Why was Croft not given the race commentary role ? He kept today's P1 commentary going in a very smooth manner and asked the technical guys pertinent questions.

Probably because when he's had a chance at TV commentary before (GP2) he's been atrocious, really bad at it, constantly jabbers on, even more than in his radio commentary as if everyone is blind, he talks across whoever is with him worse than Leggard ever could.

there's also a rumour that martin brundle hates him, which I don't believe.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport...one/8005323.stm

inside F1 - couple of things...

- Diffusher

- Mike Gasgoyne was doing so well, SO WELL, then he ruins it all by saying "for sure"

- Mark 'Web'?

- These track guides are rubbish to be honest, you don't see the circuit unless you've got a map and or you're in a pov cam. Webber's narration isn't as good as brundle's.

To chip in about Maurice Hamilton...

I heard him during Practice2 yesterday and thought he was absolutely fine apart from one of his opening statements when he introduced Ian Phillips from Force India and said something along the lines of Phillips being a long-time veteran of the paddock "just like me". The way this was said sounded just a tad arrogant in my opinion.

was I the only one who noticed the look of death given to JAke by DC after the pink shirt joke?

Looks like Mika Gascoine has replaced Eddie Jordan

In other breaking news:- the Titanic has sunk.

I hope it's not just a one off - he really adds far much more to the show.

Unfortunately EJ is back next weekend

sorry for not following a topic full of people moaning about the bbc coverage which is pretty top notch

yeah, noticed that too!

Yikes, Mike is a short fella.

Size is always relative, or so I'm told

Pooor cameramen rying to frame the three of them, I wonder if that's why he is so far from Jake, right near the camera.

Lenny called up felipe baby on felipe baby!!

I have to say, whilst I'm not generally a BBC supporter, this coverage we're getting this year totally puts ITV's efforts to shame. The build-up this morning has actually been worth watching, informative and interesting; when was the last time we could say that of ITV's?

Christ, just how many bottles of Shockwaves does PDLR use in his hair?

Why is the 5Live commentary about 10 seconds behind the pictures? Is this always the case? If it is then I think I'll have to put up with the bland TV commentary.

Legard just uttered something that sums up his level of commentary so far:

"And Vettel has not been out, which suggests that he and Red Bull are happy to be in 10th place"

This despite there having been no suggestion whatsoever of any problems with Vettel's car (as why else would he not even attempt a single qualifying lap?), this despite Ted Kravitz and Martin Brundle having minutes earlier discussed that Vettel looked to be going to do only one run as he wanted to save fuel due to doing a low-fuel run, this despite Vettel actually being on track when Legard said this.

Vettel went on to secure pole.

Did he really say that!?!?!? God what a prick! Someone please remind me why they didn't sign James Allen again?

I've highlighted the important part for you.... you know the bit where it was just speculation so you didn't have to take it as fact.

For a BBC presenter he sure has some interesting pronunciations.

Only a complete moron with a single-digit IQ would've thought that maybe Vettel was sitting out the session. There can be no excusing Legard's stupidity with this comment.

Having just watched Qualifying, all I can say to the BBC is PLEASE drop Eddie Jordan and book Mike Gascoigne for the season.

Why ?

Common sense, fascinating insights and a 90% reduction in Ego. No Contest

I thought that was a joke (a dig) towards Mark Blundell actually who commonly wore pink shirts.

Very good pre-race coverage, says a lot when I didn't even know who the Red Bull guy was! Good range of interviews as well, not with the "same, familiar guys". Legard......... OK I guess. Post-race was good, they even went over on BBC One to screen the press conference!

Gascoigne, what a star.

Shame he can't attend every race, he made DC look very poor in comparison (a feat EJ is unlikely ever to achieve). His insight into the TWG was fantastic, he backed Brawn 100% and revealed Renault had been one of the teams to turn down Brawn's offer of closing the loopholes!

I'm starting to like Jake now as well. He's cool.

Awful line at the end of the programme from Jake though. Something about Red Bull drinking their energy? *Shudder* Please cut things like this out.

Thought it was quite clever

In the context of a qualifying session and taking into consideration all the things I pointed out that had just been said or had just happened and the things that were happening at that exact time that were facts his comment was utterly ridiculous.

As I said in my previous post Vettel was actually out on track at the moment he said it, so I certainly wouldn't and didn't take his ludicrous speculation as fact.

