TV Coverage

[shinji]

There may already be a thread like this, so if there is

Anyway, as someone who has had the pleasure (?) of watching F1 regularly on 4 different channels (RTE, UTV, Setanta and BBC), it is clear to me that standards vary. A lot. Also, even when coverage is supremely good in almost every way, something tends to drag it down, and also there tends to be a shining light amidst s***.

With the current BBC coverage, I agree with pretty every person on the internet that Jonathan Legard is 'not well suited' to television commentary. However, I spent several years enduring Peter Collins on RTE. He was abominable, but David Kennedy, Ireland's reject, was (and is, on Setanta) very good in my opinion. Setanta also have Gary Anderson, the designer of, among other cars, the beautiful Jordan 191, and these two experts help to mask the overwhelmingly annoying voice of the main commentator. He sounds like Pádraig Harrington (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUDsPPsLLME), just worse.

Anyhoo, register your complaints or compliments here.

[Enforcer]

I always liked Collins, myself. Okay, he's a bit monotone, but I think it suited the way the sport was going when RTE was covering it. I massively prefer him to Legard, and whoever that git on ITV since Murray Walker retired (I can't even remember his name I dislike him so much) was.

RTE have the best commentary for everything, IMO. Apart from Darragh Maloney (who stood in for Collins a few times), can't stand him.

[Ben Gilbert]

The Cameramen

I understand that F1 isn't exactly edge-of-your-seat action packed this season. Once Alonso's wheel had flown off the race was another snooze-fest, but usually the cameramen are intelligent enough to keep the lenses pointed at something interesting, usually a turbulent-air battle going on in the lower midfield, or footage of Nicole bouncing up and down

Except today, where the coverage kept moving to anything that looked alive. Halfway through the race, they cut to a twenty second piece of a small child recieving an autograph from Bernie E. Three things wrong with this:

1- It isn't on track, therefore making it look like F1 is clutching at straws.

2- It isn't interesting in any way, shape or form.

3- (Relevant to this one) The autographer. If it was one of the drivers, I could possibly understand, particularly at the Hungaroring, but what eight year old wants the autograph of a troll-like businessman?

I think this point I made in the ROTR thread fit in here as well.

Why are the cameras (for the BBC feed at least) continually pointed at things off track? I know that F1 is quite dull these days, but at least keep it pointed at the racing, rather than the scenery. Do this so that at least we can pick up the battles and overtakes that always seem to have the start cut off, because the television audience was being treated to a massive close-up of the McLaren pit-crew.

On the subject of commentators, I only listen to the BBC feed. Brundle is as excellent as ever, but I agree Legard needs to improve.

Is isn't a particularly bad commentator, very articulate and usually imformative, but he just seems lifeless and lacking in any energy, and has the odd tendency to go off-topic.

Watching the MotoGP race just afer reminded me of what a proper commentary team should be. Both should be knowledgable in the sport, providing in-depth analysis of event, after one or the other has described them with vigour and excellent detail, Like Murray Walker was so able to do, while both of them had fun being together. The MotoGP guys were a good example: they had fun and joked while commentating, but were still informative to the audience, allowing a MotoGP novice like myself to pick up the sport, riders, teams, and strategies easily, getting the right balance between the two. F1 commentary can't hold a candle to it nowadays.


Another thing that strikes me as odd is that we saw Murray at the Monaco GP in the pre race build-up. Didn't anyone thing of asking him to commentate?

[Stewart]

The video feed we get on the BBC (unless we're seeing any of the presenters) is simply the FOM feed which all channels get, so it's the FOM director who is responsible for which cameras are shown on the feed. Be thankful that the old system of having a director from the local TV station seems to have ended (AFAIK); it used to be the case that we'd spend lap after lap watching the local hero going round on his own instead of a great battle which happened not to feature any local interest.

Murray won't do another F1 commentary, and rightly so, in my opinion. He did well to retire when he was still at the top of his form; any return to the commentary box can only destroy the memories people have of him.

