F1 - 2018 Australian Grand Prix

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted By: Reggaemon
Granted that the coverage was bad but was it just my imagination or was the
actual broadcast image better than before?


I noticed the same thing both on TV and streaming.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

I needed a reason to stop watching F1 in its current form with it's current dominant drivers (neither who I can stand) and teams, and this is finally it. I haven't enjoyed the hybrid turbo V6 era at all but at least the broadcasts were entertaining. Now it doesn't even have that. I'll catch the race results and the highlights online afterward but that's all the attention I'll give it until McLaren or Williams or even Hass starts running up front.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
I love the Sky broadcast but when ESPN cuts to commercials we don't get "while you were away" when they return.

We get a shrunk race screen and commercials. There's no while you were away when we get back, either, so that's just the way Sky does things, I suppose. I think we get some "extra" commercials in Canada that Sky doesn't factor in, since we get dumped mid-sentence, unless that's just TSN jumping the gun.

Bill: I always avoid most preshows, except Martin's grid walk. What do you dislike about Martin? Personally, I find him quite good. I'd rather he be paired with Edwards, who used to do BBC, instead of Crofty. On the old feed we used to get, they had Coulthard, and I found I prefer Brundle. Well, he's been doing it long enough.

As for the racing in general, well, I don't have a lot of problem with their reasoning behind individual rules and policies. However, so many of them have, in total, conspired against the racing. I understand complex bodywork. It doesn't help close racing, though. I understand the desire to enhance reliability and have fewer engines per season. But, when everyone has to turn their engines down instead of passing at the end, that doesn't help close racing. Something has to give.

It's amazing that they can go through fewer engines during one season than they could one weekend years ago, and make all this power. However, someone racing to the end to pass, with the risk of a blown engine or all the points, is a better spectacle.

 

[Brad_C]

Sky coverage has no ads. Anything you are seeing is inserted by your local provider.

I don't mind Martin. He has sufficient racing experience to not make stupid comments and give a fairly balanced perspective.

 

[Garak]

Thanks. We get the action non-stop, so I was wagering Sky was non-stop or did what we do here, with a split screen. I'm a pretty big Martin fan. He and Johnny Herbert were the only ones with any grounding this weekend with the Mercedes and Red Bull fan clubs occupying the rest of the broadcast team.

 

[newbe46]

The race was a little dry without the grid girls to begin with, then the lack of overtaking. Nothing much else to look for other than Rachel Brookes from Sky.

 

[Garak]

I really don't think much of the grid girls. I like good looking women as much as the next guy, but there's no shortage of them on TV, and I don't watch a lot of the pre-race stuff (aside from Martin Brundle's grid walk), since it's mostly cheerleading for the usual suspects. Unless Bernie's been around and lobbed a serious hand grenade, I'm not terribly interested. Besides, they tend to look, at least in some locales, like Robert Palmer video girl extras.

No overtaking at this track is a given. It's only second behind Monaco in that regard, if I recall correctly. I give it a free pass because for the first race of the season, I'm too excited checking everything else out to worry about a bunch of overtaking. Additionally, I was hoping very strongly for a lack of overtaking in the last number of laps. I only wished Hamilton's failed pass was a little more heavy on the failure side.

 

[gofast182]

I'll give ESPN the benefit of the doubt for this race because they recognized the issues. Simplest way to solve it is for the Sky producer to give a behind-the-scenes nod to the commentators to backtrack for the US audience coming out of commercial break.

Gosh I missed Will Buxton's grid walk compared to the slow, low energy, half grid walk by Brundle.

I was so happy for Haas and MAG until disaster struck. I really hope to see them back up in those positions again.

McLaren is already getting a bit cocky even though they had some help getting that result. Personally, I don't think their chassis is God's gift... as they might have you believe.

Renault was solid and I expect good things from them this year.

Shame about Toro Rosso. One MGU-H issue and one tire issue kept us from seeing what either car could really do.

Mercedes & Ferrari, nothing new to say about them.

 

[Garak]

I think a couple things have conspired against Martin's grid walks, in comparison to the past. If I recall correctly, he was given a little more time to mill about before pit lane opening. Now, things are a bit compressed. Also, Martin seems to have slowed down a bit since his heart attack at the 2016 Monaco GP.

 

[Brad_C]

I think the bigger issue with Martin is having been on the other side of the fence for quite some years, he knows when to stay out of a drivers face and not push the point.

On the few unfortunate occasions I've seen Will Buxton, I've actually had to mute the TV.

Horses for courses. I much prefer the quiet, understated approach.

 

[billt460]

Originally Posted By: Brad_C
On the few unfortunate occasions I've seen Will Buxton, I've actually had to mute the TV...... I much prefer the quiet, understated approach.


I was the same way with Buxton. Just much too hyper for me. I'll give Brundle some slack, and watch how he does over the next couple of races. Perhaps he was just having an off day. We've all had them. And I didn't know he had a heart attack.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: Brad_C
I think the bigger issue with Martin is having been on the other side of the fence for quite some years, he knows when to stay out of a drivers face and not push the point.

Yes, I'd agree with that. His approach obviously works. We haven't exactly seen him get a lot of snubs, and the last time it happened, there was pretty big backlash. We don't get to see a lot of interaction with Seb or Lewis lately, but they've probably each put his foot down, as it were. I still laugh, if I find a race of the right vintage on YouTube. I've found Martin on the other side of the grid walk, being interviewed, and also first times doing commentary when he got his race seat taken by Mansell.

Bill, most people didn't know he had his heart attack until much later. He kept it fairly quiet, and hasn't really even addressed it a lot himself. It was fairly minor, but I wouldn't doubt it was a sobering moment.

Those who watched or used to watch the BBC feed, wasn't it DC doing grid walks for them? I'm pretty sure it was, and I've seen camera shots during Martin's grid walk that caught DC wandering about, too.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: Brad_C
Horses for courses. I much prefer the quiet, understated approach.

As an aside, does anyone know if Martin has ever interviewed Kimi on live TV since the latter swore on live TV to answer Martin's question?