feel lucky it ain't coming back for a while.

As for DC and Webber they both provided fantastic analyses and again DC bonded well with Edwards in the box although I did feel like Edwards threw some random questions at Coulthard at various points in qualifying and the race.

The features were simple but lasted long enough and Lee Mckenzie proved that C4 needed her for interviews like Hamilton and Alonso, they were edited out well and wasn't rushed so BBC quality for me.

The graphics is another high point of the coverage, extremely slick, clean and readable. Really good as well that it changes depending on which team driver is getting interviewed and I also like the points standings graphics.

9/10 for me, a extremely good effort!

C4 coverage was excellent! shame about the ads which I thought they wouldn't show during the race? but other than that I like what they are doing. Its slick, has a newer feel (well duh) and has given it a bit of oomph from the BBC's coverage which I think was brilliant too but C4 have out done them.

One thing I have to ask and if its been asked before sorry (I cant be arsed to trawl through countless pages to find the answer)... will C4 have an F1 Forum like BBC did? I liked that.

Steve Jones did okay for his first go but will need to improve on the question front. Don't feel he's got enough knowledge to get him through a Live race yet but he's got 2 weeks to learn and get better.

As a presenter dealing with Live coverage I think he will be absolutely fine. Think he will be able to adlib fine. Suzi Perry was terrible until halfway through her second season, when she started there was stuttering and mistakes. Jones didn't do that today.

Perry had more knowledge of Motorsport in general though and that saved her.

If there was along red flag period at Bahrain I would stick with Ben and DC in comms for longer, don't think he'd be able to fill yet.

But a competent start and C4 overall were great, Karun chandhok looks like he will be good in his role. Offered more than Tom Clarkson ever did. Clarkson just talked about the weather all day.

Today was a HIGHLIGHTS show so adverts where expected.

Next race on Channel 4 is LIVE so there wont be any adverts during the actual race.

No, they never said that races would be ad-free when it was highlights, just when they're live. As it was, only a few laps were missed and there wasn't the red flag hold-up to sit through. It certainly didn't feel as edited down as the BBC highlights were.

The ads don't really bother me, I always record it and watch on chase-play anyway so I can rewind at will if I want to see something again. Give it 20 minutes headstart and you catch up anyway.

I agree, I thought they did a stellar job. I agree that Jones's questions were sometimes a bit meh but for a first attempt, it was fine. The questioning will improve and he needs to stop butting in at times but it'll come. There was certainly nothing in his performance to think that it isn't going to work. He needs a few races to settle in - there's nothing like being thrown in the deep end!

Chandhok was good, he should be a fine addition to the team providing that he doesn't just talk about potential pit-stops all the time but again, his first race for C4 and it'll only get better.

Looks like the F1 website has finally posted proper race highlights, as expected it is using Sky commentary.

Thought C4's coverage was very good for a first attempt with a nice feel to the coverage across the weekend. Will just comment on a few of the biggest talking points...

Commentary: Great call on the start by Ben Edwards- saw the Vettel super start very quickly- and I enjoyed him and DC more than I did in qualifying. In fact all 3 comm teams (5 Live included) got a very good call of the start- so well done to them! I still think Crofty, Brundle and Ted are the strongest line-up or at least my personal preference. I thought Karun Chandhok had some good little comments in the pits, he's a very good choice and can always be used as a back-up pundit if C4 can't get one of their rotating band along for a weekend.

Adverts: God, people on Twitter like to moan don't they?! I didn't watch all the highlights of the race- I watched til about 2:30, watched a bit of the football, then as that finished came back for C4 post race, I didn't think the adverts were that bad at all. Many on Twitter- with their beautiful use of hyperbole- disagreed! From what I saw the highlights generally looked well edited and it felt like more of the race was covered than when they were on the BBC. Although I know that's probably just because the cuts were better disguised with the ad breaks. One thing I would say on the advert front was that it seemed very odd throwing to an advert about 7 mins into the show today. At other highlights races I understand- it's how you make your money- but I would have thought they would have tried to make a longer first impression than just throwing to a break early on. Although it wasn't the end of the world. I am very much in favour of a 30 min build up show to the highlights though, makes it feel like more of an event. It's good to see that they're planning to keep this for the China highlights in a few weeks- according to their website.

Steve Jones: Someone I'm still to make my mind up on. I actually went back and re-watched a couple of his links from the show today to try and make my mind up about him. And I came out of that feeling more positive than I did after just watching it the once. At points he looks great; very comfortable on screen, letting DC and Mark do a lot of the talking and he clearly has enthusiasm- if not nerd level knowledge- for the sport. My only worry comes with his questions, they tend to be broad and rather non-specific. This isn't too much of a concern when you have DC and Mark Webber who can take a broad topic and run with it. But it will become a concern later on if some of the pundits need more encouraging/need to be pushed on a particular subject. In fact all 3 of EJ, Susie Wolff and Alain Prost (Although how much of a role will he actually play?) spring to mind when I think of those who might need more specific questions from the host. Also in interviews he could do with honing in on points a bit better. Although maybe I'm being unfair, it was a highlights package and he couldn't do loads, plus he got an enjoyable chat with Lewis today and the Haas team today so not too bad at all. As everybody says the real test for Jones will come in Bahrain and I think he'll handle it. Live TV doesn't seem to phase him and the style of F1 coverage doesn't either- shown with their rather long walk and talk in the opening link today. Overall my feelings about Jones are positive, he appeals to a different type of audience but should do the basics more than well enough.

