David Croft has joined the land of Twitter: http://twitter.com/CroftyF1

And has locked down the account.. hmm..

IIRC ITV does get some money from the licence fee but that is irrelevant.

The question is about coverage and commentary.

Personal opinion, I would like to have Brundle and Crofty as opposed to Brundle and Legard. Crofty is friendlier and warmer whereas Legard comes across cold. When JA was commentating on ITV it wasn't that obvious that he was being put in a position of being biased towards Hamilton (and lets face it a lot of people weren't happy about it). Since he's left the commentating he is more neutral. I think Legard was put in a similar position last year with Button. Big up the British driver.

The beeb started off very neutral but as the season progressed Legard was focussed on Button, or it appears that way. I wonder how the coverage would have been if had been between the Ferrari drivers. How would Legard have dealt with that or how would JA have dealt with that. If it had been Massa and Kim in the BrawnGP and Rubens and Button in the Ferrari, how would have the commentary have come across?

I must admit I preferred the Ant and Crofty commentart to the Brundle Legard commentary. It was warmer and there was a rapport. They feed off each other and seem to anticipate what the other is about to say. Brundle and Legard dont have that.

Saying that, nobody had a clue what Walker was going to come out with, but he was fun and enthusiastic. Like Hill has said on the Motorsport podcast, Murray could make a boring race sound exciting.

aaaand there he proves himself to be a troll.

BBC has its faults but overall its coverage is excellent and there's something for all tastes. I hate BBC 3 but BBC 2 and BBC 4 are fantastic channels which show unique documentaries. Sure, I think BBC are completely bias in some areas but overall I've been happy with the service and their F1 coverage has been superb. The F1 website is terrible to navigate, though.

Coverage is great. No complaints from me about the bbc.

As its very close now, Im interested in what people think about the times the qualy and race starts are on at.
It can be found here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport...dar/default.stm

Myself and my fella like to have a glass of wine/beer so im not a fan of the early 07 starts but he really loves them. I also hate the ones dead on 12 as id prefer to be cooking then and then watch a race with my food im sounding very fussy arent I want everything just right hehe

I dont know if i should have made a new thread for this but, what do you all like?

My perfect would be 2pm/a nice buffet to pick at/glass of wine or 2/laptop out on the table in front of the tv for the live/partner next to me/door locked/phones off hehe lol god im fussy

Personally I quite enjoy the occasional early morning session - waking up at 2AM for first practice last year, with the new cars, was pretty exciting. A little bit too fanatical, but i enjoyed it. I think the general 1PM starts are about right, although often your lunch can distract you and vice-versa

I don't like the shifting of the Australian race to "accommodate" European audiences, made the Australian GP last year look like a bit of a late afternoon test session. But such is BE's demand for things to be his way.


Back on topic, my EPG says that there will be the F1 Preview show on channel 301, so Freeview users should be able to see that.

However, I can't see any mention of Classic GP on the EPG so, I'm curious as to when that will be or whether it does exist. DMN said a page or two ago that it should be but I've yet to find proof.

Also - it looks like Free Practice 3 won't be on Freeview this year, according to the Radio Times, which highlights on the Saturday that it is available via the red button, except for those on Freeview.

Someone please tell me this is not correct?

7am is fine ... big cooked breakfast.
Walk dog
11am .. nibbles and gin and tonic or wine. Perhaps tapas.

Sorted.

Andy

I'll check. Radio Times can be a bit sketchy seeing as it's published in advance, but I'll have a look at the EPG.


Also - Jacques Villeneuve is to commentate for 5 live, according to Byron Young

http://twitter.com/byronf1/status/10258210537

Interesting choice, if true!

The best place for info.

I had Freeview and it did catered for my needs very well. My friends used to tease me and called it the equivalent of peasant vision, pressing me to adopt SKY. I was quite happy with Freeview because they 2 red Button channels 301+302, when they went down to one, I was the catalyst for me to leave. The SKY non-subscription service is a much better option and Freeview should only be used if you have no alternative. I think you pay a one off fee around £20 pounds for the card and you get all the BBC red button multi-channels they have to offer as well as the basic Freeview service.

Aha. Perhaps my concern is too hasty.

Stupid RT.

Or alternatively, the Beeb can cater for the larger audience and show FP3 on Freeview, which I believe they will do. Unless they really have lost the plot.

