16 replies to this topic

[doohanOK]

I don't know what you guys think, but I reckon James Allen has really been superb this year for ITV. His thoughts on strategy at Imola and Silverstone were way ahead of Murray & Martin, but do you think eventually he'll be up in the commentary box, or still a pit reporter?

regards,
doohanOK.

[Spinoza]

He got the team strategies badly wrong at Imola - it didn't occur to him that Barrichello was just slow. I don't know how good he is - he'd certainly be better than Murray but I just hope the whole thing doesn't turn into the "Button Show" - it would be a disaster, and at the moment it looks like it's heading that way. James Allen has one big virtue - he's more objective than the others, but that doesn't mean his judgement is correct. The jury's out.

[RaggedEdge]

James Allen is quite pro-Schumi, that is clear. He is still OK. Out of ITV guys, I actually like most Tony Jardine - he is better than Allen.

He does not get the strategies very right, for example, in the beginning he said that the teams in Silverstone will only do two stoppers, which was quite incorrect.

[Alfisti]

I'm with DoohanOk... i like him.. he's been great.

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[The Swerve]

James Allen is very knowledgable and one of the best things about the ITV coverage.

[JayWay]

James Allen is the best...yes

[Mary]

Living in New York City, I've never seen ITV, but I remember James Allen from his years at ESPN and I always enjoyed his, sometimes goofy, reports. Right before he left for ITV, he did a 1/2 hour show where he drove a PacWest Champcar. He was hysterically funny!

The only thing Fox does better than ESPN for F1 broadcasts is having a 1/2 pre-game show. I was always sorry the ESPN never gave Allen a 1/2 hour show. Maybe if they had, they'd still be showing the races.

Mary

[Horse]

James is great ... so are M & M. Poor old whats-her-name is pretty much useless -- other than being Johnny Herbert' personal interviewer.

[doohanOK]

I know who Tony Jardine is, but what does he do for ITV? Wasn't he a pit reporter at some stage? Here in Australia, he ain't on our telecasts, and we get the ITV feed.

regards,
doohanOK.

[RaggedEdge]

doohanOK,

Tony Jardine is part of the ITV's pre- and post-race analytical team.

He used to be part of McLaren's pit crew (he has some embarrassing memories about screwing Niki Lauda's pit stop when he was the "lollipop man").

I like his approach.

Horse,

You are referring to Louise Goodman who is bad.

[StuffedBeaver]

I reckon James is prettty good addition to the team, I enjoy his projections and it does add excitement.

I'm not too suprisewd he gets it wrong sometimes with all the secrecy from the teams.

Tony Jardine He used to manage a pit crew, I don't know which one but he said he screwed up a stop by Piquet once.

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The Beav

[doohanOK]

I believe Tony Jardine, Murray Walker, Martin Brundle, James Allen, etc, would be much better than Darrell Eastlake and Alan Jones....

regards,
doohanOK.

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(British GP review of Channel 9's telecast, up now in the "review of race telecasts" section....)

[FredF1]

James Allen is ok, neither better or worse than the others. I think Louise Goodman lost it somewhere along the way. Herself and Allen had equal billing in ITV's first season but now she's got the "And why did you exit the race?" graveyard. ITV must think interviewing disappointed drivers needs the 'sympathetic woman' touch. Didn't Tony Jardine do PR work for either BP or Shell? I'm sure I have it in 'Grand Prix People' by Gerald Donaldson. I thought the pit crew stuff was of a 'stand-in' variety.

[MattC]

"James Allen quite good" shock

You guys are joking, aren't you?

Just about everybody with whom I have watched ITV's coverage is in agreement that he is extremely irritating - even more irrritating than Murray! (I'm a Murray fan, but he does seem to annoy everyone else!)

Perhaps I'm missing something. Perhaps he really know lots about F1. Perhaps he makes informed and intelligent comment. Perhaps he doesn't think that the sun shines out of Braun's fuel strategies and Schuey's driving. Perhaps...

[BuzzingHornet]

Yeah he's really annoying, and so pro-Ferrari it hurts! He makes excuses for them whenever its not going their way... could it be because he wrote Michael Schumacher's official biography? Surely not. I wonder who will write the sequel though..?

[BrundleBud]

RaggedEdge/StuffedBeaver: I think it was Brabham that Jardine used to be with (Lauda/Piquet) when Bernie ran the team.

[dingledell]

James Allen is one of the most biased aspects of ITV. He's sooooooo in love with Ferrari that they have to provide new overalls after he's w**ked off all over the Ferrari pits. He's used nearly every superlative in the dictionary describing Brawn/Schumacher.

On the other hand, if Louise was doing the commentary on pit stops, she wouldn't even be able to fill in for the 10 seconds or so it takes.

I also think that Allen tries too hard to be one of the lads - all the 'listen to this, guys' stuff just doesn't cut it with me.

Jardine makes a particularly good 'pundit' - the less said about Rosenthal the better (at least he's learned how to undo his top button).

Brundle I think can be a little over-critical of his ex colleagues. At least with James Hunt he'd won the World championship, so had the 'been there, done that' kudos that Brundle will never achieve.

Sorry, that turned into a rant!