To wish that the F1 coverage would go back to the way it was?

[Sparklingbrook]

Martin Brundle is on Sky, no David Coulthard. Then Damon Hill sometimes appears.

It's just not the same is it? Highlights on BBC1 this afternoon when you know the result anyway.

F1 has always been about money, don't want to out myself but close family member was a driver. He was ousted from his drive because a talentless rich kid offered the team cash, sadly that's still the case in the middle and lower ranked teams. Not remotely surprised the Poison Dwarf was happy to grab the Murdoch Millions.
I think the real test of the rival coverage will be when both BBC and Sky show the same live race. I will watch BBC as Damon Hill is truly abysmal as a commentator/talking head, but may channel hop a couple of times to compare.
Brundle is sometimes really off the ball, fails to notice stuff which we've spotted from the information line at the bottom of the screen for several laps.

That's really quite depressing, fuss.

It's such an expensive game to get into in the first place, without people buying their way into teams.

It's pretty obvious seats are being bought by the standard of some of the lower ranking teams. But, this is old news, blue flags were brought in 30 years ago due to appalling back markers!

I'm clearly very naive

To be fair, last time I had any interest in F1 was when James Hunt was around (and I was about 5!). My more recent interest started thanks to ds, who has motorsport ambitions (although not in F1).

I suppose thinking about it, there must a huge pool of talent in the less high-profile motorsports that they could draw from if they wanted, so it stands to reason that if there are less than great drivers, that they must have bought their way in.

www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/mar/16/pastor-maldonado-f1-money-drivers

an interesting article about "pay" drivers
but remember Nicki Lauda started as one too

Fernando Alonso could legitimately be considered a pay driver, as the huge amount of Santander sponsorship Ferrari now enjoy follows him around.

The BBC highlight shows so far have been really good, I think. I am not enjoying the pre and post race stuff on Sky and have taken to watching practice with the sound on mute, listening to James and Jaime on 5live because I am mightily sick of Brundle everywhere.

Sky have missed a trick in that they should be using Georgie as presenter instead of Simon Lazenby, she knows a lot more about the sport, and deserves better than the utterly redundant Skypad, as does Ant. This may improve come the Euro races when Lazenby, Hill etc will be in the Sky studio rather than the paddock, but I still think Georgie and Ant are being short changed. However, I suspect Georgie will not get the chance whilst Brundle is seen as the key part of the lineup.

Damon Hill will probably get better as he relaxes a bit - he's never been the most natural TV person, and I think he needs someone else to bounce off.

I dunno, I would consider a pay driver as someone that is primarily there because of sponsorship- Alonso has proven himself to be a good driver and I don't think Ferrari are short of a few bob so they probably didn't worry too much about whether he came with a sponsor or not.

I hate the fact that F1 like many other sporting events has gone to sky so you have to pay to watch it, getting the highlights is not the same at all you often hear the results before you get to see qualifying or the race. Its only in the UK that this happens

the BBC coverage last year was excellent the team worked well together and were all really knowledgeable I really miss that and the uninterrupted programme which was great after ITV

I managed to watch the race live by searching on google for free live streaming and found a really good site for it

I wasn't sure of which site to use so I didn't do that. I'm not very good at that kind of stuff!

Im not either glitter but I really wanted to watch the race live the best thing was that there was no need to download anything so no risk of loads of crap on the computer

Can you send me the link! I'm terrified of downloading something dodgy!

That's interesting, about pay drivers.

I suppose one could argue that you wouldn't get masses of sponsorship if you weren't talented, which doesn't seem as bad as the situation fuss describes. It's still a shame, though.

I'm surprisingly enjoying the highlights on the Beeb. Even when they ran the whole race, we would Sky+ it and watch it later. We would still have to avoid the news to not find out who won it prematurely. We would still fast forward through the boring bits, which they do for us now anyway. The only real differences that I see is there are less cool pre-race bits and this Ben Edwards and the other guy in the pits. I miss Brundel and Kravitz. Thoroughly enjoyed the race on Sunday!

I didn't realise there were so many F1 fans on MN, there are never any threads about it. Is there a sport forum that I've accidentally blocked?

Yes there are a few of us EauRouge. i am a fan but by no means understand it all. I like the spectacle of it.

I did think someone would say the words 'boring' and 'procession' when I started the thread.

I hate the sky coverage and miss BBC !! And sometimes my Dad works Sunday and apparently there is no late repeat/highlights on BBC like they used to. He only really likes F1 so there is no justification for him getting sky sports for it so he mardy about it too.

I haven't watched F1 in years. I got spoilt for commentators once I switched to John Watson and Alaard Kalf (sp?) on Eurosport many, many years ago. I thought they were fantastic. I didn't like the adverts though, so used to switch to BBC during them.

DS lives away from home and has Sky,which we don't. He has linked our address in to enable DH to watch F1. Apparently Sky subscribers can use 2 different addresses. So,if you know anyone with this provision,it might be worth asking them if they'll share it.

BooMagoo that is an interesting point will look into for Dad

I totally agree..... I am livid about funding Murdochs dirty empire, but, hey , its a short life, and I love my F1, so shamelessly forgot all my morals and subscribed...grrr... think the coverage is way too american..the Beeb is class - I watch the live Sky, then the Beeb highlights. that way I get Brundle commentary (and Ted who is ace !), plus lovely Jake on the beeb... awesome race on Sunday btw

I've been a fan for years - had fun camping at 4 months pregnant (a few years back now) in a field full of petrol heads partying the night away pre British GP ... used my ear plugs for that, not the actual race.

I miss Louise's (Goodman) interviews, now she always seemed so knowledgable and had wicked bangles
.

I camped out for Silverstone while pregnant too!

The pay-for-your-drive thing has been going on since at least the 1960's, it's one of the reasons teams have two drivers, one who might actually be able to drive and another whose uncle is chief executive of the main sponsor... only the top teams can afford to have two real talents.

EauRouge when I saw your NN on another thread I wondered if it was in honour of the Spa racetrack- I guess it is then :)

Yes it is :) I didn't know whether anyone would ever get it.

I've never been to Silvo for the F1. I've been to Spa though, it was incredible. I'm thinking about selling one of the DDs so I can go again.

I think of Spa every time I see Eaurouge too.
It's the only race I've been to, in 2005. Kimi won