I'm 100% with you bringing in Crofty and ditching Legard, but re. bias, it just goes to show that the championship leading driving will always get more attention and I think that will always mean people will perceive bias when there isn't any. I've said it before, but Hamilton WAS the main story most of the time in 2008. If it wasn't fighting for the championship, it was trouble with the stewards, appeals or his team involved in spying. I don't see how these could have been ignored just because some people would shout "bias!"

Agreed. There's quite the sense of occasion having to get up before dawn's crack for a Japanese or an Australian race. I really don't like the FIA overly pandering to European audiences. It is a 'world' championship after all.

all three practice sessions are scheduled on 301 for Bahrain

Anyone know if its possible to record coverage shown on the red button, by using a PS3? I'm thinking of buying the 'play box' for £30 that allows the PS3 to record, but not sure whether it'll be able to do channel 301. I imagine it would do if the freeview box plays it?

Cheers

M

Check out the Hauppage product below, it can be used on a PS3.

link

The F1 Videos page has now gone live - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport...eos/default.stm - but its not much better than what they had before!

They really should have the most recent videos on the main page, but an option to view lists of all videos uploaded each month as an archive. They don't seem to be deleting the old videos so I don't know why its an issue.

The BBC F1 team page is now up too - a short biog for each member, and a video at the bottom with some views from Coulthard, Brundle, Jordan and Murray Walker.

I'm pretty sure it does.

Little bit OT, but does anybody know if there's some place where F1 TV production is described: how many cameras, how many people involved, what equipment, workflows, how signals are running etc? I've seen graphics like that in magazines but can't find anything web. Thanks in advance!

Don't watch linked video because its from 2009.

I very rarely criticise the TV coverage, but unfortunately the website is a bit like a dog's dinner.

Do. Not. Like.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport...eos/default.stm --> Ugh.

I mean, is there anything wrong with this for example?

- http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/1271/mainvideo.jpg
- http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/6410/classicf1.jpg

With 3 subpages in the Video section:

- Classic F1, self explanatory
- Interviews, historical archive of interviews from last year and this year
- Replays, replays of all FP1 and FP2 sessions, as well as highlights maybe from races.

I'm sorry but the current page looks like an amateur has done it.... and it looks crap. I think my version looks a lot better... but there again I would say that seeing as I've just spent half an hour doing it.

Their video section could be so good, yet it is so crap.

Of course you can tell I've done it quickly, and yes amateurish (!!) but that in my view looks a LOT better than the current system. Who knows, it may stop the request every race for Belgium 1998!

Although I will praise them for giving us Classic F1 again, and also for a new EJ feature: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport...one/8556081.stm

And note that the Classic F1 Bahrain hasn't been uploaded today, its in fact linked straight from http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport...one/8019425.stm .

Jake's blog: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jakehumphrey/20..._world_cha.html

EDIT: Please don't tell me we are getting a Lewis/Jenson interviewing each other session based on picture 1 otherwise I might cringe...

Sorry DMN I like their version better.

Why split the video section into two pages with lots of redundant space on the page when they can fit all of the videos in one nice and tidy page that people can refer back to each time they want to view any video content. I actually like how it looks.

And why would you really need historical interviews? Not sure I see the point in that. I want to hear what the drivers have to say today, not last year.

Too late I think we can expect a season of it tbf. Auntie will milk the McLaren nationalism and in all honesty why not? British people will want to see Britain's best drivers in Britain's best car. The Beeb would be mad NOT to do all the cheesy stuff.

5LiveF1

@NobleF1 I can confirm that we will have Sir Jackie Stewart for Qualy and fingers crossed Jacques Villeneuve for the race...

So I asked : what about practice? And 5liveF1 very kindly responded :

5LiveF1

@enjard Practice 1 and 2 will be Crofty, Maurice, Holly with guest appearances from @tedkravitzf1 @jakehumphreyf1 and EJ.

I had a feeling Maurice would be back for this race. I actually miss him (a bit). Could do with less of Jake and EJ, though, although as long as they don't dominate proceedings, that's fine.

They'd be a lot more videos than that though. For instance, last year with the Classic F1 series, they had over 80+ videos, which those 80 along with all the practice replays and the other stuff would not fit on one page - or it'd be extremely large.

Yep, me too.

Get ready for a lot of bitching on here then ala ITV 2007...

whats happened to Anthony?

