F1 To Be Split Between BBC 1 and Sky Sports from 2012

MansellsEyebrows · Post by **MansellsEyebrows** » 15 Apr 2012, 16:02

I've got to say, while I like Ben Edwards' commentary style, Sky are winning in these arena at the moment for me, simply because Brundle is so much more informative than Edwards and Coulthard. I've noticed it after 2 races (Australia and Malaysia) watching Sky and now one with BBC (well I turned over a couple of times to see what I was missing)

As for pre and post race, I love the BBCs high camaraderie and jokey feel, but Sky are pretty good. I found myself flicking in between the two this weekend, as both seemed to have some good segments and the usual stuff that isn't so interesting. Post race was competitive though, choosing between Eddie, DC and Jakes entertainment and the fact that Sky had Mika Hakkinen on at one point

Still, glad I chose the BBC for when the Chinese fan comedically endorsed BBC over Sky on national television :lol:

Post by **Ataxia** » 15 Apr 2012, 16:14

Johnny Herbert was a lot more charismatic than Damon Hill...jus' saying...

AdrianSutil · Post by **AdrianSutil** » 16 Apr 2012, 05:03

Ben Edwards isn't doing that bad a job IMO. I've been listening to him a couple of years in the lower British formula (BTCC, FFord etc) and the old A1GP with John Watson. He's a very exciteable commentator which works well with DC who's the 'technical' commentator. Reminds me of Murray Walker and Martin Brundle's early years.

Faustus · Post by **Faustus** » 16 Apr 2012, 05:19

I watched the practice and qualifying on Sky and the race on BBC. I liked the BBC's coverage and I think I'll be watching the BBC over Sky where possible.

dinizintheoven · Post by **dinizintheoven** » 17 Apr 2012, 22:49

For this race I found myself in a somewhat bizarre situation. Knowing that this was the first race to be live on the BBC, I watched qualifying on the BBC - to start with. But my Virgin Media box is very old - the NTL branding on it shows that. And it seems bizarrely only capable of showing Channel 4 and its subsidiaries in 16:9 - every other channel is artificially cut down to 4:3. This season, FOM has moved the graphics to full widescreen - so once qualifying started, I could see the times, but not the drivers! Cue a mad scramble to fire up the radio with James Allen and the Alguersaurus, and cue switching over to Ze Churmans on RTL...

The race wasn't too bad for that, though, because most of the graphics are along the bottom of the screen. Still, though, I must get this fixed. Soon.

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 17 Apr 2012, 23:00

BaconLettuceNinja wrote:Johnny Herbert was a lot more charismatic than Damon Hill...jus' saying...

100% agree, Damon Hill is of course a massively significant figure in British Motorsport but he is perhaps the blandest man in existence when it comes to broadcasting. Johnny Herbert carried it much better. That being said, the Pre and post race build ups are very stiff to say the least, though in the "Sky Pad" Anthony Davidson is really excellent at explaining what is going on with an F1 car and a driver around a lap and it Shows why he was so highly rated as a test driver.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 18 Apr 2012, 09:42

dinizintheoven wrote:For this race I found myself in a somewhat bizarre situation. Knowing that this was the first race to be live on the BBC, I watched qualifying on the BBC - to start with. But my Virgin Media box is very old - the NTL branding on it shows that. And it seems bizarrely only capable of showing Channel 4 and its subsidiaries in 16:9 - every other channel is artificially cut down to 4:3. This season, FOM has moved the graphics to full widescreen - so once qualifying started, I could see the times, but not the drivers! Cue a mad scramble to fire up the radio with James Allen and the Alguersaurus, and cue switching over to Ze Churmans on RTL...

The race wasn't too bad for that, though, because most of the graphics are along the bottom of the screen. Still, though, I must get this fixed. Soon.

I had exactly the same problem. I have a cheap-brand 14" TV with Freeview built in, and however I adjusted the TV image ratio, I could not see the drivers' names on the left-side of the screen. I have no idea how to fix this other than get a different TV...

WeirdKerr · Post by **WeirdKerr** » 18 Apr 2012, 21:05

i flicked about both providers and felt that on my tv at least the sky hd had a better picture and sound.... (5.1 surround) and watched some in SD and the bbc picture was jerky and unwatchable...

sswishbone · Post by **sswishbone** » 20 Apr 2012, 05:47

Well this is rejectful, Sky have ads during the bloody highlights!

