uk f1 tv coverage - sky, bbc and ch4

[GregUK]

Originally Posted by GT6

You actually believe the press release?

I know one of the Stewards well enough to know that he would not have put his name to a decision just because somebody told him to sign.....

[steve_r]

The Stewards took nearly an hour to make their decision. During that time, I assume that they never bothered listening to the radio comms? I do wonder whether you call it "New information" or alternatively "Whoops we made a mistake".

Penalty points for procedural errors - are OK if that floats your boat I suppose. This seems strange to me when certain other drivers regularly are involved with collisions and cannot be trusted to race wheel-to-wheel, but have no penalty points at all.

But I suppose I am not comparing like with like.

[S griffin]

Yes it does seem investigating and punishing avoidable incidents from driver error and the wrong protocol is more important than any dangerous driving like swerving or chopping at high speed. Look at Grosjean at Silverstone, only got a warning for his dangerous swerve. Still we’ve never been stewards, so what do we know?

[codename_47]

The problem is the rules that allow the driver in front to pretty much do whatever they want to defend their position

Techincally you might be able to defend your line to the inside and then merely "resume the racing line" but in reality that has come to mean two aggressive swerves against the driver trying to overtake you, even if they're already alongside you and even if you're already in the braking zone

The FIA have been far too lax with this going back to the schumacher days, leading to the ridiculous situations we have now where Max, Magnussen, Grosjean et al will wait until you're diving up the inside in the braking zone to start swerving at you.
Plus the F1 driver's favourite "I'm coming over on you even though you're fully alongside, either you back out of this or we're going to crash" (See Vettel, Singapore 2017 or last year at Brazil)
If they cause the crash, it's 100% their fault yet somehow the FIA likes to call racing incidents on these blatent moves

These kinds of moves are almost verbatim in other forms of Motorsport and would get you a harsh penalty even in something like touring cars, where more biff and baff is to be expected.
But for the supposedly highest echelon of the sport? All acceptable, for some reason

Back to commentary, I find it bizarre there is so much love for 2011 on here
To me it just didn't work, you had two guys fighting to analyse an incident and this became more grating during an incident that was occuring live
When something is happening before our eyes, we need a lead commentator to "paint the picture", basically say "wow, that's brave/interesting/dangerous/spectacular/canny" etc and then hand over to the analyst to add the "colour" of why what we're seeing is so important and explain how it happened

With Brundle and DC you got all colour and no outline.

Plus Martin tried to come up with weird catchphrases that year without realising a commentator's phrases that are associated with them always happen in the heat of the moment.
"Look, but never STARE!" indeed.....c'mon man

No, for me the best commentary pairing possible would be Ben Edwards and Martin Brundle.
Why Ben didn't get the job after Murray went is a mystery to me, as is why we've had almost every other possible lead/analyst pairing but those two.
Ben has been solid since his late 90s CART days, no one conveys the excitement and passion of the sport more than he.

I hope the casual fans appreciate his efforts more than most do on here too, he seems quite underrated in hardcore circles tbh

[chillibowl]

lead commentator with the colour commentator is also my preferred set up. the lead plus 2 colour commentators would also work for me.

post Murray my broadcast of choice eventually became the American broadcasts on Speed...became a big fan of Bob Varsha as the lead.

[Knowlesy]

Plus Martin tried to come up with weird catchphrases that year without realising a commentator's phrases that are associated with them always happen in the heat of the moment.
"Look, but never STARE!" indeed.....c'mon man

I had forgotten about that phrase. So cringey.

Commentators always seem to be trying to crowbar in lines that will be used in the ads these days, this happens in most sports now. It is a real drag.

Crofty is guilty of this on an industrial scale. I get the impression he is sat there with a notebook full of this stuff. Just pages and pages, deep thoughts on dark and lonely nights with just a bottle of whiskey for company as he crafts the perfect line. He jots down the next idea: 'It's magnificent, IT'S MAGNUSSEN!' "That is a bloody beauty Crofty" he thinks to himself, being careful not to self-congratulate too loudly as his wife lies crying and alone upstairs.

Well, that's a bit unfair perhaps. There are football commentators that are far worse for that kind of thing, like they are having a private competition to see who can say the stupidest thing live on air. "A goal for all of Africa" has to go down as the greatest line ever in that regard.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

I had forgotten about that phrase. So cringey.

Commentators always seem to be trying to crowbar in lines that will be used in the ads these days, this happens in most sports now. It is a real drag.

Crofty is guilty of this on an industrial scale. I get the impression he is sat there with a notebook full of this stuff. Just pages and pages, deep thoughts on dark and lonely nights with just a bottle of whiskey for company as he crafts the perfect line. He jots down the next idea: 'It's magnificent, IT'S MAGNUSSEN!' "That is a bloody beauty Crofty" he thinks to himself, being careful not to self-congratulate too loudly as his wife lies crying and alone upstairs.

