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By LewEngBridewell
#294427
Back on track, seems the BBC are actually doing one neat feature this season, an 'inside F1' at 1845 GMT on the BBC Sport site, Friday and Sat of each race weekend. Should pose as a nice warmup for the ensuing action..


I'm busy during each of these broadcasts, but hopefully I can catch it on Catch-up TV or iPlayer or something.
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By synsei
#295095
Well, I have to say that the BBC coverage was really rather good. The pre-race build up was more or less the same as before if somewhat shorter, which is a good thing IMO. The commentary was spot on with lots of info regarding incidents on track. Close attention has been paid to editing so I really didn't miss the few laps that weren't shown, although there was one very minor glitch. When Vettel had his little 'off', Lewis leapt away from him quite quickly. After the edit Vettel was right back on Lewis's tail which threw me for a second or two, otherwise it is a big :thumbup: from me... :D

Jenson drove a superb race and thoroughly deserved the win. I felt very sorry for Maldonado when he spun off into the wall at turn eight on the last lap after slipping a rear wheel onto the grass. He'd been hounding Alonso for a good while and looked likely to pass him on several occasions. The fact that he didn't was frustrating to me as I felt he was using his Kers in the wrong place. Maldonado consistently used up his Kers around the back of the circuit which meant he had little or none to employ following Alonso onto the start/finish straight. Had he left himself just a little to play with alongside the DRS, I felt he would have had the extra speed to take Alonso leading up to turn one.

Hamilton's head seemed to be somewhere else today and once he lost the lead to Jenson running up to the first corner after the start he never looked likely to regain his position. Although I'm not a huge Schumaker fan it was a great shame he was robbed of his fourth place due to gearbox failure. The new boys seemed to be having fun and I was supremely impressed by them all. Raikkonen's curt message to his team about the blue flags made me giggle. He drove a great race and with a little more luck he might well have found himself sparing with the guys up front. The Saubers impressed, as did the Torro Rosso's. Force India were a bit of a disappointment in my eyes.The midfield is far closer this year and with the new boys keen to make an impression, I believe we are in for some excellent entertainment as the season progresses :clap:
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By LewEngBridewell
#295110
Analysis of the BBC coverage, 2012

I am now going to write about this year's coverage from the BBC, in this new era of "highlights" for half the races. I am VERY impressed.

Qualifying

When the TV directory first informed me that all I was going to get was 1 hour and 15 minutes (compared to 2 and a half hours in previous years), I was somewhat apprehensive. Considering there was going to be an assured and lengthy discussion both prior to the "action" and afterwards, I wondered how cut-down the actual qualifying coverage would be.

However, I was pleasantly surprised. The pre-qualifying analysis retained all the quirky banter and in-depth discussions that the BBC coverage has come to be renowned for. None of the characteristic good quality has been lost, despite the reduced time-slot on offer.

What of the actual coverage of the sessions? Well the ONLY parts that were omitted were the 3 to 5 minutes in which very little happens, and there are very few cars on the track. This usually occurs at the beginning of each session. I missed nothing of importance, and got a good, healthy fix of the action. I was feeling much better about remaining with the BBC.

Race

The pre-race analysis was not extensive, but all that was necessary was covered, including some good driver interviews on the grid. The immensely satisfying anchor team comprised of Jake Humphrey, Eddie Jordan and David Coulthard continued to entertain fully.

As for the race, as I predicted in other threads on this forum, very little was actually omitted. Apart from the safety car period, we only lost another VERY few laps in which little happened. The commentary team is now the best it's been in years. Ben Edwards is fantastic, and is excellently supported by David Coulthard. Both provide entertaining, insightful and energetic commentary. There was also an excellent post-race analysis at the end.

So, I have nothing else to say other than that I am thrilled by how the BBC have remained superb in their offering of F1 coverage. The fuss was needless and unwarranted. I am a passionate F1 fan, and I didn't feel like I was missing out at all.

Am I glad I didn't start paying for Sky? Oh yes!! Indeed I am!!
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By synsei
#295115
I have to agree LEB. I was expecting very much what the BBC put out last time they stopped covering the entire season live, which was back in the late 1980's IIRC. During this era the content was not handled well and there was a lot of missed track action. Standards have definitely not slipped however. I didn't miss the race action that was cut from todays broadcast and frankly it bodes well for the rest of the season. 100% agree on the commentary team, they were bloody brilliant IMO and I didn't miss Brundle at all. From reading the posts on the 'F1 on SKY' thread, the BBC coverage seems to have been far better quality than SKY's. I'm much more optimistic having seen todays BBC coverage than I was pre-season...
By andrew
#295126
Well I was pleasantly surprised by what the BBC offered for the race. I didn't bother with the waffle before or after the race but the actual coverage was pretty concise. After the disjointed poor effort that was qualifying I was fully expecting to be left feeling pissed off, but I’m not.