And now they advertise who won the race during the ads too, lame effort guys!

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 20 Apr 2012, 05:55

sswishbone wrote:Well this is rejectful, Sky have ads during the bloody highlights!

That is just pathetic! :shock:

Barbazza · Post by **Barbazza** » 22 Apr 2012, 19:20

I really can't be doing with the BBC's poor effort of 1 hour 20 minute highlight shows after seeing today's. Leaving aside the rather odd decision in the first place (the same amount of time devoted to race time as qualifying? right....) they had too much chat beforehand where the talk with the drivers on the grid should have been left out. So we then got 50 minutes of race footage by my reckoning, and then a post race package which included a pointless Gary Anderson bit again (wheelnuts, blah blah, not listening...) and a 2 minute chat about politics with Dan Roan from BBC News who we would see again on the News...directly after the F1 highlights.

Looks like I'm going to have to get Sky HD then!

pasta_maldonado · Post by **pasta_maldonado** » 22 Apr 2012, 19:32

I'm sure I'm not the first person to say/think this, but I think that the BBC coverage was almost perfect while it was live. It was a marked improvement on the godawful ITV coverage that had come before it (Imola 2006 springs to mind where there was an ad break at the most crucial point of the race). I didn't think much of Steve Rider or the Hamilton-fest of 2007-2008, where at every possible moment they spoke to Lewis Hamilton's dad. The only thing that has let down the BBC coverage was Jonathon Legard, who was the Nick Heidfeld of commentators.(slightly boring and not exactly essential)

IMHO the sky coverage isn't too bad. Aside from the pay side of things, they have taken a fresh look to the coverage, and while it isn't perfect and the only thing that slightly irks me about it is the presenters not doing enough interviewing, and a slight di-resta fest.

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 22 Apr 2012, 19:47

Barbazza wrote:Looks like I'm going to have to get Sky HD then!

You just want to see Ted and his 'virtual F1 car'.

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 22 Apr 2012, 20:44

Yeah the coverage today I felt was very poor. I was happy after the Malaysia race, I feel they did a decent job of that one, but here they managed to really mess things about, the race felt very dis-jointed and we missed a lot of interesting moments, such as Grosjean's pass on Webber near the start and a whole load of action in the midfield. I'm confident it'll improve as they get the hang of it and the season progresses, but so far it's been a bit of a mixed bag. Ben Edwards is really coming into his own though, and I'm hearing a fair bit of dissatisfaction with David Croft on Sky too, so the BBC haven't got it all wrong. I also think having Gary Anderson working for them was an excellent move. Some of the stuff he says is pretty obvious, but he clearly has far more insight and knowledge than Kravitz or Brundle, and I think the BBC need to learn to exploit it a bit more.

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 22 Apr 2012, 21:07

I would very much Like Croft to commentate in a less biased fashion. He is an excellent commentator and his practice coverage is a joy to watch but in the races he seems to be too fixed on expectations to realise what is actually happening.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 22 Apr 2012, 21:32

By the way, today was the first time I tuned into Sky for live race coverage, but I was only able to do so from around 4 minutes before the race start. Does Martin Brundle still do his grid walks? That is one thing that ITV got right and that the BBC continued with.

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 22 Apr 2012, 21:39

dr-baker wrote:By the way, today was the first time I tuned into Sky for live race coverage, but I was only able to do so from around 4 minutes before the race start. Does Martin Brundle still do his grid walks? That is one thing that ITV got right and that the BBC continued with.

Yes he does! He did well, he managed to get words out of Webber and Rosberg when neither of them looked in much mood to talk. (Webber was clearly in the middle of some sort of dance/trance when Brundle tapped him on the shoulder to turn him around, Mark looked annoyed to say the least!)

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 22 Apr 2012, 22:21

Shadaza wrote:
dr-baker wrote:By the way, today was the first time I tuned into Sky for live race coverage, but I was only able to do so from around 4 minutes before the race start. Does Martin Brundle still do his grid walks? That is one thing that ITV got right and that the BBC continued with.

Yes he does! He did well, he managed to get words out of Webber and Rosberg when neither of them looked in much mood to talk. (Webber was clearly in the middle of some sort of dance/trance when Brundle tapped him on the shoulder to turn him around, Mark looked annoyed to say the least!)