Well, that's a bit unfair perhaps. There are football commentators that are far worse for that kind of thing, like they are having a private competition to see who can say the stupidest thing live on air. "A goal for all of Africa" has to go down as the greatest line ever in that regard.

😂😂

Lead comm should focus on the action unfolding not start debating issues of the day. That is the remit of the expert next to him in the box.

I think if Brundle said to sky he wanted to be lead comm again, they would elbow Croft aside?

As long as we didn't then get Brundle jnr in there with his ever so slight over emphasis in staccato style alomgside Dad!!

[chillibowl]

Brundle Bingo...he has a lot of catchphrases.

it helps to have a drink every time you fill a spot on your card.

[Knowlesy]

Brundle and Brundle together would be the stuff of nightmares.

No disrespect to either.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

Brundle Bingo...he has a lot of catchphrases.

it helps to have a drink every time you fill a spot on your card.

Thing is, that theme you mention was led by Croft!

Having Croft extracting the wee like that really smacks of 'people in greenhouses shouldn't throw bricks'!

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Brundle and Brundle together would be the stuff of nightmares.

No disrespect to either.

At times they would be indistinguishable...

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Brundle and Brundle together would be the stuff of nightmares.

No disrespect to either.

What about Blundell and Brundle, Les Rosbif as they were called when the both drove for Ligier?

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

What about Blundell and Brundle, Les Rosbif as they were called when the both drove for Ligier?

Alright as a driving team. Not necessarily so as a comms team!

[Knowlesy]

That's D.I. Mark Blundell to you.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

That's D.I. Mark Blundell to you.

He used to use a phrase or word that was a bit out of place quite a lot but I can't think of it now?

[codename_47]

Originally Posted by chunterer

😂😂

Lead comm should focus on the action unfolding not start debating issues of the day. That is the remit of the expert next to him in the box.

I think if Brundle said to sky he wanted to be lead comm again, they would elbow Croft aside?

As long as we didn't then get Brundle jnr in there with his ever so slight over emphasis in staccato style alomgside Dad!!

I have a feeling that due to his age and health scares, Brundle is closer to winding down his commentating career rather than trying to force his way back into the top job

Alex Brundle smacks of Roman Kemp syndrome. Not got the job due to his experience as a driver or talent as a broadcaster but due to who his father is
Maybe he'll get the F1 job just in time to commentate on the career of Mick Schumacher, so we can have nepotism in the comms box and on track simultaniously.

Still, when Brundle Sr retires it will be a sad day
He and Chandok seem to be the only people on that team that don't believe their own hype and think they're part of some "carry on analysing" sort of sitcom with each of them as the main star.
Without Brundle, it wouldn't be worth paying for at all

[chunterer]

I'd have Ant or DJ Jense as co comm' over Karun. Both done far more as drivers to back up any criticisms and a bit more calm and clear.

I admire Karun's enthusiasm and knowledge as an analyst though.

Damon seems to be doing a lot less now and Johnny still struggles a bit with getting his points across. Shame on both counts as both are top blokes who've been through a lot in their time.

[thetool]

Originally Posted by chunterer

He used to use a phrase or word that was a bit out of place quite a lot but I can't think of it now?

He said "what" instead of "that" a lot of the time.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

THe thing is, Brundle wanted a go at lead commentating, he discovered it wasn't what he thought it would, be, that he couldn't or wasn't supposed to add his opinion as that was DC's job.
Trouble is it took too long in my opinion for the TV Chiefs of the day to realised that Brundle and DC together without a lead comms didn't work.

The thought of Brundle with Karun without a lead comms, sends me thinking back to those days.

As to "next generation" or post Brundle, that's a difficult one. PDR, Ant and Karun have all now had a chance to do a Qually and Race.

Would one of them actually want a full-time gig as colour comms and lead pundit?

Given their current commitments as the post LeMans weekend has shown when other series are back up and fully running, would they be prepared to give up a full-time drive in a series to do F1 full time?

[hoffman66]

Blundell does not have the vocabulary and diction to be an F1 commentator in my opinion, his dictions is not up to scratch.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by hoffman66

Blundell does not have the vocabulary and diction to be an F1 commentator in my opinion, his dictions is not up to scratch.

I wasn't really being serious Blundell and Brundle. I just liked the idea of Les Rosbif being reunited.

[Adam43]

What people done did there was take you seriously.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Adam43

What people done did there was take you seriously.

It's not like he was noted for his aptitude as a commentator, when he was at ITV.

[S griffin]

I met him at Silverstone last year and he seems like a nice guy, so he's not all bad

[Knowlesy]

Blundell is an absolute dude to be honest. Don't think anyone has a bad word to say about him.