BBC

That urks me to no end. Edwards could've been magic. He's a real motorsport enthusiast

so how long until the redbutton of bbci stuff starts broadcasting scrutineering and court hearings?

its half the sport after all, and we've already had more passing in the courts than on the track, with possibly more to come before the lights go out

I agree with it all, exactly what I was going to say. I want more passion from lead commentators. I think they possibly found the wrong person to be alongside Martin

Where I live in Canada we get (via TSN) the BBC coverage - which replaced ITV - but sadly we don't get any BBC pre/post race shows and we have to suffer through plenty of added commercials. That's probably why the switch to BBC session coverage is a let down for me. i.e. it's the exact same as ITV was, with the exception of Jonathan Legard replacing James Allen... and IMO that's a downgrade.

I understand that it's only fair to give the new guy a chance. And I'm sure Legard's delivery and chemistry with Brundle will improve over time. However, IMO he doesn't come across as being nearly as intelligent about F1, nor as quick thinking about what's relevant at any given time, as James was. And if that's true, he may not be able to improve as much as some people think he will.

Sadly, when watching the qualifying session I couldn't help thinking that if Brundle was alone in the booth calling all the action himself, it would likely be a significant improvement.

Sorry for being so negative... I'm sure I'd be a lot happier about the overall change if I was getting the coverage commercial-free and receiving a pre-race show, like you guys are. In any event, Jonathan seems like a nice guy and I really do hope that as he grows into his role, I grow into enjoying his commentary.

I agree, but Edwards refused to "dedicate" himself to the role.

I think the anchorman and pundits should also lose the big microphones, why not just use a clip-on?

Bring back The Count, er I mean Jim Rosenthal I say!

Errr - did I hear Eddie Jordan - Eddie Jordan mind - mention "corporate responsibility"?

And why does it take three blokes to conduct an interview? The Beeb has always been over-manned. Still nice to see them back.

DCN

I was more worried that they were going to need a crowbar to remove eddie from Branson's backside at the end of the interview.

As far as I'm concerned, some good points and bad points.

I thought DC's voice over on the pre-recorded piece was bad. I accept he is new to this but it was obvious he had been given 'bad' advice with the pace of his voice.

On the other hand when he was live I thought he was very good. Inteligent comment all the way through. I especially liked his put down on Eddie Jordan over the 'McLaren have maybe suffered due to Merc supplying 2 other teams' - as DC said it makes no diff as they now all have fewer engines over the year!

Eddie Jordan as always had far too much to say - he prattles on and hogs the mic. Most of what he had to say was nonsense and I wouldn't be surprised if he is dropped.

Not impressed with Legard at all - he spoke to much and it took Brundle all his time to get a word in. It was blatantly obvious that he was used to Radio. Maybe it will settle down a bit given time but in my opinion Brundle should take the lead. So to summarise -

DC -
MB -
EJ -
JL - (is Legard's first name Johnathan ? )

Now that he's gone peeps will now realise how good he was.

Was the intro sequence really that bad? I liked it, the initial panning around the car put me in mind of what the '94 intro did with a Williams FW16, if I remember correctly. And I could see what they were trying to do with the sound effects, although I agree that they needed to just ignore such gimmicks really. But without them, it would've been perfect, I'd say. Typical bulletin board 'Anyone but James Allen' syndrome...

I've only seen the highlights so far, but I think Legard did okay.

I was waiting for some smarty pants to say that!

They do race in cities, but not how it looks on there.

I dont see what would have been so bad about making it look like F1 generally races on race tracks most of the time.

Gotta respect him for that I suppose.

given that some BTCC and A1GP weekends would clash with F1 meant they had to go with someone who'd be 100% definitely available for each F1 race weekend

Very true but if it's obvious after three or four races that things just aren't working out in various departments then they should take action fast or they'll lose the confidence of the licence payers.

I thought the coverage was fantastic as a starting point. The lack of adverts really keeps the anticipation up and the overall tone was much more balanced.

The team seems to work fairly well together. Brundle and Legard I think still need a bit of time to gel properly but it will happen.

Couldn't agree more.

Again agreed.

For anyone wishing to watching qualifying in full on BBC iPlayer (i.e. the full live programme) click here.

rolf123, your petition isn't doing much.

And jb26 has commented over on DS:



I agree with everything jb26 said their TBH.

What a relief, no James Allen, no adverts and not a bad production at all.
I think DC is great EJ is OK also apart from he thinks a little too highly of himself.

The BBC is a millions miles better than ITV, which we knew anyway. Legard sounds comfortable and right for the sport and will work nicely when Brundle and him know each other well.


We got what we wanted in the end thankfully.

I didn't find Legard too bad.

I thought he came across as standard BBC sports commentator more than anything which isn't that bad - a lack of forced hysteria in the commentary booth is always a plus.

EJ was just EJ - after seeing him on RTE when they covered F1 I pretty much knew what to expect - self-publicity and not much else.

Jake Humphries was pretty okay as well - I liked his casual chatty routine compared to ITV's fake chuminess.

The lack of adverts was a bit weird at first but I really like the improved picture quality. ITV always seemed rather 'grainy' on my cable feed - especially on distance shots.

Was it just me or do DC and EJ seem to wind each other up the wrong way?

Was the picture really dark for anyone else or should I blame my digibox?

Should be Brundle and Anthony Davidson imo.

I liked Jake I thought he did a fantastic job at presenting his first formula 1 show. DC was good, Eddie looked bored when ever he was not talking.

Unfortunately I think that's your digibox mate, or check the contrast on your TV.