I think the current BBC coverage is the best we've ever had. I agree that Legard is not a great commentator, but I don't think he's terrible. He is incomparably better than James Allen, though I do agree that something seems to be lacking between him and Brundle who is, of course, excellent. Jake has been the real surprise for me; I expected a former CBBC presenter to be a bit of an idiot, really, but he's been tremendous so far.

The BBC make much better use of the digital and online media than ITV ever did, even though I thought this race's 'F1 Forum' was a bit flat.

Oh, and I agree with you entirely about the MotoGP commentary! Charlie Cox always makes me laugh with the things he comes out with. Having said that, bike racing is very different to F1, and I'm not sure I could cope with his commentary for a whole F1 race!

[MaxZero]

I've not been finding Legard's commentating particularly unpleasant but i have felt a few times that he has run out of things to say, there seem to be slow points. I wander why they chose him over one of the commentators on the radio, i would have enjoyed Maurice Hamilton.

Perry McCarthy's Children's BBC feed sounded like a bemusing idea, would have looked into it if my computer's digi stick could pick it up

[CarlosFerreira]

I've lived in Britain for the last year, but now I'm back in Portugal for my holidays. I've heard the Portuguese commentator this week. Trust me, we're lucky in Britain.

It's just one guy, he doesn't sound very interested and he's usually caught out by the action. He failed to realise all weekend that no, the McLarens didn't have better traction off corners, but KERS gave them the push. He also failed to understand, until about half the race, that all pilots would be using the Super Soft for 2 stints, and the Soft as option. He never noticed, during FPs, that more often than not the fast pilots were using Super Softs; and he failed to mention that the reason the McLarens were 10 km/h faster than everyone else at the end of the straight was KERS, insisting the pilots were using a very different setup from everyone else. Appalling.

[fjackdaw]

I've lived in Britain for the last year, but now I'm back in Portugal for my holidays. I've heard the Portuguese commentator this week. Trust me, we're lucky in Britain.

It's just one guy, he doesn't sound very interested and he's usually caught out by the action. He failed to realise all weekend that no, the McLarens didn't have better traction off corners, but KERS gave them the push. He also failed to understand, until about half the race, that all pilots would be using the Super Soft for 2 stints, and the Soft as option. He never noticed, during FPs, that more often than not the fast pilots were using Super Softs; and he failed to mention that the reason the McLarens were 10 km/h faster than everyone else at the end of the straight was KERS, insisting the pilots were using a very different setup from everyone else. Appalling.

I'm not sure what the channel was, but I saw the Monaco GP in Texas a few years ago. The amount of commercial breaks nearly had me throwing the TV out the window - there was literally a stint of racing 30 seconds long between advert breaks at one point - but the two commentators were even worse. They hardly seemed to be taking it seriously, and spent half the race bickering jovially over the correct pronunciation of the name Jaguar, one being American, the other British.

[RejectSteve]

I'm not sure what the channel was, but I saw the Monaco GP in Texas a few years ago. The amount of commercial breaks nearly had me throwing the TV out the window - there was literally a stint of racing 30 seconds long between advert breaks at one point - but the two commentators were even worse. They hardly seemed to be taking it seriously, and spent half the race bickering jovially over the correct pronunciation of the name Jaguar, one being American, the other British.

Speed Channel, given the two-man booth that sounds like it would have been Rick DeBruhl and F1 Reject David Hobbs. I was never a fan of DeBruhl; if I remember correctly he had one season before being sacked for the infinitely more able Bob Varsha. Varsha and Hobbs were later joined by former Benetton mechanic and author Steve Matchett. Those three are a very skilled group that Speed has managed to keep together since 2002, I reckon.

[Robbie]

Despite the commercial breaks, I still find myself downloading SpeedTV coverage after every race. The commentator crew works well together and actually adds something to the race.

David Hobbs is almost as awesome as Murray Walker for random nonsensical quotes...

