Formula 1 2019

[81C]

I watched the race tonight did anyone understand what Blabbering Ben Edwards said through the race It beat me why C4 have a #### who looses it every 10 seconds as a front man on F1

[Mike Storey]

1 hour ago, 81C said:

I watched the race tonight did anyone understand what Blabbering Ben Edwards said through the race It beat me why C4 have a #### who looses it every 10 seconds as a front man on F1

 

Strange comment? I would defy anyone to maintain a coherent commentary in a One Hour distillation (all that C4 are allowed) of a Two Hour race, that contained more changes than a politician's manifesto, every few minutes, this time. Which made it all the more exciting than usual.

 

Are you trying to say that Murray Walker (the ultimate commentator in F1 in the opinion of many, and almost alone in making races unmissable for me for decades), in all his live broadcasts, was more accurate or less excitable????

 

Or are you trying to say that Sky's Martin Brundle's continuous search for the most pithy comment, where I would like a pound for every mention of "straight to the scene of the accident", is more exciting?

 

On French TV, my alternative here, they rarely know what is going on, almost all of the time.  And they still get very excited. Perhaps you want someone soothing and reassuring?

 

Blabbering Ben Edwards is not my favourite, but most of the others would put me in a coma.

Edited July 2, 2019 by Mike Storey

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

9 hours ago, Mike Storey said:

... I would defy anyone to maintain a coherent commentary in a One Hour distillation (all that C4 are allowed) of a Two Hour race, that contained more changes than a politician's manifesto, every few minutes, this time. Which made it all the more exciting than usual.

 

Are you trying to say that Murray Walker (the ultimate commentator in F1 in the opinion of many, and almost alone in making races unmissable for me for decades), in all his live broadcasts, was more accurate or less excitable?...

Murray was a very special case, so bad at keeping it together that it was funny. Personally I don't need excitability, just useful commentary of the 'Bloggs has had the softs fitted for this session' when it was not possible to see it for oneself. However I know that my 'austerity' taste is far from normal, so one just has to put up with the 'oh no he's in the gravel, I think he's beached it!' and other inanities: yes, I can see that the car is in the gravel trap and understand the consequences having seen this happen a few times previously, tell me something useful or put a sock in it.

 

Truth of it is, that anyone who can provide an orderly and correctly informed commentary when the action is really hot, probably has a chair in an F1 team's operations centre on race day; or some equivalent role in other businesses where rapid correct decisions in the face of unpredictable changes are essential.

 

21 hours ago, Hobby said:

...No team is going to cut off their nose to spite their face...

On current evidence, I can suggest a team with form for this behaviour.

[57xx]

On 02/07/2019 at 10:07, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

But that comes well after the natural filtering process in the sport that favours the lean, compact, athletic build. Given equal ability in other respects, the physically smaller and lighter driver has intrinsic advantage.

 

Indeed, that advantage being weight distribution. a 6' driver weighing 76kg will restrict how you can spread weight around the car to get the right balance (assuming you have a car that is under the minimum total weight and need to add ballast in the first place). A small, light driver means you can add more weight where you need it.

 

That advantage has been negated this year, however, by a new rule for 2019 that means the driver plus seat must weigh a total minimum of 80kg by addition of ballast in an FIA mandated position under the seat. Of course, any driver weighing more than the min 80kg is still at a disadvantage.

[Neil]

4 minutes ago, 57xx said:

 

Indeed, that advantage being weight distribution. a 6' driver weighing 76kg will restrict how you can spread weight around the car to get the right balance (assuming you have a car that is under the minimum total weight and need to add ballast in the first place). A small, light driver means you can add more weight where you need it.

 

That advantage has been negated this year, however, by a new rule for 2019 that means the driver plus seat must weigh a total minimum of 80kg by addition of ballast in an FIA mandated position under the seat. Of course, any driver weighing more than the min 80kg is still at a disadvantage.

 

Crikey! I'd need a seat filled with helium if I was to not be at a disadvantge.

[81C]

19 hours ago, Mike Storey said:

 

Strange comment? I would defy anyone to maintain a coherent commentary in a One Hour distillation (all that C4 are allowed) of a Two Hour race, that contained more changes than a politician's manifesto, every few minutes, this time. Which made it all the more exciting than usual.

 

Are you trying to say that Murray Walker (the ultimate commentator in F1 in the opinion of many, and almost alone in making races unmissable for me for decades), in all his live broadcasts, was more accurate or less excitable????

 

Or are you trying to say that Sky's Martin Brundle's continuous search for the most pithy comment, where I would like a pound for every mention of "straight to the scene of the accident", is more exciting?

 

On French TV, my alternative here, they rarely know what is going on, almost all of the time.  And they still get very excited. Perhaps you want someone soothing and reassuring?

 

Blabbering Ben Edwards is not my favourite, but most of the others would put me in a coma.

I'm trying to say nothing except why have a blabbering fool commentating. what is the point when you can't understand the man when he gets into one of his fits.

[Oldddudders]

In my use of illicit online F1 feeds, if there is a UK commentary it is by someone called Crofty, who has Martin Brundle on hand for comment. Crofty is the sort of commentator that I would expect at a UK one-make series festival. Too laddish by far, and simply not giving the gravitas that the world's most expensive race series (we can argue about its other claims, and some of you will) deserves.

 

I'm afraid I hated Murray Walker, whose ridiculous commentaries did F1 a huge disservice. His overuse of 'fantastic!' when nothing much had happened grated week by week. 

 

I haven't watched a golf tournament on tv for years, but always felt Peter Alliss had it right. Annotate what we've just seen. Gently, knowledgeably and thoughtfully. Of course golf happens at a snail's pace, but as others have noted, it's tv, so we have seen what he has. I think Murray W may have started with radio, and no-one ever told him that with tv we could see as much as he could.   

