186 replies to this topic

[Baddoer]

It was really  disgusting and unprofessional to hear how happy Croft was after both Red Bull DNFed due to technical issues.

What do you think that such broadcaster as Sky F1 should keep him employed?

[TheFish]

Any link to what he said/how he behaved? Not all of us watch the world feed.

[anachronox]

Add to that, his mocking of Charles's race engineer. He was mimicking the Italian engineer's English accent on Live TV. 

 

Extremely "unprofessional" and letting his own self getting ahead of his job. 

Edited by anachronox, 21 March 2022 - 06:04.

[stenovitz]

I don't know any of Croft, but I presume he is a national thinking his employer is limited as a national broadcaster?

Edited by stenovitz, 21 March 2022 - 06:03.

[Heyli]

It was really  disgusting and unprofessional to hear how happy Croft was after both Red Bull DNFed due to technical issues.

What do you think that such broadcaster as Sky F1 should keep him employed?

Was he really hapy, or was he just shouting in excitement, which he always does when something happens?

[timmy bolt]

Add to that, his mocking of Charles's race engineer. He was mimicking the Italian engineer's English accent on Live TV.

Extremely "unprofessional" and letting his own self getting ahead of his job.

No idea on his supposed glee at RB (people have a habit of overthinking this stuff, they're meant to sound excited generally. Maybe some funeral esque mood music everytime they talk about a dsq) but I do agree with the Italian bit. Albeit I think he knew he had looked like a fool about half way through his "skit" and was try to move on asap.

Edited by timmy bolt, 21 March 2022 - 06:27.

[Sardukar]

I think he is a crap commentator regardless, so i'm biased. But his call today was atrocious. Making fun of the engineer's accent was just pure cringe. Then when RBR had the mechanical issues, he was so excited that his voice started to even crack like he was a teenager. Like i get it, they are british commentators ofcourse they want Lewis to do well. But they need to reign it in because it was completely over the top.

[Ivanhoe]

Was he really hapy, or was he just shouting in excitement, which he always does when something happens?

This. Watch back Spain 2016 to hear his excitement when Lewis and Nico took each other out. Don’t have any issue with it.

[hayabusasc]

Having watched the race, I didn't feel his reaction to Red Bulls retirements were any form of bias.

His comments however about the Ferrari engineer were unsavoury and should not have been said.

[Mat13]

The Red Bill commentary was just his usual over the top shouting, which I detest.

Agree on the taking the mickey out of the engineers voice though, what an idiot.

[Huffer]

For those of you in the UK, complaining about Croft's horrible, horrible mocking of the Italian race engineer; please refer the incident to OFCOM rather than moaning about it here. 

 

Website: https://www.ofcom.or...radio-a-website

 

Or rather, feel free to moan about it here (and rightly so too) but also report the incident to OFCOM.

Edited by Huffer, 21 March 2022 - 06:58.

[SophieB]

It was really  disgusting and unprofessional to hear how happy Croft was after both Red Bull DNFed due to technical issues.

What do you think that such broadcaster as Sky F1 should keep him employed?

I think that this is nonsense and that any broadcaster is going to always get excited when a front running car runs into trouble as long as it is clear no-one is hurt. As a counter example, other posters may wish to remember that David Croft was so excited to think Hamilton had a puncture at the British GP the other year that it was several seconds before he realised it was Bottas. 

[rockdude101]

Crofty is so entirely biased towards Lewis it's ridiculous but then again most of the Sky Sports team are. Channel 4 are much more neutral and enjoyable for me. 

 

Nothing will happen to Crofty as he thinks he's untouchable as lead commentator. 

[TheFish]

Crofty is so entirely biased towards Lewis it's ridiculous but then again most of the Sky Sports team are. Channel 4 are much more neutral and enjoyable for me.

Nothing will happen to Crofty as he thinks he's untouchable as lead commentator.

The 2 main Channel 4 analysts are literally both paid by 1 team. That’s the opposite of neutral.

[Marklar]

Crofty is always excited. He is commenting a motor race not a funeral

[Fonzey]

I really, really don't like Croft and his presenting style but I can't accuse him of bias. Half of the time he doesn't know what car or driver he's even looking at, so frantic excitement is his default response. I wouldn't take it to heart.

 

I had the 'pleasure' of watching CH4 coverage of Jeddah last year though from the confines of a hotel room and now THAT was bias coverage. 

Edited by Fonzey, 21 March 2022 - 08:09.

[sabjit]

I don't rate Crofty as a commentator but it's a commentators job to make everything sound exciting unless a competitor has clearly been physically hurt or something extremely dangerous is occurring.

 

By this token of thinking you could criticise him for how he commentated on the last lap in Abu Dhabi where it was clear what happened was a disgrace in a sporting context. But its not his job to do that.

Edited by sabjit, 21 March 2022 - 08:14.

