Grand Prix Rejects

Was anyone disappointed with Allen's replacement?

He spoke too much, made many mistakes and seemed clueless as to what was happening most the time (at one point he even said "Barrichello 4th, Raikkonen 4th, claiming 2 drivers to be 4th within a second of each other)

He even seems to have some Allenesque bias, after the race saying "the whole world was rooting for Britain's Jenson Button and Brawn GP."

Lets hope things pick up, or I'm switching to Radio5 Live commentary via the Red Button! (Don't know if you have commentary options in Australia)

He's not the best I've ever heard, but I don't think he was too bad. I agree that he spoke too much, and that it would have been better on occasions if he'd let Brundle (who is superb) do the talking.

He did make a lot of mistakes, but then so did James Allen (and, of course, Murray Walker!). I do think that he needs to move away from his radio-style 'decribe what's happening to the listeners' commentary towards a more TV-oriented style, where the viewers can see for themselves what's happening.

Would you really rather have James Allen back? I know who I'd choose any day!

I agree that he was hopeless in qualifying, constantly shouting over Brundle, and the final moments of the session where he ignored all the cars finishing their laps and bouncing up and down the timesheets in favour of yelling about how everyone was waiting for Jenson Button to finish his lap made me want to be sick. As for the chemistry between the pair of them, it reminded me of Eurosport where one commentator would say one thing and then the other would talk about something completely different.

However, I think he improved significantly in the race. You have to remember that qualifying was his first F1 commentary for 5 years and his first ever for TV. The nerves must have been unbearable. In the race he appeared to me to have calmed down a lot, let Brundle get his views in, rather than going into crazy hysterical shouting mode. The chemistry between the commentary duo also seemed better in the race than in qualifying. For sure there is still room for improvement but I think we need to wait a few races before passing definitive judgment. Until then, I'm just happy to be watching without adverts.

I thought he was OK, I'm certainly prepared to give him a chance to see if he adapts to TV rather than radio commentary.

I was much more disappointed with Louise Goodman's replacement - her questions were very bland and she didn't seem to have the same chemistry with the drivers Louise had.

Definitely agree about Lee McKenzie.

Lee McKenzie is pretty hot though!! as for Jonathon Legard i would reccommend that you guys lay off him until say the British grand prix as i would of thought he would be under huge pressure as it was the first time F1 returned to the bbc in many years

I thought that Jonathon Legard was just James Allen with a comedic fake mustache because for the most part i couldn't tell them apart. They sound the same and they have the same annoyances like the Lewis-love (probably soon to be replaced by Jenson-love).

I certainly wouldn't say Legard was a disappointment - he's definitely not the best commentator in the world, but he was better than James Allen ever was. I think that once we're further into the season, Martin and Jonathan will have more time to get used to each other and will gradually stop speaking over one another. I was listening to the radio commentary for FP1, David Croft was doing a good job and the comments about the track and cars Ant Davidson was making was quite insightful. At least there's an alternative to the TV commentary in the unlikely event of Legard becoming unbearable!

I was on the whole pleased with the BBC coverage, especially since it was their first race coverage since '96. The interactive forum after the race was quite good I thought - Humphrey is a much more competent anchor than Rider ever was - and the analysis was pretty decent.

I think Jordan let the side down a bit, it would be nice if he didn't keep twittering on about Barrichello or whatever, but it's the first race of the season and coverage should be an interesting development throughout the season!

Legard was certainly better than James Allen. There was no brown-nosing going on; sure, he did talk a little more about Button than I would have liked, and that's coming from a Button fan. But I don't think Legard is going to make everyone universally despise a particular driver the way Allen did with Hamilton. Allen has always struck me as being a couch coach, someone with a self-proclaimed expertise of the ins and outs of the sport simply because he watches more of it than John Q. Citizen. Legard at least sounded professional.

And now that we've got somebody who isn't James Allen, it makes me wish the Australian commentators would just let them do their thing. Channel Ten's people always seem to make out that the ITV/BBC commentators are working under them.

he doesn't have the same energy in his voice as Murry and James Allen. I think they need more contrast to make it entertaining and then when he screw up we can award him a Murrayism Award

He sounded slightly bored to me. He talked over Martin Brundle whom at times sounded a bit peeved at him. I think he's used to being a one man show but needs to let Brundle talk more. I have a feeling they will not get on for a good while until that happens either.

And we also need Louise Goodman back. I can't even remember the woman's name but she didn't do anything wrong, but just didn't stand out either.