I thought the coverage was very good for a first attempt. Legard and brundle have to gel yet they were stepping over each other a bit and Legard was'nt always on the ball about what was happening on screen but it looks promising. EJ is a complete tool, he queried what tyres Alonso may have been on when he went off, as if he'd be on the medium at that stage. Coulthard is good and recent and should be left on his own. Jake humphries comes across as a bit false, very scripted and he mentioned that Toyota's diffuser was declared illegal!!! He needs to learn the difference between a rear wing and a diffuser.

I would love to see Damon Hill as no.2 in the commentary booth but I doubt he would commit to it, what with family and all.

James Allen all is forgiven, this Leggard bloke is AWFUL. Never shuts up and seems utterly lost half the time.

That i sa much more polite way of saying what I said All true too, he seems a nice chap but someone get the gaffer tape.

I'll forgive him for the diffuser/Toyota bit as that bit was done way after midnight.

For anyone wishing to compare the BBC titles with other countries:

Premiere Trailer (Germany)
La Sexta Trailer/titles (Spain)
Polsat titles (Poland)
Sky Sport trailer (Italy)
Televen trailer (Venezuela)
RTL titles (Germany)

Crikey kar, knee-jerk much?
We've not even had the race yet!!

CALM DOWN PEOPLE!

Im glad to see the BBC have filled the Mark Blundell role with Eddie Jordan

Seriously though, i think Eddie should stay away from trying to offer too much technical insight, leave that to DC, who comes across as very knowledgeable.

I liked the commentary of Legard and Brundle and it will only get better once they get used to working with each other. Legard does seem genuinely excited and, dare i say, not as knoweldgeable about everything F1 compared to James Allen, which is a good thing.

Glad to hear The Chain, but i was hoping for a better intro; dont like the graphics at all, i think they should include some real on track action, but it aint the end of the world. They could just play The Chain over some sheep walking over a hill for all i care, cos everything else has been awesome. Loved the streaming of the practices during yesterday. Cant wait to see the race coverage now.

I am guessing we cant choose what car to go on bord camera with during tomrrows race?

The beeb's titles were disappointing like an ad for a computer game. Although the chain was back.
Those Polish titles are funny the vid is good but the music is terrible like "Home Decor with Alice" or something. The premiere one was the best IMO.

FWIW I thought it was a pretty good show. Didn't get up early but caught the red-button replay just as Q1 had finished, so didn't see any of the lead-in.

Solid job by all concerned, though EJ bugged me, constantly referring back to Jordan and the past. That was YEARS ago, he needs to move on, especially as during last season F1 will have gained a lot of new followers (thanks to the Hamilton effect) who won't have a clue who Jordan were ...

Thanks. Must be the sh*tty digibox my dad replaced Sky with.

Apart from the music what a crap intro,the best intro would be a bunch of clips showing all the f1 world champions,would create a sense of grandeur to the whole procedure.

I think that is what they are supposed to do to an extent. It would probably work better if EJ talked more sense!

I noticed that Coulthard really feels threatened by EJ. He had this fake smile going on for quite a while.

I hope they keep Eddie. He will say what he thinks, sometimes controversially. I admire that! Reminds me of someone

yeah, DC and EJ don't get on but i felt that EJ was being an arsehole, maybe tryng to cultivate a bad boy image for himself. didn't work.

overall though, good show.

Totally agree with you about EJ. His opinions were not relevant and worthless, didn't he say that the Mercedes engines in the Brawn and Force India were not the latest spec compared to McLarens?

His sucking up to Bernie and Branson was vomit inducing.

I think that's why I liked him, he sounded genuine, none of Allen's forced excitement. Also, for most of the session he talked about what was going on, whereas James Allen largely ignored on-track action in order to pose tricky questions for Brundle. It was a big improvement.

Having just watched it again - EJ seemed intent on being overly aggressive in reply to many harmless things DC said.

I think he was just trying to hard to be a bit "spicy" which presumably is the role he has been brought in to deliver.

Once they all relax it will probably flow more naturally.

I hope that was just because it was the start of the year.... I hope it won't always be like that. I thought EJ did give a few good answers to stuff, the pre-quali stuff was good, it was mainly post-quali where his agressive replies got the better of him.

...shouldn't that be "they'll lose the confidence of the tiny fraction of a percentage of the licence payers who bother to sit down and watch the whole entire program with a notepad and pen to jot down all the microsecond sections they dislike", most of whom seem to be denizens of this BB...

Give me a break. The criticism being bandied about here is almost as bad as the "if they don't have The Chain I'm not watching it" and "if they mention Hamilton more than three times in a given 24 hour period I'm quitting" added to the "if the FIA do this/that/something else I'm boycotting the sport" stuff being thrown around by schoolchildren in the last few weeks.

We're all grown-ups here (well, apart from... no I won't say that ) and we probably all fall into the FIA's category of "hardcore fans". It'll take an awful lot more than a couple of poor edits, flaky scripting and bad commentary to stop us watching. And, let's face it, we are but a tiny fraction of the BBC's intended audience which is the UK's general populace...

I have to say, though, that I did like the telemetry overlay showing the KERS battery. I'm still scratching my head over the way it went from empty to 100% full on a straight, though!

Maybe he changed because RB didn't get pole? I have never liked EJ. He is full of his own (un)importance. I hope he stops mentioning the Jordan Team - they are LONG gone. I think it would work better if it was just DC there.

I also noticed that the BBC seems intent on puting music behind everything. I am into music in a big way but it was all a bit of a mish mash.

I wondered that but I think they are only allowed so much usage per lap and it reset on the start finish straight.

If you were watching the rerun then what you saw of Jake was probably mostly scripted, with none of the build up. He seemed the opposite of false when live and genuinely enthusiastic.

6 seconds a lap.

I thought qualy was good, but no adverts for a wee! Only joking.