[TheFish]

I don't rate Crofty as a commentator but it's a commentators job to make everything sound exciting unless a competitor has clearly been physically hurt or something extremely dangerous is occurring.

By this token of thinking you could criticise him for how he commentated on the last lap in Abu Dhabi where it was clear what happened was a disgrace. But its not his job to do that.

Sky F1 Germany have a completely different approach. Weird watching the race with their commentary and switching it to the world feed when watching highlights. Shouting is rare.

[Forghieri]

As a non-British viewer, I often find it hard to listen to Crofty, Brundle is much more cool headed and sportsmanlike.

[danmills]

Sure, Crofty can be a bit annoying. But equally I think people are way too sensitive these days. It's getting ridiculous. There was clearly no malice intended.

 

People will get scrutinised for being too monotonous and slated for having an opinion. How can you win? It's live commentary. It's meant to be full of excitement, mistakes, heat of the moment stuff.

 

Pack it in a box and move on to the next race.

 

Honestly, the touchiness of folks today, it's like some folks live in a lookout tower waiting to press the offensive buzzer.

 

The coverage and content is already woke enough.

Edited by danmills, 21 March 2022 - 08:15.

[Tenmantaylor]

Crofty is so entirely biased towards Lewis it's ridiculous but then again most of the Sky Sports team are. Channel 4 are much more neutral and enjoyable for me.

Nothing will happen to Crofty as he thinks he's untouchable as lead commentator.

LOL I don't think you'll find many Lewis fans who like Crofty either. You sound like a conspiracy theorist talking about Putin.

I love Channel 4s coverage, it is better full stop. But David Coulthard, ex Red Bull driver and brand ambassador owns the company who produces it. Seeing DC asking smirking questions about Mercedes pace to Max was a new low for the C4 RB bias.

[OO7]

Crofty is so entirely biased towards Lewis it's ridiculous but then again most of the Sky Sports team are. Channel 4 are much more neutral and enjoyable for me. 

 

Nothing will happen to Crofty as he thinks he's untouchable as lead commentator. 

Coulthard's commentary in Jeddah last year, was some of the most biased I can recall witnessing.

[se7en_24]

For those of you in the UK, complaining about Croft's horrible, horrible mocking of the Italian race engineer; please refer the incident to OFCOM rather than moaning about it here. 

 

Website: https://www.ofcom.or...radio-a-website

 

Or rather, feel free to moan about it here (and rightly so too) but also report the incident to OFCOM.

Waahhhhh Wahhhhh, OFCOM he was mean to my driver! I'd love to see the reaction if people did complain about that. 

 

Amusingly my I watched the race at my parents and my dad was complaining about how much Crofty and Brundle like Max. 

[Timorous]

Seems like I didn't miss much by having the Edwards / Palmer duo on commentary rather than the Sky audio. I did miss the chats with the pitlane though because the likes of Ant, Karun and Ted can add a bit of insight which was missing from the F1TV default feed. 

[Muppetmad]

Croft is insufferable these days, but his reaction to the Red Bull retirements was no different to his reaction to... well, just about anything that happens on track really.

[jacdaniel]

I mean, it's clear that he really likes Hamilton but that's ok for me.

[Thanatos]

Yeah yesterday he was a little too excited that both RedBulls DNF'd. I also thought to myself, 'shut up Crofty...' while watching.

 

He also tries to outlay any possible scenario with tyre wear issues, pitstops etc where Hamilton could get the lead again when he is behind - almost wishing for it to happen. They need to remind him, he is being heard worldwide, not just Sky glass /  UK viewers.

 

I think the whole SKY F1 setup is actually pretty fantastic, great analytics from recent drivers, preshow, Brundle's grid walk etc with Ted being the jewel in it all. But Crofty...would be happy for Ant or someone to take over.

[Tenmantaylor]

Waahhhhh Wahhhhh, OFCOM he was mean to my driver! I'd love to see the reaction if people did complain about that.

Amusingly my I watched the race at my parents and my dad was complaining about how much Crofty and Brundle like Max.

Brundle and Croft were very neutral in AD21, almost to the point I thought Brundle was backing Maxs divebomb and push of Lewis on L1.

[Calum]

As a non-British viewer, I often find it hard to listen to Crofty, Brundle is much more cool headed and sportsmanlike.

As a British viewer, I often find it hard to listen to Crofty. Brundle is much more cool headed and sportsmanlike.

[as65p]

Sky F1 Germany have a completely different approach. Weird watching the race with their commentary and switching it to the world feed when watching highlights. Shouting is rare.

The lead guy is an idiot, Ralf Schumacher is great as a commentator and Timo Glock somewhere down the middle. Overall still an improvement over the english feed, wich seems to get worse each season.

[TheFish]

My favourite thing about Sky F1 DE are the odd weekends we get Quick Nick doing it.

I don’t mind the main guy, and Ralf is ok, but it feels like far too often they’re not even watching the race. Yesterday when someone was battling with Zhou, the on screen graphics said Zhou, the number was visible on Zhou’s car and Ralf still said Bottas… or even someone else first too.