Given that no problems with Vettel's car had been reported by Ted and in fact Ted had already told us why Vettel hadn't been out yet Legard's speculation was actually utterly woeful. I don't understand why he would ever suggest a driver/team would be happy with accepting 10th place having made no attempt to qualify higher and having no reason to suspect they could not qualify higher, and I don't understand why he completely ignored what Ted said and instead uttered his own extremely wild speculation.

That a driver hasn't been out of the pits in Q3 suggests he is happy to take 10th place? What? Pretend for a moment that Ted didn't say what he had said. Surely the suggestion in that instance would be that Vettel had a reason not to have gone out yet, whether it be through choice or a problem with the car.

I expect more from the lead commentator delivering F1 to an audience of millions than to come out with such a rubbish guess as to why Vettel hadn't been out.

I don't know which is worse though, his ridiculous speculation or that he ignored one of his colleagues who had already told us what Vettel was doing.

Oh and one last point that makes him look stupid still. Vettel and Webber's pace in the previous Q sessions. What possibly put the thought into Legard's head that Vettel would happily sit in the garage content to accept 10th place, while his teammate was out there threatening pole? It's bewildering frankly.

I spent whole stints of a race shouting at James Allen who was missing the utterly obvious regarding what was happening or what was about to happen. Legard is missing things or getting things wrong at about the same rate as James Allen. That's not why I hated James Allen. I hated Allen because he commentated as if he was more important that the sport he was talking about. Legard is a massive improvement.

They have got to get Gascoigne on board full time. His insight is enlightening and he has a nice easy manner. Waaay better than EJ. A distinct improvement in quality

Some examples, perhaps?

QFT

I'm happy with Legard, but fortunately for those who are not the Beeb provides alternative commentaries.

Ha ha, I wouldn't say someone is an improvement because they get things massively wrong less times than their predecessor.

No, Ben Edwards would have been a massive improvement. I still can't believe he took himself out of the running for the job.

Unfortunately the only one with Martin Brundle happens to be the same one with Legard.

Do you know - I didn't actually document it.

"Wow - in 36 months, someone on the internet is going to doubt this is occuring - I must document it immediately!"






Oh - he's not an improvement because of that. He's an improvement because of his tone, his attitude, his on air persona.

Today's quali was the first BBC coverage I watched, so sorry to bring this up if it has been already: Does the BBC One logo always cover the P1 timing? It was really annoying me.

BBC One doesn't carry an on-screen logo.

BBC logo?

You feeling OK?

Would be good if they kept MG on instead of EJ. He was just so much better-no ego, no 'me me me me me' type comments, no 'back in my day' or 'when i was growing up' type comments, interesting and detailed comments which i felt added alot, especially with the technical issues, no 'if i can just go back to what david said earlier' type comments, no taking over the interviewing role from JH, which EJ has done before as he tries to spend as much time talking as possible and so tries to become the interviewer, no constant interrupting-just so much better, even just in terms of his technical analysis and comments he added alot (admittedly this was the perfect weekend to have such a person, what with the diffuser ruling)

I must say I'm not a fan of Legard but neither was I of Allen. I find them both annoying on the same level. I can easily follow all that is happening on circuit and comment on it and get things right. Surely he/allen has more information in front of them than me to work with LOL

I found Gascoigne to be a much better improvement on EJ and just wish the beeb would see sense and give MG the better gig than EJ.

Right here we go, what no one on this thread seems to realise is all these people they want rid of NOW, have contracts that the Beeb wont break unless under extreme circumstances. You have to live with it unfortunately.

Well - we can now have the live timing as well. Indeed, it was the advent of live timing on the web that made me realise just how much stuff Allen was missing and getting wrong.

I'm not saying get rid though am i? What do you do in business when someone has a contract but are under performing? You shuffle them... Give EJ a back seat doing interviews with Bernie and like, he seems to like that

Oh please no

Much prefer Mike. Build up for quali seemed really good today.

Not such a bad idea. MG gives technical insight and DC gives on track driving insight. EJ does however bring in team manager insight. I must say that production and commentary by Jake, DC and MG seemed alot more professional and settled. They seems more comfortable.

I really want to see Anthony Davidson on the team. He is fantastic on the radio, really insightful, clear and talks about the things that you want to hear. He raised alot of good points yesterday. Maybe a position with Martin and Jonathan?

To be honest, if the Beeb said to EJ "we only want you to do some races", I'm sure EJ would be happy sitting on his arse all day getting paid.

We've covered that little snag a few hundred pages back mate!

Anyway, come on...you're an F1 fan...any self-respecting F1 fan knows that contracts are only printed on paper so that they can be torn up.