BBC F1 coverage
 

I'm really loving the BBC's F1 coverage this season! The way they were laying into Red Bull after the race was fantastic too!

The clip below shows an interview with Christan Horner, and fair play to Eddie Jordan for having the balls to say exactly what people were thinking at the end of this clip! Unfortunately they cut this clip off just before Jake says "we can go over to the No1 Red Bull driver now" - qualtiy stuff! Red Bull team only have themselves to blame for this stuff!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/moto...ne/8808173.stm

Yes, I too thought the coverage was fair and warranted. Too often when it came to F1 in years gone by they would pussy foot around a team principal for fear of upsetting him.

I'm not one for the sensationalist media, so I think the balance they struck was a good one. Was also nice to see Webber won after having his front wing taken away from him.

I agree, although I would prefer it if DC was made to wear Red Bull branded-clothing, as his attempted defense of Christian Horner's decisions was at time laughable. A casual observer may not realise his relationship with Red Bull so may mistakenly think his opinions are impartial when clearly this is not the case.

Agreed, he's never going to slate Red Bull too much being on their payroll!

I remember being surprised when I found out Brundle was DC's manager! All those years with him commentating - they kept that pretty quiet at the time!

The BBC coverage is excellent, although I forgot to use the driver tracker option on the web - was it any good?

I usually go to the Iplayer and watch the forum later on tonight, great coverage

It beats their MotoGP coverage!Charlie Cox doesn't even know what he's on about half the time!

Not really, it was pretty much common knowledge and Murray occasionally made reference to it in his commentary.

Why is DC on Red Bull's payroll? I must have missed that one at some point. I was starting to wonder what connection they had with them as they seem to be the most interviewed time by a very long way.

P.S. The track position option to view on the website was really cool :thumb:

I'm not sure what his offical role within the team is - some sort of advisor I would think, but he's also listed as one of their official test drivers.

He is a consultant and demonstration driver.

Got to hand it too EJ he isnt afraid to ask the questions other people will only think about. :lol1:

Yes, you do have to hand that to EJ....along with poor fashion sense and an irritating tendency to get up DC's nose.....although over the season it does seem to have settled down a lot :)

In general I think the BBC coverage is very good. Its a pity that they can't do it in HD so far, don't know why not.

Eddie Jordan is a bit tabloid at times but the most irritating are that woman who has to keep asking drivers how much they hate their team mates and Legard who despite his basic knowledge which is good, still manages to get up everyones' noses.

Les

Bernie says there isn't the demand for it yet? I think the footage is filmed in HD but it is broadcast in SD. I think he feels that people will watch it no matter what.

Legard is annoying - when he runs out of things to say has anyone noticed he makes this huffing sound?

I also think that Vettel doesn't deserve the grief he is getting from the fans. Red Bull have handled their drivers badly which has spilled over into bad blood between the drivers. Aussies are very competitive in everything but they have a strong belief in fair play. To be treated this way by RB its no wonder MW is peeved. If things get worse I would imagine he'll try to get out of his renewed contract - although I don't think theres much in the way of choice out there. Maybe Renault if they ditch Petrov at the end of the year.

A fired up Webber is a quick Webber... maybe he needs to get "red Mark" before every race :D

Not sure he'll want to jump ship next season.... he's in the best car to get him a championship crown...non of the others can offer the same at the moment... unless they go the way Brawn did.. and suffer towards the latter part of the season... I doubt it though...RB are a proven team and work just as hard as the other larger teams to keep ahead..

I cant see why the guy gets the huff ???
Vettel was on pole and earnt the new wing ......

If Button cant make WC this year I hope Vettel takes it over Hamilton

He earnt it by getting pole? I thought they both had it but Vettel damaged his and as they only had two they took webbers off and gave it to Vettel. No one knows what really went on there. But Vettel has gone down in my estimation with the way he reacts and always blames someone else. Lol he even thought the british crowd was cheering him on sunday - quite the contrary. Every was up clapping and booing as he limped past on lap 1 with a puncture :)

People were saying how he can actually overtake from the back. Tbh he still only got 7th even after a safety car did him a massive favour and hes is by far the fastest car. He literally forced Sutil out of the way to get that 7th place.

If Lewis or Jenson dont take the drivers championship Id like Webber to get it and tbh I think he will probably win it anyway. Then there is a long list of people Id like to see take it well before Vettel.

Simon

BBC coverage is pretty good - however 2 things

1. When are they going to show it on BBC HD?

2. When will they get rid of Eddie Jordan?

Eddie Jordan is entertaining, funny and not afraid to ask pertinent questions. Furthermore he has no team affiliation unlike a certain square jawed Scot. Leave him aone.

