I'm a gone case ... I watched Practice 1, 2, 3, Qualification and the Race on Sky plus I watched Qualification and the Race again on the BBC :)
I wanted to compare them for myself ... it's only been one weekend so it's too soon to judge Sky ... my first impressions are very good :)
If you think back to the past 3 years of BBC F1 coverage on TV 2009-2011, they just got better and better each year ... 2011 was the best F1 coverage I have ever experienced ... So hopefully Sky will also improve further with time ...
In 2011, I loved the chemistry in the paddock with Jake Humphrey, David Couthard and Eddie Jordan ... commentary from Martin Brundle with analysis from David Coulthard ... Brundle's grid walk ... the F1 Forum for more informal post race chit chat ... Ted Kravitz in the pit lane ... I loved the Fleetwood Mac theme ... made my hair stand on end ... driver tracker online ... full coverage online and on iPlayer ...
The first 2 years on the BBC, we had to put up with Jonathan Legard yelling his brain dead race commentary, making obvious comments and missing basic observations that we could see for ourselves ... that was 2009 and 2010 ... Legard was the only achilles heel ... the perfect year was 2011 ... sadly, the money ran out ...
Coming back to this year's coverage, I think Brundle and Damon Hill make a good team ... very good IMO but not quite as good as the BBC paddock presenters ... I just think the combination of Humphrey, Couthard and Jordan is still better ... I also think Simon Lazenby has also made a very good start .. he's a pleasant guy who hosts almost as well as Jake Humphrey ... he even had an iPad in his hand :)
In the race, I think David Croft is fine ... doesn't get carried away but could be more observant ... Brundle is also better as co-commentator and analyst rather than lead commentator ...
I'm glad Brundle did his grid walk BUT he seemed to get fewer interviews this time ... maybe some of the drivers have not yet heard of Sky Sports F1? Perhaps they don't treat it as an important channel ... yet.
The female interviewer, Natalie Pinkham: she's not bad ... but not as good as Lee Mackenzie IMO.
I like Anthony Davidson's analysis ... he knows so much ... I think he works well with Georgie Thompson but I would question whether they really need 2 people on that SkyPad screen ... I think Georgie Thompson is a little superfluous there ...
Ted Kravitz as ever was great in the pit lane ... I think we need to hear more from him ...
I couldn't try out the iPad and online extras this weekend ... I had an outage on my broadband connection from Sat 0600 which I am hoping will be fixed tonight ...
It's so clear that Sky has copied all the best aspects of the BBC's coverage .. which is great BUT it's hard to replicate the style and flair with different people ... there is just a different chemistry. DC dresses well and EJ has loud shirts ... I hope Sky will show a little flair!
The music set pieces on the BBC were just better ... Sky's coverage is still new and finding its way ... it has copied the best of the BBC's coverage but it needs to develop its own style and its own features ...
I just don't want to see it limited to a functional style of coverage that one sees with other sports on Sky ... it's almost as if Sky has a certain brand style ...
I had to mention that the BBC's new lead commentator is unbearable. Ben Edwards? OMG. He makes odd noises ... as if this conveys the excitement to us. He sounds like Jonathan Legard's younger brother. It's dire. He also kept interrupting David Coulthard, cutting him off ...
I think I will continue to watch both ... after all, once the BBC's contract runs out, there will be no more live races on the BBC ... I expect that long term, there will merely be highlights on the BBC ...
Clearly the BBC can still afford to fly their presenters to every race, pay for hotels etc ... the main cost that the BBC could no longer bear was the high price of live TV rights that Ecclestone must have been demanding ...
What will hurt is if Sky changes its charging so that Sky Sports F1 becomes available only to Sky Sports subscribers ...clearly right now they are including it as part of Sky HD to help launch the channel ... but what will happen next year and in future years?
Just my random thoughts on the past weekend ... interested to hear what you guys thought ...
I didn't listen to James Allen and Jaime Alguersuari on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra ... there's a limit to how many channels/sources I can follow! :) A pity really - I really liked James Allen when he was lead commentator on ITV ...
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(I remember watching this guy who looked a bit like Dylan but it wasn't him).