[Bort]

Murray won't do another F1 commentary, and rightly so, in my opinion. He did well to retire when he was still at the top of his form; any return to the commentary box can only destroy the memories people have of him.

A few years ago he sat in on the Melbourne Grand Prix and gave commentary with the local hosts rather than subjecting us to the horror of listening to James Allen for a race.

[dr-baker]

Despite the commercial breaks, I still find myself downloading SpeedTV coverage after every race. The commentator crew works well together and actually adds something to the race.

David Hobbs is almost as awesome as Murray Walker for random nonsensical quotes...

I only suscribe to 3 F1-related podcasts - F1 Rejects (obviously - and is the besst ), BBC radio 5 (good for driver interviews) and Speed TV because they seem to have a good rapport and the Chalk Talk sessions with the ex-Benetton mechanic are always interesting and often educational too. Are there any other decent F1 video podcasts available?

[jackanderton]

Legard's commentary is safe, one-dimensional and tedious and he has no chemistry with Martin Brundle whatsoever. At least James Allen actually talked to him rather than posing Martin Brundle questions so long that Legard actually answers them before Brundle has a chance to reply.

At first I just found him quite dull, but there's something about the man's personality that just grates over time. The constant references to 'all the hours of work going on at the HQ's' - JUST SHUT UP ABOUT THAT FOR ONCE, PLEASE!! If it's not that it's "What can x person do to respond?" or "What can tactical master Ross Brawn cook up down there in the pits?". I'd veto those three phrases you're guaranteed to hear in every race from that turgid, borderline cretin.

What's more, he's failed to keep up to speed in qualifying sessions, that suggests when the action does hot up on race day, he's not going to be much use there either. If you're boring when nothing's happening, that's regretful, if you fail to even accurately describe what's unfolding in front of you, you need another job.

Should Jake Humphrey try a bit of commentary? Perhaps Legard would be a better front man.

[Faustus]

I've lived in Britain for the last year, but now I'm back in Portugal for my holidays. I've heard the Portuguese commentator this week. Trust me, we're lucky in Britain.

It's just one guy, he doesn't sound very interested and he's usually caught out by the action. He failed to realise all weekend that no, the McLarens didn't have better traction off corners, but KERS gave them the push. He also failed to understand, until about half the race, that all pilots would be using the Super Soft for 2 stints, and the Soft as option. He never noticed, during FPs, that more often than not the fast pilots were using Super Softs; and he failed to mention that the reason the McLarens were 10 km/h faster than everyone else at the end of the straight was KERS, insisting the pilots were using a very different setup from everyone else. Appalling.

Was it that idiot Paulo Solipa on Sport TV? He's a twat. I've had the unfortunate pleasure of sitting through a race on Portuguese tv and it was PAINFUL. When RTP still covered it, there were 2 other guys, a dude from the Portuguese Autosport newspaper, who wasn't too bad and another dude who didn't have a clue. Sometimes they would have Pedro Lamy, Domingos Piedade or Tiago Monteiro.

I really liked the coverage on Eurosport, which of course ended in 1996. John Watson and Ben-what's-his-name made a great combination, informative, funny and pretty much always spot on. The ad breaks were annoying, of course, but i don't think they were as bad as on ITV.
I think the BBC is doing a great job this year. Particularly good are the features that Martin Brudle presents and the incredible access that having David Coulthard allows. Even Eddie Jordan isn't too bad.

[fjackdaw]

Legard's commentary is safe, one-dimensional and tedious and he has no chemistry with Martin Brundle whatsoever. At least James Allen actually talked to him rather than posing Martin Brundle questions so long that Legard actually answers them before Brundle has a chance to reply.

At first I just found him quite dull, but there's something about the man's personality that just grates over time. The constant references to 'all the hours of work going on at the HQ's' - JUST SHUT UP ABOUT THAT FOR ONCE, PLEASE!! If it's not that it's "What can x person do to respond?" or "What can tactical master Ross Brawn cook up down there in the pits?". I'd veto those three phrases you're guaranteed to hear in every race from that turgid, borderline cretin.