Nah, not true I am afraid. They went to the race each with a new wing, Vettel's was damaged in a practice session. About an hour before qualifying they took the wing from Webber's car (that was setup to use it), and put it on Vettel's.

This left Webber not only to have to qualify using the older wing, but to have to guess as to what setup to run as he had no running experience of the older wing at this circuit (Vettel did as he had been running the older wing after breaking his).

This left Webber very :mad: - and justifiably so!

If you were in the team on what is reputed to be on an equal footing and your team mate damaged his new wing, how would you feel if they gave your new wing to him, regardless who was on the pole? Webber was next to him anyway.

In the event he was not in second position for long after the lights went out was he. He passed Vettel fairly and he did not push him off the track as the Germans were whining about! He drove an outstanding race, with the old wing, and deserved his win. He is a very good driver too.

Vettel seems to be turning into a bit of a spoilt kid to go with all the annoying "look at me" stuff when he has some success. He is also a very good driver of course.

Les

What is it to do with Ecclestone anyway? Does it affect the cash that he gets from the BBC or something?

If they are filming it in HD then it can be done and I cannot see a reason for not transmitting it like that.

Les

He is waiting for more people to be able to receive the HD feed and then it will go on pay per view. He wants someone to pay the premium for the HD feed - once its decided who will pay - either the broadcaster of us, then we will see HD feed.

Pretty much everyone on the racing line/ the left side of the track got a poor start. Martin Brundle remarked that the drity side that Mark was on was the better side to be on for traction. Vettel moved over hard to block of Webber and it would not surprise me if they both panicked a bit and thought they were going to touch again - hence Hamilton almost running into the back of Webber.

I don't dislike any driver. I do think that Red Bull show that they are effectively a young-ish team or a team not so used to having good proper drivers and a good proper car. The McLaren team are well used to having good cars and 2 good drivers and have experience in how to handle them and the media. It seems every weekend Red Bull and Christian Horner manage to put their foot in it one way or the other.

I also wonder if it was deliberate (like Brundle implied) that Red Bull put someone else on the podium and not who Webber asked for.

Im sure someone (Funkii Munkii possibly) said the the Aussie GP was broadcast in HD in Oz. Its a shame its taking so long with F1 suppoed to be the pinnacle of technology.

Simon

Yep, 2007 went swimmingly ;) And let's not mention Prost and Senna :D

A few seasons over the course of a 40 year history, not bad

Are you saying that we might have to pay for a BBC programme or have I misunderstood you. I hope I have anyway.

I thought that Vettel moved over far too late for a blocking move, looked a bit close to me anyway! you may well be right in the way that Red Bull handle the drivers. Do the Team's sponsors favour Vettel by any chance? I though Red Bull was owned by an Austrian in fact in cahoots with a Thai national.

If it was deliberate that they put a different bloke on the podium with Webber to the one he wanted there, that was an unpleasant trick as well.

All these politics do nothing but hold back the real effort-as ever!

Les

LOL, but the fact they have been in that position before gives them insight in how to deal (badly or otherwise) with drivers. I guess its just that before this year Seb was the up and coming star to rival Hamilton and Mark was the journyman making up the number until he got bored and becomes a pundit for Aus TV. Now it appears that the RB car is very good and that both drivers can compete against each other - rather than having an iffy car that a good driver can get the best out of like Alonso (until his head goes) and a iffy driver that has his ablity shown up in an iffy car - Massa.

Leslie - The BBC could never ask for a premium for F1 in HD. They either give Bernie more money or Bernie waits until its contracts time and puts F1 on pay per view. I don't doubt for a second that if Bernie could make more money by making F1 PPV rather than just flogging it to broadcasters he would. There was F1TV a while ago but Bernie dumped it. That would have been ideal to make F1 HD a PPV event.

I know, I was just being facetious :D :D

Yes that is a perfect description of the situation and it is very very similar to the Mansell/Piquet saga of 1986. Williams hired Mansell as their second driver (not number 2 btw) and Piquet never expected for one minute that he was going to be getting challenged by his team mate, but challanged he was and then some.

As the season wore on Piquet became increasingly annoyed as Mansell got faster and faster and started taking points and wins away from him. The relationship became more fractious as Piquet started to try and use underhand tactics within the team something Mansell did not take kindly to. The in fighting and Williams allowing them to race to the end of the season cost them dear as in Adelaide Prost pipped both of them to the world title in a much inferior car.

A sign of things to come may be. Come on Lewis :D

Thanks for the explanation. Well thats a worry, I would object to having to pay extra to watch F1. I wonder if he would catch a cold if he tried it on. Its bad enough paying all the fees that we do already as far as I am concerned. The idea of him holding us all to ransom to make more cash out of us annoys me considerably. Is he actively preventing the BBC from showing it in HD at the moment?

Les