Keeping track of the race was easy and the commentary team are pretty good. Much improved after the twit Brundle has moved on. Coulthard and Edwards make a good team and delivered a very balanced and informed. I’m so glad I don’t have to put up with Brundle who clearly loves the sound of his own voice and I certainly don’t miss his OTT shouting whenever an Englander appeared on the screen.

I actually prefer this streamlined version of their F1 coverage. A lot less unnecessary presenters and pundits. Now if they could send Jake Humpty back to Blue Peter (or whatever kids TV programme he presented) and put Eddie Jordan out of our misery (or at least put him back under the bridge where they found him) their coverage would be damn good.

It’s a pity the qualifying coverage was poor - 75 minute programme yet they still couldn’t show the qualifying session in full? But the race coverage was good. Hopefully they'll keep up the standard throughout the course of the season.
By vaptin
#295135
I saw the BBC's coverage, have to agree with what's been said (apart from the Eddie Jordan bashing). I watched the race live and in full so I can't really comment on how well the highlights dealt with the general flow of the race; Vettel catching up to Lewis for example - was it picked up on how he had closed the gap by those watching just the BBC highlights, or did you just see Vettel close behind Lewis without context of where he was a few laps ago?

Most of what's been cut were just the parts where the cars are following each other. The analysis is still top notch.

Maybe Sky will be slaughtered and pull out? The casual viewer who already subscribed to Sky sports will probably prefer the BBC's highlights, and the hardcore f1 fan will gravitate towards the superior analysis and expertise from the BBC. Especially if they (and I do) start to feel that Sky's coverage really isn't worth it.
By andrew
#295136
Watching the BBC version, I didn't feel like I missed out on anything vital like Vettel hunting down Hamilton.
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By LewEngBridewell
#295141
After viewing the Aussie GP with the BBC, and reading the subsequent comments about Sky in the other thread, I will most certainly not be jumping ship any time in the near future. Not than I can afford to anyway, but this Sky lark doesn't seem to be all it's cracked up to be, from what I've read on the forum.

Three cheers for the BBC! :clap::clap::clap:
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By synsei
#295149
I saw the BBC's coverage, have to agree with what's been said (apart from the Eddie Jordan bashing). I watched the race live and in full so I can't really comment on how well the highlights dealt with the general flow of the race; Vettel catching up to Lewis for example - was it picked up on how he had closed the gap by those watching just the BBC highlights, or did you just see Vettel close behind Lewis without context of where he was a few laps ago?

Most of what's been cut were just the parts where the cars are following each other. The analysis is still top notch.

Maybe Sky will be slaughtered and pull out? The casual viewer who already subscribed to Sky sports will probably prefer the BBC's highlights, and the hardcore f1 fan will gravitate towards the superior analysis and expertise from the BBC. Especially if they (and I do) start to feel that Sky's coverage really isn't worth it.


Unfortunately vaptin it wasn't. Before the cut Vettel was a good few seconds back and then he was right up Lewis's chuff again after the cut, with no contextual explanation of what had occurred in the meantime. But, as I mentioned it really was just a very minor glitch, other than that the show was excellent. My faith has been restored... :thumbup:
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By LewEngBridewell
#295225
I too, was very happy with what the BBC gave us. Ben Edwards is a very excitable chap isn't he? N'aww.


Yeah, he's better than Brundle, he's better than Legard, he's better than the woeful James Allen.... he's the best we've had in the past decade! 8-)

You know what? I don't miss Martin Brundle in the slightest! And I never thought I'd say that. :eek::hehe:
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By myownalias
#295232
I haven't watched the race highlights but the qualifying highlights was pretty poor, too much waffle and not enough on track action, did they really need 15 minutes of waffle before Q?
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By LewEngBridewell
#295238
I haven't watched the race highlights but the qualifying highlights was pretty poor, too much waffle and not enough on track action, did they really need 15 minutes of waffle before Q?


The race coverage was much better. :yes: Furthermore, nothing of importance was omitted from qualifying. I didn't feel I missed out at all.

And when it comes to waffling, from what I've heard, Simon Lazenby doesn't seem very good in the driving seat over at Sky...
Last edited by LewEngBridewell on 19 Mar 12, 10:55, edited 1 time in total.
By vaptin
#295239
I haven't watched the race highlights but the qualifying highlights was pretty poor, too much waffle and not enough on track action, did they really need 15 minutes of waffle before Q?


The optimistic response would be because it was the BBC's first broadcast of the season, I think most fans just tune in to watch qualifying and the race - not follow pre season testing and all the build up, so the BBC just had to set the scene a little. Towards the end of this great season, everyone will be talking about it anyway and they won't need to.
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