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[Jabberwocky]

I was going to post this in the last gp thread but with all the excitement I kinda missed it.

Anyway I was watching a pre race interview on Sky where the "expert" pundit Bruno Senna was interviewing Bottas with David Croft I think it was. I'm the middle of the interview Bruno said something like "you are doing X y which is good for your career you should also do z" it struck me as a bit condescending in the way it was put and maybe a bit hypocritical judging by how Bruno ' s Stella career has been.

Then later in Brundle kept saying that corner should easily be flat and the driver should do X instead of y. Yes MB has a lot of experience in an F1 car but how relevant is his knowledge in racing a modern F1 car.

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[geetface9]

I'd dismiss both of them myself

[LRW]

.....where the "expert" pundit Bruno Senna .....

That did make me chuckle.

With regards to Brundle. Ok, he may not have raced modern cars, but he has definitely driven them, and the basics of racing, and the lines to take etc, couldn't have changed much from his day could they? - so I would say he has more authority than most to comment.

[stonemonkey]

I'm not too keen on what the move to sky has done to most of the team, it seems like they're paid by the word or something now. Ted was always a twat though.

[Jabberwocky]

I like teds notebook it entertaince me. Especially now they have a new cameraman I don't feel motion sick after every episode.

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[Jabberwocky]

Hill and Herbert are a good double act

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[Hammer278]

I always think Brundle speaks the most sense during races, and when discussing racing as well.

[LRW]

I actually like all the Sky Team. I even tollerate Simon Lazenby.

I like TEDs notebook. He says some silly things sometimes - but generally it has a relaxed feel, and he usually gives out some useful info or stories he has dug up.

And I didn't at first, but I really like crofty as a commentator too. Although he does dumb it down for his #askcrofty feature. He seems to pick out tweets from people that seem to have never watched F1 before.....

[LewEngBridewell]

I thought I'd really miss Brundle's commentary when he jumped ship from the BBC to Sky. However, I find that Ben Edwards and David Coulthard have excellent chemistry, and their commentary is really entertaining to listen to.

I've never really seen or watched Senna in a pundit role.

[What's Burning?]

NBCSports gives us,
Leigh Diffey
Steve Matchett
David Hobbs
Will Buxton (doesn't have a Wiki page) But has a very good blog as RC will agree.

Leigh is the general guy about town, he's pretty knowledgeable as far as racing is concerned but very green when it comes to F1.
Steve is as much an eagle eye about tech as anyone I've ever seen. He immediately spotted the issue on Lewis' car when the right front caliper exploded and he's lightning quick picking out nuances that I don't even hear you guys mention that your commentators even notice. Really impressive guy and I'm glad we've got him even though he's a Ferrari shill having worked as a mechanic with Benetton and then the Scuderia.
David Hobbs; Is the old timer British racer and drove in the late 60s and early 70s', he's a bit biased and tends to fit right in with the Jenson Button/McLaren having worked for them back in the day, but he recognizes or acknowledges talent when it hits him in the face. He was also one of the character voices in the Cars movie.
Will, well will cried on camera in a Ferrari special documentary early in the year. But he's like a kid in a candy store on the grid doing his interviews and has real insight and a bead on the big picture of the sport. He should be running the show instead of Bernie IMO.

[Jabberwocky]

Steve Matchett's books are always a good read.

I had never really thought about people not knowing what each role the TV crew make up.

On Sky there is more crew than drivers it seems

Damon Hill, and Johnny Herbert just seem to stand around chatting with the conversation being steered by Simon Lazenby (is he related to james bond?) To be fair they are quite funny at times. I remember one of their convos went

Hill "I think it was racing incident"
Herbert "I think you are wrong and driver x is to blame!"
Hill "Well that is why I am a World Champion"
Herbert stands mouth flapping like a fish.

David Croft (Lofty Crofty in Planes) and Martin Brundle are the main race commentators that get interrupted by Ted Kravitz by what is going on in the pit lane.

Brundle normally does the grid walk/interviews just before the race.

There is also Ant Davidson (ex Super Aguri driver) who does the Sky Pad, which reviews incidents on the track and then replays them slow time afterwards explaining what is going on.

Bruno Senna seems to be Ant Davidsons stand in when he is doing other things like Le Mans etc.

Natalie Pinkman does the driver interviews when they crash out or break down. She also seem to get on the drivers parade lorry where she does some interview.

There is also the F1 Show that like a chat show hosted by Kravitz and Pinkman they seem to like chatting to Herbert, a young/test/GP2 driver and Graeme Lowdon. However some times that will have someone like Max Mosley or Moss on the show.

[racechick]

I like Johnny Herbet best and I like Suzi Perry, I didn't think I would but I do. I like Eddie,cos he just comes out with stuff . Not keen on Brundle, don't like Kravitz. Coulthard's grown on me a bit..

Yes WB, Will the journo is always a good read.

[Frontrunner]

NBCSports gives us,
Leigh Diffey
Steve Matchett
David Hobbs
Will Buxton (doesn't have a Wiki page) But has a very good blog as RC will agree.

Leigh is the general guy about town, he's pretty knowledgeable as far as racing is concerned but very green when it comes to F1.

I remember when Leigh Diffey was calling V8 supercars back in Aus, his was a pretty good lead commentator, much better than the ones we had to put with since he's been in the US doing Grand Am and other racing series.

As for the sky team, I think they got a pretty good team, Crofty is a good lead Commentator, I think the lead commentor is the most important thing to get right IMO. Still makes mistakes but nothing real bad. If you got a average lead then it ruins the whole race coverage for me, the Jonathan Legard years at the BBC were terrible, his voice irritated me but worst of all was the big mistakes on a regular basis and asking Brundle stupid questions during the race.
Also Natalie Pinkham is probably the only person in the f1 media that can get a decent interview out of Hamilton when he's had a crappy session.

[Hammer278]

I remember when Leigh Diffey was calling V8 supercars back in Aus, his was a pretty good lead commentator, much better than the ones we had to put with since he's been in the US doing Grand Am and other racing series.

As for the sky team, I think they got a pretty good team, Crofty is a good lead Commentator, I think the lead commentor is the most important thing to get right IMO. Still makes mistakes but nothing real bad. If you got a average lead then it ruins the whole race coverage for me, the Jonathan Legard years at the BBC were terrible, his voice irritated me but worst of all was the big mistakes on a regular basis and asking Brundle stupid questions during the race.
Also Natalie Pinkham is probably the only person in the f1 media that can get a decent interview out of Hamilton when he's had a crappy session.

Which one was that, the Monaco qualifying in 2011?

Anyone ever had this clown called Steve Slater? He used to commentate on Star Sports coverage since I started watching F1 (1998) until about 2 years back and now dissapeared into thin air like Whitmarsh. He was just horrific and terribly biased towards Ferrari the whole time. Which is probably why I think of the Brundle/Crofty team as absolutely perfect. Kravitz has an annoying "I know it all" tone but he only pops in once in a while and I can block that out.

[geetface9]

NBCSports gives us,
Leigh Diffey
Steve Matchett
David Hobbs
Will Buxton (doesn't have a Wiki page) But has a very good blog as RC will agree.

Leigh is the general guy about town, he's pretty knowledgeable as far as racing is concerned but very green when it comes to F1.

I remember when Leigh Diffey was calling V8 supercars back in Aus, his was a pretty good lead commentator, much better than the ones we had to put with since he's been in the US doing Grand Am and other racing series.

Agreed, I can't stand it when I hear somebody with a nascar sounding voice (if that's even a thing lol) doing the commentating on the american channels