Haha - I wouldn't go that far, but he certainly is dull and repetitive. The one which drives me up the wall is his use of the phrase "thad'll do" in qualifying. Even when it clearly won't do he says it, and he then has to back track, "for the moment, at least". It seems to be an automatic response to a time being set. He doesn't do it quite so much these days (there was only one in Hungary qualifying), but certainly did in the earlier races. It's extra annoying because it reminds me of the farmer in Babe The Sheep Pig - "That'll do, pig, that'll do."

[eytl]

I'll agree that Legard hasn't been that terrific. Although Brundle fulfils the 'expert' role, I actually think he'd do quite well taking over the main commentator slot.

In fact I don't necessarily understand the need for a "main caller + expert" combination. Australian viewers will know who I'm talking about, but I'm a big fan of Neil Crompton's commentary. Over his 20+ years behind the microphone, he's proof that, if you are good with words, you can transition between a "main caller" and an "expert" role quite comfortably (not to mention being a bloody good racing driver as well).

Speaking of Australian viewers, someone's bound to say it at some stage, but I can't help having a whinge about Greg Rust and Cameron McConville's pathetic hosting of the Aussie coverage. Despite being in the "expert" role, McConville is proof that he is an expert at absolutely stuff-all about F1.

Mind you, it's easy to criticise from the comfort of one's armchair ...

[CarlosFerreira]

I've lived in Britain for the last year, but now I'm back in Portugal for my holidays. I've heard the Portuguese commentator this week. Trust me, we're lucky in Britain.

It's just one guy, he doesn't sound very interested and he's usually caught out by the action. He failed to realise all weekend that no, the McLarens didn't have better traction off corners, but KERS gave them the push. He also failed to understand, until about half the race, that all pilots would be using the Super Soft for 2 stints, and the Soft as option. He never noticed, during FPs, that more often than not the fast pilots were using Super Softs; and he failed to mention that the reason the McLarens were 10 km/h faster than everyone else at the end of the straight was KERS, insisting the pilots were using a very different setup from everyone else. Appalling.

Was it that idiot Paulo Solipa on Sport TV? He's a twat. I've had the unfortunate pleasure of sitting through a race on Portuguese tv and it was PAINFUL. When RTP still covered it, there were 2 other guys, a dude from the Portuguese Autosport newspaper, who wasn't too bad and another dude who didn't have a clue. Sometimes they would have Pedro Lamy, Domingos Piedade or Tiago Monteiro.

I really liked the coverage on Eurosport, which of course ended in 1996. John Watson and Ben-what's-his-name made a great combination, informative, funny and pretty much always spot on. The ad breaks were annoying, of course, but i don't think they were as bad as on ITV.
I think the BBC is doing a great job this year. Particularly good are the features that Martin Brudle presents and the incredible access that having David Coulthard allows. Even Eddie Jordan isn't too bad.

I don't remember who the commentator was, I suppose it was Solipa all right. I have to say I miss Domingos Piedade's commentaries, not only he was aware of what was going on and provide some insights to the action, he'd also every now and then come up with some silly comment I'd love! I remember some qualifying in the old Hockenheim, someone had a massive engine failure on the way to the first chicane and Piedade goes something like "He's had it! If that was on a bike, he'd have fallen by now!". Me and a friend of mine still use that as a call sign...

[CarlosFerreira]

I'll agree that Legard hasn't been that terrific. Although Brundle fulfils the 'expert' role, I actually think he'd do quite well taking over the main commentator slot.

In fact I don't necessarily understand the need for a "main caller + expert" combination. Australian viewers will know who I'm talking about, but I'm a big fan of Neil Crompton's commentary. Over his 20+ years behind the microphone, he's proof that, if you are good with words, you can transition between a "main caller" and an "expert" role quite comfortably (not to mention being a bloody good racing driver as well).