[Andrew P]

Fry leaves McLaren, I hope this doesn't knock the rest of the year for them.

https://www.racefans.net/2019/07/02/mclaren-engineering-director-pat-fry-to-leave-team/

[Mike Storey]

9 hours ago, Andrew P said:

Fry leaves McLaren, I hope this doesn't knock the rest of the year for them.

https://www.racefans.net/2019/07/02/mclaren-engineering-director-pat-fry-to-leave-team/

 

Shouldn't do so. It was always temporary and James Key (ex-TR) is already there and they have had a decent period for handover. Perhaps Williams may now benefit if Fry is tempted for next year?

 

[RJS1977]

23 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

 

 

I haven't watched a golf tournament on tv for years, but always felt Peter Alliss had it right. Annotate what we've just seen. Gently, knowledgeably and thoughtfully. Of course golf happens at a snail's pace, but as others have noted, it's tv, so we have seen what he has. I think Murray W may have started with radio, and no-one ever told him that with tv we could see as much as he could.   

 

No, Murray started with circuit commentary. As far as I know, he never did radio.

[Andrew P]

Apparently, in the early days, before they could afford to send Murry all over the World, he did many Races, from a Studio watching a Television, and bear in mind, that was in Black and White.

[RJS1977]

Even in colour days, he didn't always attend all the F1 races. The BBC covered a wide variety of motor sport back then, and he commentated on most of it. It certainly wasn't unknown for him to commentate on BTCC and F1 on the same weekend.

[37114]

On 04/07/2019 at 20:38, Andrew P said:

Apparently, in the early days, before they could afford to send Murry all over the World, he did many Races, from a Studio watching a Television, and bear in mind, that was in Black and White.

Also not widely known but he had a day job as a senior marketing manager with clients including Mars. Allegedly he was part of the team that came up with the Slogan "A mars a day helps you work, rest and play", not sure if that is an urban myth or there is some truth to it.

Edited July 6, 2019 by 37114

[RJS1977]

5 hours ago, 37114 said:

Also not widely known but he had a day job as a senior marketing manager with clients including Mars. Allegedly he was part of the team that came up with the Slogan "A mars a day helps you work, rest and play", not sure if that is an urban myth or there is some truth to it.

 

I was reading a book about him this afternoon. Apparently he was often asked about this one. The answer is no - he did do advertising for the Mars group - but not that one!

[RJS1977]

On 04/07/2019 at 19:59, RJS1977 said:

 

No, Murray started with circuit commentary. As far as I know, he never did radio.

 

To correct myself, yes, he did do radio! Indeed his first circuit commentary (over a PA system) was to get the attention of the BBC crew who were covering the event for radio.

 

 

However, according to the book I was reading this afternoon, his radio background came in useful when Senna crashed. The BBC decided not to use the Italian coverage as their coverage of Roland Ratzenberger's death the previous day had been somewhat graphic. Instead, they set their own cameras up covering the pit lane and the crowd and transmitted those images, whilst Murray (who had the Italian feed on his monitor) told viewers what they needed to know about what was happening. 

 

 

[njee20]

On 03/07/2019 at 20:04, 81C said:

I'm trying to say nothing except why have a blabbering fool commentating. what is the point when you can't understand the man when he gets into one of his fits.

I’ve never ever had this issue, have you considered the mute button if you’re so offended?

[81C]

4 minutes ago, njee20 said:

I’ve never ever had this issue, have you considered the mute button if you’re so offended?

You must been fluent in blabbering then, no he doesn't offend me I just can't see C4's logic and I normally have volume turned right down because of that Jackass.  

[njee20]

Yep, I must be. No issues whatsoever. Not sure about C4’s “logic”, he’s a bloke who talks about cars driving around, I think he’s fine, much prefer him/DC to the Sky team.

 

Commentating is pretty difficult (I’ve done some), some sports (like golf) lend themselves to long silences, others don’t. I’d enjoy it less if they weren’t talking, even if some of it is things I can see, they miss things I’ve spotted, mix drivers up etc etc. 

[Hobby]

10 hours ago, njee20 said:

some sports (like golf) lend themselves to long silences

 

...and long sweeps of empty sky...

[Kingzance]

Always enjoyed Murray and his classic Murrayisms and he with James Hunt set the trend for what is generally offered today. I am / was not a fan of the eejit EJ and similarly do not feel Ben Collins is really that good. I do like the older Sky team of Cravits, Brundle and whatsisname but don’t like Karon Chandok or JBs attempts. Perhaps it is just my crotchety aged nature but we are all entitled to our opinions. Let’s hope for an entertaining race from Silverstone this weekend, particularly as it could well be the last from that long-serving F1 circuit.

[Hobby]

They recon they'll have something sorted to continue by the end of the week.

 

Personally I found Murray a waste of space and very irritating, Hunt's remarks were much more useful/informative... Trouble is on live commentary for most of the time you have to waffle as nothing is happening but Murray took it to a whole new level, luckily (so far) no-one else has followed that route quite as badly...

[Mike Storey]

7 hours ago, Hobby said:

They recon they'll have something sorted to continue by the end of the week.

 

 

Apparently so:

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formulaone/article-7222471/Silverstone-saved-F1-chiefs-circuit-owners-set-sign-new-deal.html#comments

 

[MikeHemmings]

Silverstone  for another 5 years

 

Mike

[4630]

With a little bit more detail of the deal here;

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/48933290

Edited July 10, 2019 by 4630

[Jonboy]

Apparently Rich Energy have terminated their sponsorship of Haas citing the poor performance in Austria, makes me wonder if they were after an excuse after the recent logo litigation.