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[Denthúl]

It would be great if Murray Walker was still a commentator. Or at least have them put another ex-F1 driver alongside Brundle. That way there's less sillyness from Allen.

Murray Walker would be fine to have as a commentator now. His mistakes would not really affect how you watch the programme too much. In the old days, in my view anyway, you needed a commentator who could give you information accurately and in detail because there was nothing like the captions etc. that we've enjoyed over the last lot of years. That's one reason why I like Brundle and, to be fair, he did well with Walker. He was the colour commentator, if you like, and Brundle gave good analysis to counter it.

Exactly. But even with all his mistakes, I found that Murray Walker made GPs even more exciting. You know, the way he'd get all worked up by events on track, even exaggerating them a little, which made it that much better to watch. James Allen tries to do the same thing, but his enthusiasm sounds forced, as if he doesn't really have a great passion for Formula 1 like good old Murray did.

[Jensonb]

I should point out, I'd grown tired of ITV's coverage even before it became the Lewis Hamilton show. Mainly due to Allen and the irrelevance of most of the parts of the coverage not involving Martin Brundle.

I agree with the comments about Hamilton, and before him Button and Coulthard. It's so cringe worthy. That time Rider was interviewing Hamilton, you could see in his eyes he was star-gazed at speaking to Britain's new blue-eyed boy. He didn't get that excited when he was speaking to Senna for God's sake, only the most charismatic and greatest Formula One driver ever! The amount of times you see Hamilton's father on the television is also annoying. Nobody cares. He knows nothing about the sport. We want drivers, engineers, decent pundits, even the fans' views. Blundell does alright, despite his "blundellisms" and, like Brundle, has a passion for good, old-fashioned racing. The only thing is the levels of pre-qualifying and pre-race discussion are pathetic and the post-qualifying and post-race discussion is even more inept. I agree with Jensonb: ITV's coverage has sucked for years. Lose the bias, get a proper studio, give us the post-qualifying and post-race press conferences, give us some proper Grand Prix build-ups and reaction. In fact, just give Formula One to the BBC. They could do no worse and we'd have no highly annoying breaks!

Yep, their futile attempts to make any given season about the Brits, even when it was just DC and JB in cars which were hardly title contenders, was equally tiresome.

[7UpJordan]

After watching the FA Cup Replay between Middlesboring and Sheffied United tonight on BBC's Match of the Day, I feel more grateful than ever that James Allen isn't as big a prat as the commentators on the BBC were, constantly brown-nosing Middlesboring and pronouncing players' names wrong and just being slappers.

[8-ball]

Am I the only one in this forum that likes James Allen! I think he a good commentator and does a good job. Comparing him to Murray Walker is like comparing Gary Lineker to Pele; it's unfair. Murray is legend and no one will be as good as he was but James Allen is the best we got now. If you don't like the coverage on ITV its the producer's fault not the commentators

[Jensonb]

Blundell was a good commentator. And Hill. There's plenty of people better than Allen who aren't Murray

[7UpJordan]

Blundell was a good commentator. And Hill. There's plenty of people better than Allen who aren't Murray

I remember even Derek Warwick commentated at Canada 1998 with Murray and he kept calling Fisichella "Fish-ichella". Sounds a bit "fishy" Derek...

[Jensonb]

Blundell was a good commentator. And Hill. There's plenty of people better than Allen who aren't Murray

I remember even Derek Warwick commentated at Canada 1998 with Murray and he kept calling Fisichella "Fish-ichella". Sounds a bit "fishy" Derek...

If memory serves, it took Martin and James about 9 rounds to decide how to pronounce "Kubica"

[7UpJordan]

Blundell was a good commentator. And Hill. There's plenty of people better than Allen who aren't Murray

I remember even Derek Warwick commentated at Canada 1998 with Murray and he kept calling Fisichella "Fish-ichella". Sounds a bit "fishy" Derek...

If memory serves, it took Martin and James about 9 rounds to decide how to pronounce "Kubica"

Oh no, I remember that last year at Melbourne, still it's not as bad as the inept BBC Match of the Day commentators who last night kept pronouncing Matt Kilgallon's name as "Kilganon". Maybe James Allen should commentate on Match of the Day and see if he's any better/worse.

[woody2goody]

Blundell was a good commentator. And Hill. There's plenty of people better than Allen who aren't Murray

l liked Damon Hill's commentary. His enthusiasm was infectious and he genuinely appreciated the events on the track. Anthony Davidson at Hungary '06 was fun as he was so excited when Jenson won the race

Also I remember in '05 when BAR got banned for 2 GPs, Jenson commentated on those races and he was good to listen to.

James Allen is a good writer about F1 (reading his book on Schumi - excellent) but I'm sure Brundle could do the commentary with Damon.

Ben Edwards who does the touring cars and the F1 DVDs is a good commentator and genuinely is excited about the racing he sees, and makes some good points. He's a great contender to replace Allen.

[7UpJordan]

Ben Edwards who does the touring cars and the F1 DVDs is a good commentator and genuinely is excited about the racing he sees, and makes some good points. He's a great contender to replace Allen.

He also does A1GP commentary with John Watson (who looks older than Murray Walker already!). Infact they both used to do the F1 commentary when it used to be on Eurosport as well.

[woody2goody]

Ben Edwards who does the touring cars and the F1 DVDs is a good commentator and genuinely is excited about the racing he sees, and makes some good points. He's a great contender to replace Allen.

He also does A1GP commentary with John Watson (who looks older than Murray Walker already!). Infact they both used to do the F1 commentary when it used to be on Eurosport as well.

Yeah I used to like John Watson and Charlie Cox on the BBC BTCC coverage. I watched a couple of 1996 GPs on youtube with the Eurosport commentary and they (Ben and John) covered F1 well. Their A1GP commentary is decent, Ben Edwards has even done NASCAR commentary correct me if I'm wrong?

[racingstu]

I actually like James Allen, though I do find his criticisms hilariusly true - but I don't find him unbearable.

Tony Jardine is much missed though - he was the steady wise head to guide the rest of us through the opening and closing. I don't know what will happen in a (terrifyinh) post-Brundle era; though Davidson and Button proved excellent commentators in their one-race stints. Better than crazy ol' Damon Hill. Who do you suppose they'll have to stand in at Hungary this year?

[Denthúl]

They'll need someone to stand in again at Hungary? Why's that?

And yeah, I agree. Once Brundle is gone, there's potential for things to go horribly wrong. Of course, there are some drivers who may have retired by then that would make good commentators. I think...

[racingstu]

I only meant that they always have someone stand in for Martin in Hungary as he always disappear as it's so bloody boring - looking back the last three years, Brundle was replaced by Damon Hill, Anthony Davidson and Mark Blundell.

Mark is terrible, please don't bring him back!

[7UpJordan]

I only meant that they always have someone stand in for Martin in Hungary as he always disappear as it's so bloody boring - looking back the last three years, Brundle was replaced by Damon Hill, Anthony Davidson and Mark Blundell.

Mark is terrible, please don't bring him back!

I'm sure Davidson had a fun time commentating the race in 2006. :p

Brundle used to disappear for 1 race around Montreal because he was racing at Le Mans.