Speaking of Australian viewers, someone's bound to say it at some stage, but I can't help having a whinge about Greg Rust and Cameron McConville's pathetic hosting of the Aussie coverage. Despite being in the "expert" role, McConville is proof that he is an expert at absolutely stuff-all about F1.

Mind you, it's easy to criticise from the comfort of one's armchair ...

Speaking of Ozzies, Charlie Cox, who does the MotoGP commentary as main caller (Steve Parrish does the expert, Suzie Perry the pit lane + cute bits) is a magnificent commentator, that gets extremely excited and speaks just as you would, in the pub, with your mates. Great work by the man.

[eytl]

Speaking of Ozzies, Charlie Cox, who does the MotoGP commentary as main caller (Steve Parrish does the expert, Suzie Perry the pit lane + cute bits) is a magnificent commentator, that gets extremely excited and speaks just as you would, in the pub, with your mates. Great work by the man.

[Off-topic, but anyway ...] Except that, for some mysterious reason, he completely flunked as the lead host of Top Gear Australia (the Australian spin-off of the British show, with Cox in the Jeremy Clarkson role), was universally unfunny, and was dumped after one season ...

[CarlosFerreira]

Speaking of Ozzies, Charlie Cox, who does the MotoGP commentary as main caller (Steve Parrish does the expert, Suzie Perry the pit lane + cute bits) is a magnificent commentator, that gets extremely excited and speaks just as you would, in the pub, with your mates. Great work by the man.

[Off-topic, but anyway ...] Except that, for some mysterious reason, he completely flunked as the lead host of Top Gear Australia (the Australian spin-off of the British show, with Cox in the Jeremy Clarkson role), was universally unfunny, and was dumped after one season ...

Really? Commenting MotoGP the man is an absolute cracker, makes me laugh from start to finish. I wonder how did that happen?

[Barbazza]

Charlie Cox is very good, and I was glued to the Moto GP at Donington and I wouldn't usually bother with the bikes (though it did help that this particular race seemed to be the bike equivalent of Monaco 82 for F1!) and I remember him being good on the BTCC commentary as well, even when he was saddled with John Watson as a co-commentator. Nice guy, awful voice.

I think we were spoilt with Murray and I honestly don't think Legard is that bad. To my mind he's improved immensely since the first race and I think should get some credit for that.

I'll never understand those who want James Allen back given that he would regularly be biased and not notice things that were clearly happening on the screen half the time. He was dreadful.

[RejectSteve]

I really liked the coverage on Eurosport, which of course ended in 1996. John Watson and Ben-what's-his-name made a great combination, informative, funny and pretty much always spot on.

Ben Edwards, who later teamed up with Watson again to do A1GP for its first four seasons. Currently, Edwards is spending his summer with Bruce Jouanny in the Superleague Formula booth.

Charlie Cox is very good, and I was glued to the Moto GP at Donington and I wouldn't usually bother with the bikes (though it did help that this particular race seemed to be the bike equivalent of Monaco 82 for F1!) and I remember him being good on the BTCC commentary as well, even when he was saddled with John Watson as a co-commentator. Nice guy, awful voice.

I'll never forget Charlie Cox calling the 2nd Oulton Park round of the 1998 BTCC season. After both Peugeot factory drivers Tim Harvey and Paul Radisich were involved in seperate kamikaze accidents of their own doing, Cox said "I don't know what they've been feeding these Peugeot boys but they'be both gone feral," along with close action being desribed as "close, more than close, Braille driving now."

[Many Blue Flags]

I tend not to enjoy the Legard commentary so whenever I can I use the red button commentary and get the Radio Five Live stuff. I can't for the life of me remember the main guy's name, but he is fast and quick and gives a full and concise review. He's often partnered by Anthony Davidson, who's good at speaking (though tends to go in a bit of a strop when mentioned about how he never got a proper drive) and at Hungary they had Jonny Herbert who was fantastic. I really suggest it to all.

That said, I'm still waiting for that day when they put Clarkson in the commentary box.