I'm going to have to try to catch a replay then to watch it. That is one thing that the BBC no longer does as well this year, I reckon (based upon three highlight packages and one live race...).

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 23 Apr 2012, 05:41

dr-baker wrote:That is one thing that the BBC no longer does as well this year, I reckon (based upon three highlight packages and one live race...).

Yeah I miss Brundles walk n talk too but thats about all from him. Over the years, Brundle, the winner of no F1 races or championships, was beginning to grate on me with his opinions of others who actually managed to do so.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 23 Apr 2012, 05:51

Brundle has returned to the BBC

If only for a minute or so :lol:

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 23 Apr 2012, 21:43

Wizzie wrote:Brundle has returned to the BBC

If only for a minute or so

Uh, cringe.

Pamphlet · Post by **Pamphlet** » 23 Apr 2012, 21:54

Love Brundle's warm and sincere "how are you doing, guys, good to see you". Jake was a twat though. Not that it surprises me.

jackanderton · Post by **jackanderton** » 24 Apr 2012, 09:07

Over the years, Brundle, the winner of no F1 races or championships, was beginning to grate on me with his opinions of others who actually managed to do so.

You must find this site unbearable then, surely?

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 24 Apr 2012, 14:44

jackanderton wrote:
Over the years, Brundle, the winner of no F1 races or championships, was beginning to grate on me with his opinions of others who actually managed to do so.

You must find this site unbearable then, surely?

Not at all, stick Gaston Mazzacane on SKY and maybe I'll consider buying a package.

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 25 Apr 2012, 10:02

CoopsII wrote:
jackanderton wrote:
Over the years, Brundle, the winner of no F1 races or championships, was beginning to grate on me with his opinions of others who actually managed to do so.

You must find this site unbearable then, surely?

Not at all, stick Gaston Mazzacane on SKY and maybe I'll consider buying a package.

You do realise Brundle drove some absolutely terrible cars in his time, don't you?

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 25 Apr 2012, 10:05

BlindCaveSalamander wrote:You do realise Brundle drove some absolutely terrible cars in his time, don't you?

Anyone who could drag the Zakspeed and late 80s-early 90s era Brabham into the points deserves our infinite respect. On the other side of the coin, he did have that 1992 Benetton drive where he got absolutely trounced by one M. Schumacher...

RonDenisDeletraz · Post by **RonDenisDeletraz** » 25 Apr 2012, 10:07

Wizzie wrote:
BlindCaveSalamander wrote:You do realise Brundle drove some absolutely terrible cars in his time, don't you?

Anyone who could drag the Zakspeed and late 80s-early 90s era Brabham into the points deserves our infinite respect. On the other side of the coin, he did have that 1992 Benetton drive where he got absolutely trounced by one M. Schumacher...

I'm thinking Brurdle might have had mild Fisichellitis.

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 25 Apr 2012, 10:16

eurobrun wrote:
Wizzie wrote:
BlindCaveSalamander wrote:You do realise Brundle drove some absolutely terrible cars in his time, don't you?

Anyone who could drag the Zakspeed and late 80s-early 90s era Brabham into the points deserves our infinite respect. On the other side of the coin, he did have that 1992 Benetton drive where he got absolutely trounced by one M. Schumacher...

I'm thinking Brurdle might have had mild Fisichellitis.

He did have that one race in Detoit in 1984, where he very nearly beat Nelson Piquet's Brabham. Yes, his Tyrrell was illegal, but it was hardly the best car on the grid.

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 25 Apr 2012, 10:24

BlindCaveSalamander wrote:You do realise Brundle drove some absolutely terrible cars in his time, don't you?

I loved Brundle as a driver, he was always a favourite of mine, with real underdog status as you suggest. As a commentator his insights on F1 races were generally brilliant. However, in the last two or so years I felt I had heard all he had to say and whats more I began to be irritated when he criticised the likes of Vettel, Webber or Hamilton for making mistakes the importance of which, championship defining moments, he never came close to acheiving (in F1). To my ears there started to be an edge of 'I wouldnt have made that error' in his critiques of certain situations.

Post by **Londoner** » 16 May 2012, 15:48

OH NO!

WeirdKerr · Post by **WeirdKerr** » 16 May 2012, 19:17

East Londoner wrote:OH NO!

It will be ok as long as he doesnt sing......