Overall Mark for C4: 8/10

Very good start, not sure it's enough to make me watch them live- yet. But still F1 is safe in their hands. Not sure our responses would have been so generally positive as they are if ITV/North One got this contract. So well done C4 and Whisper Films.

They've been doing this since 2014 (albeit in 2014 only on the mobile app as F1 access hadn't launched yet on the website):
http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-...ighlights.html

Plus they did it for 2015 as well (F1 access having launched by then), although looking back I can't see it on there now. I'm sure you had to be a paid member to view it though, I think since they've (it seems) got rid of that, some of the earliest paid videos from the beginning of 2015 have disappeared from the website, which is a shame.

Today's (2016) race highlights vid was up no later than midday today, UK time, as I saw it earlier on.

I don't do Twitter but I can imagine the sort of stuff that's on there. As you say, it's all over-exaggerated but then that's the way of the world these days. If F1 is to stay on FTA, it's going to have ads. End of. People need to deal with it or subscribe to Sky.

As I said earlier, I don't find the ads a problem (I don't watch many of them anyway ). F1 survived ITV with adverts (although I doubt many of the Twitterati were around in those days ). Heck, it even survived ITV missing key moments because of the ads - something which isn't going to be a problem on C4 either live or in highlights, so it'll certainly survive C4 having advert breaks in the pre and post sessions and the highlights. It's a non-issue and people will soon get used to it.

watched both coverages and c4 commentary was streaks ahead of sky , croft was unbearable on the start and made many mistakes. i thought ben/dc were much better than last year as they were in tune with the race. the c4 ads for me really disrupted the flow (so used to bbc) and padded out the program to much. the c4 team have done a good job and i like the graphics and i think jones will improve in time.
also don't know if anyone noticed on c4 the engine noise was really quiet compared to sky. f1.

Did anyone know whether Channel 4 broadcast the highlights program today in 5.1 or stereo, on C4 HD?

BBC Sportsdesk on BBC News Channel just described Fernando Alonso crashing out.....in his Ferrari.

Maybe it's for the best the BBC don't have it any more.

I had a look and it was unfortunately only AC3 2.0. Not 5.1 which i had hoped for.

It's understood that there's an average they are working to throughout the season, so the longer amount of coverage today will cause more to be missed later in the season.

Little rushed at the end, but a decent start by C4F1. Also nice of them to get that little Indian boy to explain the pit stop strategy..

I watched the race on Sky, no complaints. Then listened to 5Live at work, with an hours build up! Jack did a great job on comms.

The thing that struck me most when I saw the BBC News Channel last night was they didn't show a second of race action, simply using a couple of still images of Alonso's crash etc. I can't speak for how substantial their coverage was at any other point in the day but it seems from what I saw that they won't pay whatever is required to be able to show the main race clips with 'pictures courtesy of Channel 4/Sky Sports F1' etc displayed on screen. I am sure many know better than me how such agreements work.

BBC News certainly had video of the race (Sky Sports F1 HD logo on screen) during the early evening news on BBC1.

Some BBC News Channel programming, especially after Midnight, is shared with BBC World News. These broadcasts wouldn't show video of the race as the BBC don't have a global agreement in place.

C4 had a very strong debut. Was a bit rushed at the end but then they did show the podium interviews. My only real annoyance was the break bumpers - agree the #sundaydrivers raised an eyebrow as being a bit flippant after such a crash. And then as I'd got used to them showing race action was surprised when during the race one showed Lewis celebrating on the podium. Apart from that, all good!

BBC News at 10 also had video of the race, I suspect the same shots as shown in the early evening news.

I liked the opening to the C4 coverage, with Jenson being parachuted out of a plane in his car. OK, the CGI was a little cheesy, but I thought it was a good way to announce themselves. Also liked the way they gave clues that The Chain was coming in the music that preceded with with some bass line hints.

If people hate ads so much maybe they should tape the highlights and start watching them an hour or so after the show is first broadcast, and zap through the breaks. The race had already been over for seven or so hours. Overall I thought C4 did a pretty good job.

Doesn't everybody have the ability to pause these days?

In the ITV-F1 days I did quite like the ad breaks because it would mean I could pause the race when I wanted and then catch up through the ads, meaning I'd get back to live. Once the BBC took over I couldn't do this anymore so would typically end up 5 minutes behind by the end of the race.