[Bort]

Speaking of Australian viewers, someone's bound to say it at some stage, but I can't help having a whinge about Greg Rust and Cameron McConville's pathetic hosting of the Aussie coverage. Despite being in the "expert" role, McConville is proof that he is an expert at absolutely stuff-all about F1.

McConville can't even say Barrichellos name correctly.

[Faustus]

I tend not to enjoy the Legard commentary so whenever I can I use the red button commentary and get the Radio Five Live stuff. I can't for the life of me remember the main guy's name, but he is fast and quick and gives a full and concise review. He's often partnered by Anthony Davidson, who's good at speaking (though tends to go in a bit of a strop when mentioned about how he never got a proper drive) and at Hungary they had Jonny Herbert who was fantastic. I really suggest it to all.

That said, I'm still waiting for that day when they put Clarkson in the commentary box.

David Croft. He does the podcasts, as well.

[jackanderton]

I'm still waiting for the day they put Clarkson in the coroners.

Hell will freeze over before he commentates on formula one, thankfully.

[bduddy]

I'm not sure what the channel was, but I saw the Monaco GP in Texas a few years ago. The amount of commercial breaks nearly had me throwing the TV out the window - there was literally a stint of racing 30 seconds long between advert breaks at one point - but the two commentators were even worse. They hardly seemed to be taking it seriously, and spent half the race bickering jovially over the correct pronunciation of the name Jaguar, one being American, the other British.

Speed Channel, given the two-man booth that sounds like it would have been Rick DeBruhl and F1 Reject David Hobbs. I was never a fan of DeBruhl; if I remember correctly he had one season before being sacked for the infinitely more able Bob Varsha. Varsha and Hobbs were later joined by former Benetton mechanic and author Steve Matchett. Those three are a very skilled group that Speed has managed to keep together since 2002, I reckon.

If it was "a few years ago", it was more likely CBS, a broadcast network, with (can't remember) and Derek Daly, who everyone else hates, too. SPEED TV (cable) is our normal broadcaster, but their contract stipulates that our races per year have to be on broadcast TV, and for a while Monaco was one of them. Now the four races (four straight, from Britain on the last few years) are on FOX, the network that owns SPEED, so they have the same commentators and production team. The commentators, in case you're curious, are Bob Varsha (former lawyer, longtime American voice of F1), David Hobbs (former driver of everything) and Steve Matchett (former Benetton mechanic). They are generally quite good, although there are surely more commercials then people from outside the US are likely used to...

[baddriving50]

If it was "a few years ago", it was more likely CBS, a broadcast network, with (can't remember) and Derek Daly, who everyone else hates, too...

Could it have been Ralph Sheheen? I can't think of anything else to say other than Sheheen should have stuck to Nascar or motocross commentary, and even then I can't stand the guy.

[Ross Prawn]

I do find Legard annoying. Its the combination of gung ho enthusiasm and ignorance that gets me. I know he's ment to be foil for Brundle's knowledge but...... I even preferred James Allen.

You might say that Murrey made most of same mistakes that Legard does, but Murray really did know what he was talking about. He just didn't know what he was saying half the time.

The Hamilton/Davidson commentary is pretty good, but compromised by being a radio commentary where they have to describe in more detail whats going on. Would be nice to hear them doing a just for TV commentary.

[bduddy]

If it was "a few years ago", it was more likely CBS, a broadcast network, with (can't remember) and Derek Daly, who everyone else hates, too...

Could it have been Ralph Sheheen? I can't think of anything else to say other than Sheheen should have stuck to Nascar or motocross commentary, and even then I can't stand the guy.

Probably Shaheen, yes, and he wasn't well suited for F1. Oh, and all of the motocross fans I've ever seen absolutely despise him. Curiously enough, he filled in for a regular NASCAR announcer a couple weeks ago (as CBS no longer broadcasts NASCAR, and the regular announcer had gotten fired over some confrontation), and the reviews were largely positive. It's all about the chemistry, sometimes...