But how good was it not to have adverts

Si

yeah i'd have to agree that legard wasn't in top form over the weekend and i think the whole BBC team was a bit rusty in places but i think thats to be expected. Give them a few races and the whole thing will be as smooth as ITV could ever have hoped it to be.

I think the BBC have been able to take the best bits of the ITV team (i.e. Brundle and Kravitz) Louise Goodman was ok but to me she seemed to be in love with Button the amount of times i remember her speaking to him every weekend! I think Lee McKenzie is better looking and over time as she develops the relationship in the paddock with the drivers she will come much better.

We can all agree i think that James Allen was terrible! Legard is a solid replacement, he knows his stuff and now he just needs some time to settle in and get used to the new environment.

How funny was it watching DC, Jordan and Jake Humphrey cope with Richard Branson though in his multiple interviews though?!

By the end of the race i had neither attempted to deafen myself nor clenched my fists so tightly my palms had started to bleed. So yeah, BIG improvement over James "the-unholy-physical-incarnation-of-lewisteria" Allen.

I'm going to keep the jury out on Legard and the rest of the Beeb team until we see more of them. Since Brundle and Kravitz are the only people who have transfered over so they are going to need time to gel and develop a harmony. I personally didn't get a bad impression of Legard the same way I did James Allan although i am wondering if that was because Legard isn't the man who replaced Murray Walker, who he is going to be compared too( speaking of which I am surprised he did not get a mention over the weekend! ). But give the team time really. See how things are around the British Grand Prix

The only member of grated on me in any degree was Eddie Jordan really, I was surprised at how well Jake Humphreys preformed and I did like how there was no commercial breaks and it was great to see The Chain back, although the intro needs to be done to racing footage and not some pimped out CGI thing.

I for one didn't miss a single thing from ITV so i loved it.

No adverts is so brilliant..

Lee McKenzie is for a start very pretty, secondly isn't too bad and will get a better rapport with the drivers. She doesn't have the advantage Goodman had of being PR for Jordan.

Legard, I'm not sure about. He's somewhat better than James Allen, but is still of the Murray Walker school of commentating, (i.e. bleating at whatever you see, unless you don't think it's important, or don't quite know what it is) which only Murray could pull off. I always prefer the colour commentators - James Hunt, Jonathan Palmer, Martin Brundle.

If only they could get Clive James back ...

Captain Hammer wrote:If only they could get Clive James back ...

His commentary on the 80s official review videos is very, very good.

I love the American team... Bob Varsha and Derek Daly do a good job of commentating without being in the way... and they frequently make fun of the video guys for whatever country the race is in.

Agree completely with everyone's thoughts; we will have to give time for Brundle and Legard to gel before we can go on any F1 Rejects rampage.

Very disappointed that Allen's protege - Ted Kravitz - transferred across from ITV. I was hoping that the BBC would have ditched him and his inane drivel along with James Allen.

thehemogoblin wrote:I love the American team... Bob Varsha and Derek Daly do a good job of commentating without being in the way... and they frequently make fun of the video guys for whatever country the race is in.

Daly hasn't done regular coverage for several years, though he was used as a pit lane reporter during the USGP into 2007. The current team are a treat to watch consisting of Varsha, F1 Reject David Hobbs, and Steve Matchett, the ex-Benetton mechanic who Johnny Herbert attempted to drag down the pitlane with the jack in 1995. Unfortunately, with the FIA releasing the qualifying fuel loads, Matchett's eerie ability to predict fuel strategies down to the lap aren't as necessary. We're lucky that we have two Britons doing the commentary with Varsha.

minrdi wrote:Very disappointed that Allen's protege - Ted Kravitz - transferred across from ITV. I was hoping that the BBC would have ditched him and his inane drivel along with James Allen.

Agreed. Most races it seems like he's huddled in the McLaren garage for the whole time. He's completely uninsightful (if that's even a word) and horribly biased.

Excellent new BBC coverage. Although the pit girl was pretty monosyllabic and bordering on curt with the drivers. Not to mention asking the bleeding obvious. They would have been better off having Louise Goodman take the role. As for the new commentator, Jonathon Legard, he was fairly well informed and seemed pretty good. Except from over describing what was going on and making a couple of simple mistakes. However that probably stems from his nervousness and previously being the five live radio commentator.

The most abysmall person on the team though has to be David Coulthard... God that guy is dull. He may be Mr nice guy but he dosen't bring anything to the broadcast... Just as he never brought anything to F1. I can only think and hope he is more interesting in real life.

Stuart
- http://www.formula1-blog.co.uk

Well looks like all the critics got their wish!