uk f1 tv coverage - sky, bbc and ch4

[morninggents]

I agree with earlier comments about Lee McKenzie. A class presenter. Better than most of her Ch 4 colleagues. She, DC, Mark Webber and Billy Whizz make a great team.

[S griffin]

I agree Lee is a class act. She's great at presenting and not just F1 or motorsport in general. She's very good presenting the rugby too. She certainly deserves a bigger role

[Tourer]

IMHO Harry Benjamin was a VAST improvement over Croft but like nearly all commentators, he did have the odd annoying trait. The probability percentage of a SC is regularly referred to at other Grands Prix but I'm struggling to remember if they've also said 100% or left it at "highly likely" or something like that.

Croft genuinely spoils the experience for me but I reckon if 20 of us were lined up and asked for the key aspects of a perfect commentator, I'm tipping that there wouldn't be even 2 identical lists.

[Skam85]

I was ambivalent to Harry Benjamin. He wasn't fantastic, wasn't horrible. It didn't add or detract from my F1 experience.

I'm sure he was massively nervous for his first proper F1 race, and will find a rhythm in future.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by Skam85

I'm sure he was massively nervous for his first proper F1 race, and will find a rhythm in future.

You know what, I retract some of my previous statement. Because this is totally fair. Whilst he is not new to commentating, the gap in viewership numbers between anything else and F1 is crazy.

[chunterer]

Listening to Jacques and litle Brundle sounding off to.each other in F2 qualy yesterday was like a battle of the cheesiest cliches delivered as loudly and as slowly as possible.

I think I an going to have to fimd someway of picking up trackside racing sounds minus the comms teams from mow on!

[Greem]

I quite like Alex Brundle's commentary/punditry style. He always sounds like he's having a laugh and has his tongue firmly in his cheek.

He does crowbar the gags in fairly forcefully though. I wonder where that comes from...?

[ChrisA]

The Chuckle Brothers are back on Ch4. No Lee unfortunately.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by ChrisA

The Chuckle Brothers are back on Ch4. No Lee unfortunately.

Disappointing.....

[LC2guy]

Continually impressed with Naomi Schiff, great alongside Button & Brundle. Lazenby can be a bit terse, but the rest more than compensate. With the added pressure of being live with no ( C4 ) chance to edit prior to highlights, i'm happy with the coverage.

[Alan52]

I know it is their job but Croft and Brundle continually pushing strategies that were never going to happen was annoying.
Their repeated suggestion that Piastri should consider pitting out of 2nd was beyond bizarre unless they were thinking of ways Lando could get a podium.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Alan52

I know it is their job but Croft and Brundle continually pushing strategies that were never going to happen was annoying.
Their repeated suggestion that Piastri should consider pitting out of 2nd was beyond bizarre unless they were thinking of ways Lando could get a podium.

It was bizarre unless they were thinking of ways to spice up the commentary, in what was a dull, processional race.

[flatlandsman]

It is races like this when I have plenty of sympathy for commentators, and they are not that uncommon, when very little is going on. I would imagine producers are very aware of this too and endlessly pushing stats and ideas to THE MOUTH. I very much doubt he knows this stuff from knowledge as he seems utterly unaware of anything that happened before he was involved in F1.

[Peter Mallett]

1982 Monaco,

Originally Posted by James Hunt on BBC

''We've got this amazing situation, we're all sitting by the start and finish line waiting for a winner to come past and we're not getting one''

Even when the race was processional, we had lack of reliability to spice things up. The current cars are not only too big, they are too reliable. Add to that the ability for teams to know when the stops will take place due to the lack of tyre variation and its no surprise that Monaco has the potential to be stiflingly tedious. That said Maimi, Suadi and the rest of them haven't set the pulses racing this year. Even Lando's win was relatively predictable.

[GTRMagic]

So.. is it true and correct that Ms Patrick has left the Sky broadcast team?
Something to do with Lizard People or somesuch..

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

So.. is it true and correct that Ms Patrick has left the Sky broadcast team?
Something to do with Lizard People or somesuch..

Shame if true as IMHO she has brought interesting perspectives to the discussion at the races she has attended.

Don’t understand the lizard people reference - has she been getting attacked online or something?

[Greem]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

So.. is it true and correct that Ms Patrick has left the Sky broadcast team?
Something to do with Lizard People or somesuch..

It was a fake story.

[Tourer]

Noticed something interesting at Austria with Harry Benjamin doing a good job of filling in again.

He also seems unable to say “sixth” & instead goes with “sikth” - something both Croft & Brundle do too.

Is this widespread in English commentary or do we have some kind of cluster in the F1 commentary box?

Genuinely interested as it sounds so weird.

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by Greem

It was a fake story.

Pleased to hear it. Thanks Greem.

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Greem

It was a fake story.

Her Youtube Channel is erm.... 'Pretty Intense' (the name of her podcast series.)

https://www.youtube.com/@DanicaPatrick/videos

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by Tourer

Don’t understand the lizard people reference - has she been getting attacked online or something?

She is a conspiracy theorist. She believes lizard people control humans. This is one of the long list of ridiculous things she believes.

The only thing Danica brings to the coverage is forcing Jenson into interesting facial expressions.

[Greem]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

She is a conspiracy theorist. She believes lizard people control humans. This is one of the long list of ridiculous things she believes.

The only thing Danica brings to the coverage is forcing Jenson into interesting facial expressions.

Well, holy amazeballs, Batman. I had no idea she was a nutter/grifter. The hoohah earlier in the week was a dumb gag played by someone with a generative AI, but it obviously pulled stuff from her content.

Shocked. Shocked, I tell you.

[Plantagenet]

I'm looking forward to live F1 this weekend
Also, one of those bumper weekends of sport with Euros, Wimbledon and England/All blacks in the mix.

[morninggents]

Originally Posted by Plantagenet

I'm looking forward to live F1 this weekend
Also, one of those bumper weekends of sport with Euros, Wimbledon and England/All blacks in the mix.

And the Tour de France of course.

[Richard C]

I had looked at her social media months ago and was shocked. I initially thought she was just courting controversy to gain views, but I really think she is 100% nuts. The "Lizard People" part is the easiest to call out, but there is more. View any of it and your brain will rot. It has been a topic of discussion recently on F1 Reddit.

I use F1TV app here in US, so I don't know how well she does with the Sky broadcast. My impression with the bit I have seen her doing racing broadcasting is that she is not particularly good. I very much get the impression that while she is a good driver (good in the big picture) she is not particularly knowledgeable outside of sitting in the car. I can't imagine she brings much new other than being a pretty face, having an "American" perspective (as if that is a singular perspective) and has history as a driver in a top series. But those don't outweigh the negatives IMHO.

Anyhow, back to the Lizard People. I am a big believer in free speech. You can say or believe whatever you want. But there can be consequences. I am open to people who challenge conventional thinking, but I zero sympathy for supporting people who are live in an alternate reality and spout nonsense. I frankly hope she is dropped by Sky. If not, then I hope the rest of the Sky team starts dressing in lizard outfits and chases her around the paddock.

Richard