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 16 May 2012, 19:52

East Londoner wrote:OH NO!

Bahahaha! Glad I have BBC now! :lol:

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 17 May 2012, 07:09

WeirdKerr wrote:
East Londoner wrote:OH NO!

It will be ok as long as he doesnt sing......

He'll be too busy saying 'For Sure' to do any of that.

Faustus · Post by **Faustus** » 10 Dec 2012, 11:09

Now that the season is over, can we discuss the opinions of the British viewers towards the Sky Sports coverage?
I have the Sky F1 channel and I have watched some races on it, although invariably only the ones that weren't live on the BBC. The coverage is extensive and well-produced but I just seem to enjoy the BBC coverage more. I find the pre- and post-race stuff more enjoyable on BBC but I prefer the race commentary on Sky.
The Sky race commentators, Crofty and Brundle, are obviously top notch and so is all of the analysis with Anthony Davidson and Ted Kravitz. I find Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert boring to listen to and Georgie Thompson is just utterly pointless. Natalie Pinkham is ok but Simon Lazenby is a twat and needs to go now.
There isn't much content yet to account for the rest of the channel schedule, but it does seem to be getting better. The Legends interviews are very good and I hope more are on the way. The sort-of-behind-the-scenes programs with Caterham and Marussia were good and again, I hope to see more of these.

Benetton · Post by **Benetton** » 10 Dec 2012, 11:44

I am so used to Martin Brundle that I have a hard time even listening to anyone else commentating. For me, Brundle is almost on Murray Walker level.

I agree that Lazenby and Thompson needs to be cut. No point having so many producers IMO. I really liked the straight on the point approach by Kraviz, especially post race. Hill and Herbert were okay, but too much stating of the obvious at times.

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » 10 Dec 2012, 12:24

I've actually found myself watching even the live BBC races on Sky - I don't know if "Tooned" was a factor in that though!

To try and compare the equivalent in each of the "teams".

I preferred Jake humphrey to Simon Lazenby
Brundle is loads better than Coulthard (as ex-driver pundit doubling up as colour commentator)
Eddie Jordan has Johnny Herbert AND Damon Hill as direct comparisons and I'm not sure on that one really - all of them have their merits.
I actually prefer Ben Edwards to Crofty
Ted Kravitz v Gary Anderson? Ted every time.
I can't really choose between Lee McKenzie and Natalie Pinkham
BBC have no equivalent for Ant & Georgie though.

I do prefer Sky overall but there are elements of which I think BBC are better.

dinizintheoven · Post by **dinizintheoven** » 10 Dec 2012, 15:05

I found two Sky races on the internet. I reckon they're round about on a par with what I always knew from the BBC (both stints, pre- and post-ITV) but I'm still OK with not paying through the nose for it. The RTL dish has given me sterling service where I've needed it, including one time where my Virgin Media box completely screwed up on me and I had the Germans as backup.

Warren Hughes · Post by **Warren Hughes** » 10 Dec 2012, 16:17

I don't have Sky and haven't watched any Sky coverage yet, but I have to say I think Gary Anderson's been a fantastic addition to the BBC team. His technical knowledge and insights into what the teams are likely to be planning and thinking about have been brilliant. I don't understand why he seems to be unpopular, I think he's quality.

takagi_for_the_win · Post by **takagi_for_the_win** » 10 Dec 2012, 19:08

Warren Hughes wrote:I don't have Sky and haven't watched any Sky coverage yet, but I have to say I think Gary Anderson's been a fantastic addition to the BBC team. His technical knowledge and insights into what the teams are likely to be planning and thinking about have been brilliant. I don't understand why he seems to be unpopular, I think he's quality.

Yep, I couldn't agree more. Seeing as in a dream world I would be working as an F1 driver when I finish school & uni, I tend to pay extra attention to what he says.

f1andrea · Post by **f1andrea** » 10 Dec 2012, 20:29

From 2013 also in Italy you've to pay for see all F1 races. It's a big shame. We pay a possession tax every years to RAI (national television) and from 2013 they'll show you only 9 races of 20 live, the others 11 after 2-3 hours (maybe also without qualifying!!!). F1 is my drug and I'll pay, but is not correct. From next year I'll pay to Sky Sport Italy 99 Euro for the F1 Season (with all the sessions, thing that RAI didn't do until now) plus 20 Euro for month.