He's testing for Le Mans. He will miss Bahrain, Barcelona and one other race, I think either Spa or Hungary.

Apart from that, he's back

Well surely the videos will change race by race? That page isn't going to be a massive index of every video they've ever uploaded surely. With each GP they'll change the classic links and as they interview more people the ones at the bottom will drop off. That is how I expect it will work.

Exactly, which is why the solution that I did above is better. Put all the past Classic F1 links on one page and so on and so forth, so that people are not left hunting around for links. You can still access past Classic F1 races that were uploaded months ago via Andrew Benson's blog - although its a very long winded system if you're trying to find a specific race which has been uploaded, i.e. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport...one/7960155.stm (that was one of the first classics uploaded just to prove the links do still work)

Even ITV have a better video section than BBC's: http://www.itv-f1.com/VideoWorldwide.aspx (although admittedly there's is a lot different as they no longer have F1 rights)

I'm not sure there is the need really. I mean I don't really find myself itching to watch a re-run of a classic GP from a few races ago. But that's just me. Again I'm more interested in the current media offerings rather than trying to dig up the older classic videos from previous weeks. That's not to say I don't ever go hunting for old material but I'm not sure it's vital that the BBC make sure every single Classic GP video is available for the entire season. Just my 2p worth tho, if you feel strongly about it then great. But I don't think what the BBC are offering now is bad. It's much better than the ITV F1 website used to be.

Was a bit concerned I mgiht not be able to watch FP1 based on some rumours that it would on be for Sky and Virgin subscribers only, but it seems like those fears were premature.

Not just testing; next week he's racing at Sebring as well.

Villeneuve joining BBC 5 live? And I was so looking forward to first practice.

Well can I suggest that people watching in Britain who cant understand or stomach the BBC spending a good amount of time on a British team with 2 British WDC drivers ........should move to Germany or something ???

maurice hamilton is dreadfully dull imo, it didn't actually seem like he was that knowledgeable about things, you really need a recent ex driver like davidson with croft to explain the technical side of things, would've been nice to have villeneuve in the practice sessions

oh well, at least hamilton is better than jackie 'where am i, did i forget to take my medicine, why aren't i in the nursing home' stewart

Let me ask a silly question.
Is BBS only one chanel or do they have like BBC 1, BBC 2, BBC sports, etc...?

I'm trying to figure out whether the BBC in the cable TV here in Astana will show it.

I think you will find all the information you seek here.

Okay, thanks.

If its on your cable I'm guessing its BBC Prime? (Or BBC Entertainment, as its apparently called now). If so, don't bother, its just out of date sitcoms, no live coverage of anything and no sport.
Entertainment is a misnomer, its a terrible channel.

Just thought I'd add my 2c (p?).

I love the Beeb for it's great documentaries. David Attenborough is my hero. What a legend!

Oh I see it's a BBC F1 thread. My bad.

Well after last season's efforts I'd say they do a better job than ITV did. No annoying ad-breaks and all practices live (Well most. Sometimes our PPV SKY delay coverage but that's another story).

Pity about the Leg though. But nothing's perfect.

Here's to another great season on the Beeb!

Btw I'm from the land of the long white cloud so most of your BBC complaints go over my head.

He's not doing practice? You don't have to worry. I think he'll be great.



IMO Maurice Hamilton is acceptable when paired with Croft. When he was paired with Ian Phillips, he was pretty dire, because Phillips' ineptitude lead Hamilton to be the lead commentator, a job that he is just not up to.

When you consider he will only be doing a few sessions this year (by the sounds of it), it's not really so bad now, is it?

And also, those are very unnecessary comments about Sir Jackie, uncalled for.

^

Indeed. Respect your elders I say. The guy is a bloody legend.

I'd have loved for Villeneuve to have been part of Practice 1 or 2 - imagine the text questions he'd have got and the answers!

...but yeah, it's a shame there's no Ant, but I'd rather he be racing (well, testing) than talking. Would have loved to have had DC in the booth rather than EJ - so we could get a drivers perspective on the new regulations and how things look on track, but it will be good just to get Formula One going again for another year.

Can't wait to tune in for F1 tomorrow morning!

Didn't happen. Hockey is deemed better. Frickin bbc. Thought it would be too good to be true...

Not so fussed about the 'classic' grands prix, but fear that when certain events clash (Wimbledon and what have you) us Freeviewers are going to miss a few practice sessions.