Not that I’m a huge fan of Sky UK either. Worth noting though that every commentator (even Murray) got plenty of criticism. The only year it didn’t was when it was Brundle and Coulthard doing it together. Crofty is still miles better than Legard.

[Clatter]

It was really disgusting and unprofessional to hear how happy Croft was after both Red Bull DNFed due to technical issues.
What do you think that such broadcaster as Sky F1 should keep him employed?

I think you are just twisting the events to have another whinge about him. Too many people seem to spend the whole race listening intently for any sign of mistake, or inflection on which to jump and make a complaint.

[oli4]

I mean, it's clear that he really likes Hamilton but that's ok for me.

 

If you are broadcasting in the UK that's ok i guess but he's on an international feed so all commentators should be neutral.

[Clatter]

If you are broadcasting in the UK that's ok i guess but he's on an international feed so all commentators should be neutral.

He is hired by the UK broadcaster to provide commentary for the UK market. If F1 then decide to use that for their world feed, they get what they get.

[cjm321190]

I wa smore shocked about the race engineer mocking.

If anyone had done that with chandok then it is racist. Hamilton disagreement is racist.

So what we are sayi g with Woke sky is it is OK to be racist to a white person.

[statman]

The Sky coverage topic is full of complaints about this guy, and for quite a while

[Clatter]

The Sky coverage topic is full of complaints about this guy, and for quite a while

Doesn't matter who is in the job, people will still complain. With the exception of Brundle, who only did one season as the main commentator, everyone who has had the role since Murray came in with great credentials and the complaints flowed in. It's just a bandwagon for some to jump on.

[P123]

Why would a commentator not express excitement about a lead car breaking down.  Listen to Croft when Lewis and Nico collided in Spain- a more famous one.  It is Croft, and he is very shouty (gratingly so), but there was no difference as to how he or really any other commentator would treat a moment like that.  Unless they are to be mournful to give proper respect to fan sensitivities.  As usual, much like the ratings topics, those with the biggest axe to grind tend to be the most one-eyed themselves.

[Burai]

The engineer mocking was stupid and he needs a talking to for that.

 

The excitement at both Red Bull's retiring is just standard Crofty and no different to when the Mercs both got punctures at Silverstone a couple of years back. Cars nailed on for podiums will generate that sort of reaction when they retire in sight of the flag.

[F1 Mike]

Having a specific thread on this is a bit OTT

[chrcol]

I think that this is nonsense and that any broadcaster is going to always get excited when a front running car runs into trouble as long as it is clear no-one is hurt. As a counter example, other posters may wish to remember that David Croft was so excited to think Hamilton had a puncture at the British GP the other year that it was several seconds before he realised it was Bottas. 

 

Pretty much this, Crofty gets really over excited and shouts like crazy at all incidents really.

[skid solo]

Was he really hapy, or was he just shouting in excitement, which he always does when something happens?

Just excited

[Razoola]

His Mocking of the Italian engineer was over the line and uncalled for.

 

His reaction to the Red bulls was fine.

Edited by Razoola, 21 March 2022 - 09:56.

[SilverArrow31]

He did nothing wrong with the Redbulls, it was an exciting moment and he commentated as such...you are mistaking happeness for excitment.

The number of mistakes he made through the race and the italian thing is a whole other matter...

[RPM40]

Add to that, his mocking of Charles's race engineer. He was mimicking the Italian engineer's English accent on Live TV. 

 

Extremely "unprofessional" and letting his own self getting ahead of his job. 

 

Yeah that was a really poor show. It just kept going on too. The engineer wasn't singing, it was just his accent, so Croft making it a singalong was very cringe worthy.

[ConsiderAndGo]

That’s Croft. It’s what he does.

In this case though he did nothing wrong at all, except for being his normal awful commentator self.

[flyboym3]

OP must have been watching something else, doesn't align with the interpretation I have.
He was elevating the incident that's what commentators do, bring it to life.

And ofcom? Jeez the level of whinging because your favourite car didn't finish the race. Comes across as such bitter and bad losers.?

Edited by flyboym3, 21 March 2022 - 11:08.

[geralt]

People say he's excited due to his bias, but actually he's always excited any time something big happens

[cpbell]

This. Watch back Spain 2016 to hear his excitement when Lewis and Nico took each other out. Don’t have any issue with it.

Murray did this whenever Mansell or Damon did something great.

[ForzaGTR]

For those of you in the UK, complaining about Croft's horrible, horrible mocking of the Italian race engineer; please refer the incident to OFCOM rather than moaning about it here. 

 

Website: https://www.ofcom.or...radio-a-website

 

Or rather, feel free to moan about it here (and rightly so too) but also report the incident to OFCOM.

 

For crying out loud, why are some so easily offended and why do so many have to go for the nuclear option of trying to ruin someone's career when they hear something they don't like. Get over it.