I think after todays race i'm finally fed up of ITV.
firstly the commercial breaks were ridiculous. One break happend 6 laps after the previous.
secondly James Allen, further digs himself out of a job at the end of the year. Numerous mistakes in identifying drivers, Murray was 70 odd years old he had an excuse, JA doesn't, not to the extent he does it. Then his brilliant, Massa just pegged him that lap, "no he didn't he was a second slower" response from Martin. So he's not good with numbers either. Then the general Hamilton love fest i'm sure there were 19 other cars on track, thank god I'm not blind otherwise i'd have thought there was only two, Lewis, and the guy who lewis is dominating.
Then we add in the usual Press conference farce, if Lewis isn't on the podium we dont get it at all and if he is, we only get to see upto his comments, today being a good example. They cut away after his comments saying there wasn't time for Kimis comments despite having 15 minutes of on air time remaining. Instead we were treated to a reply of Lewis's final pit stop and 14 minutes of Steve and Mark digging there tongues so far up Mclarens backside I could have sworn they were trying to clean the backs of their teeth.
I would have thought that second year of Lewis the crew would at least ease off a little and cover the fact that there are other teams, ferrari are leading the title race and there are pleanty of fast challengers in the midfield. It wasn't mentioned at all that Vettel finally completed a race.
It also annoyed me how even after Ron Dennis and Lewis both expressed concern about how the ferrari's were faster in the slow corners and that Monaco would be tougher than last year if they didn't find out why, both Mark and Steve were prattling on about how it would be a cake walk for them. I'm sure the guys in stuttgart will be glad to hear that.

I'll give them credit for one thing and thats Martin's classic car segment. I think it's a brilliant piece and I cant wait to see botht he Mclaren and benneton put into action again:)

Don't worry Mr Meldrew, normal service will be resumed next season

Matt

Hmm. Im indeed looking forward to the BBC showing da F1. However, ive no reason to think it will be any less of a Lewis love in!

What with graham norton commentating, anthony worral thompson as the 'man making cakes in the pits' and goodness knows what the BBC will introduce to 'spice' up F1 - with its mamby pamby yoghurt knitting views which i and all of us in the uk uniquely pay for , im yet to be convinced.

No adverts is one of the main things im looking forward to, but i fear that unless the BBC get some decent knowledgable people in to present it and commentate it will be probably terrible

Im expecting Martin Brundle in some role. Hopefully James Allen will be locked in a small cupboard and never let out. If he gets some role id prefer it in the pits or on the M25 doing traffic reports.

Blundell im not sure about. All this waffle about 'lets wait and see steve, we is waiting and seeing if lewis has got that car that is winning this race, wait and see steve' doesnt suit him, i dont really know what they should do with him....

I think the Top gear team need to be kept well out of it. Let them stick to what they do best, maybe feed F1 into there show somehow, but thats about it.....

To team up with Brundle? Dont know. Everyone raves about radio 5 lives coverage, but Maurice Hamilton i find annoying and grating.

The BBC coverage in the past certainly wasnt fantastic till the later years. Some sundays at the flyaway races you were lucky to get 1/2 -3/4 hour highlights shows, let alone qualifying. With Murray Walker sounding like he was talking down a bad phone line 3000 miles away from the actual track. Which he probably was.

However it did get better, and towards the end it was comparable to ITV's coverage but without the 'celeb' hype, the daft 'going camping/painting drains/cooking chicken and taking our clothes off with Jenson/Davidson/Wurz (usualy Wurz because i think he 'did' Louise once!!! ) in the middle of nowhere' stuff that Louise Goodmans seems so inept at....

Id like to see maybe some friday practice, all of qualifying, and all of the race with maybe a 1/2 hour buildup and post race comments, with full drivers conference. More of the sort of things Brundles doing now with older F1 cars. I throughly enjoy that sort of thing! I dont think thats too much to ask!

todayshorse wrote on May 12^th, 2008 at 3:00pm:



As long as the BBC bring back that cracking intro sequence and "The Chain", I would be more than happy to have Graham Norton commentating..............."Now here comes Hamilton up the inside"

Matt

todayshorse wrote on May 12^th, 2008 at 3:00pm:


Considering MH does more of the pundit's role on R5, that would be doubtful. However, David Croft, R5's lead commentator was mentioned (and I find him quite good, but he hasn't done TV), as has the excellent former racer Ben Edwards, who has mostly been confined to satellite viewers, bar a few forays into terrestrial broadcasting.

C wrote on May 12^th, 2008 at 3:43pm:


David Croft has a weekly sports show on BBC London, he's VERY knowledgable about all things sporting, not only F1.

He'd be a good choice IMO.

Ben Edwards would be my first choice but I think he's tied to the A1gp series for now.
David Croft is a good second.
And always an outside couple of races with Murray

The BBC's coverage was awful at times, but I can guarentee they will not be allowed to get away with that again. With F1 being hugely popular now Bernie would quickly pull the plug if the coverage is not at least to the level it is now. The good news is the current company who produces the show for ITV have put in a bid to continue after they leave ITV. I wouldn't be to upset with that, they are the ones who bring us the classic car segments this year, and martins insight to the actual driving of an F1 car last year. I think they could continue to bring us a great show. Everything I have read so far suggests the chain will be used for the intro. The bbc director who made the comment that doing so would be a bad idea was almost lynched in the street that night. No matter what was happening, no matter how poor the coverage thats the one thing that got you in the mood for the race itself.

They've already bought the rights to the song.
Not sure why they did it so early. Maybe to stop ITV using it and getting one over them before the switch.