Watching the MotoGP on Saturday from the Netherlands, they cut to the pitlane for a report, and the sound cut out. It was excellent – all you could hear were the bikes hammering round. Which led me to thinking: why don’t the Beeb offer that as an option via the Red Button for the F1?
It’s obviously good to have commentary on so you know what’s happening, but every now and again it would be cool just to hear the cars/bikes.
That sound is rarely heard unencumbered by chatter on any broadcast, so it would be a BBC Sport first too.
And while we’re at it, as we’ve had a few races to take it all in, what else would/wouldn’t you like from your F1 coverage?
Maybe Clarkson in the commentator’s chair?
Less Eddie Jordan would be a good start I think. I don’t see how his ‘opinions’ add to the broadcast, and his knowledge is now a little dated. The rest of the team are doing a great job however: DC seems to be warming into it and in Jake it is great to have an anchor that is actually a proper F1 fan!
Talking about unencumbered engine noises, and as this is the Top Gear website. Last night during Top Gear, Hammond was talking about how lovely the Lamborghini sounded, but we couldn’t hear it because of some rubbish music. Why?
Mike Gascoigne back commentating as his technical knowledge complimented DC brilliantly.
But the ultimate would be the return of Murray Walker… but considering that isn’t going to happen, get rid of Jonathan Legard and get a propoer F1 commentator that knows what they are talking about!
Now that is what i call an idea! It would be excellent to ‘mute’ the commentator’s boring gossiping and listen to the incredible roar of the V10 F1 cars hammering round the track. The really annoying thing about the commmentator’s is that sometimes they have nothing to talk about, so they just talk about aerodynamics, diffusers, wing adjustments, suspension settings, Max Mosley and KERS. Compare that to the V10 roar which sounds like amplified thunder and you get the picture.
There should also be an option to shut up Max Mosley everytime he talks about the financial state of the sport and that how everything that’s gone wrong in the sport isn’t his fault, but quite frankly, it’s mostly his fault, along with Bernie too though, so have a mute setting for him too.
commentary is better on the bbc, but it would be great to just hear the cars every now and then, would remind me of being at silverstone
When you watch the race coverage through the red button, you DO have the option to choose between BBC TV, 5 Live, CBBC or live soundfeeds. Nothing new what you’re requesting.
Yes, I agree but every now but then it’s nice to listen to what they have to say
@ bihus, they only offer the option of the telly or radio commentary (they ditched the CBBC one) on the general broadcast – I’m not talking about the onboard shots. So what I’m suggesting is new.
I agree with Mr T. I find DC insightful and easy to listen to and Eddie Jordan just plain annoying. His experience poses little relevance to F1 now and I feel that a lot of what he says is only said to disagree with DC.
Besides that fact, F1 in HD would be rather nice. The difference in quality even from Wimbledon is astounding so I have no doubt that it would be just as good for F1.
In fact…why isnt it in HD?
If you think the commentary is that bad, try watching F1 in the States. Here, for some silly reason, they have a Brit who actually knows what he is talking about teamed with some meat-head American broadcaster who hasn’t the slightest clue what he is watching, how a car works, what a corner is, how to turn right, etc. It was bad. I could have really used the mute commentary button that has been proposed.
Therefore, I propose that BBC air the races on BBCAmerica with the proper British commentary. I promise you that everyone who already watches your network here understands what you are saying and we would prefer you not dumb it down. Sorry to get off track.
@ Chris D the Beeb are beholden to the FOM broadcast feed, and as they don’t shoot in HD, then the BBC can’t put that out. So basically, you need to wait till Bernie updates his cameras.
@Petrolhead 247 aren’t they all V8s now? I never did change the commentary over to CBBC and I’m disappointed it’s gone I would have loved to have heard it.
Commentator: “Now the white car with that Virgin sign is passing the Silver car with Lewis Hamilton in it.”
Child: “Daddy what’s a Virgin?”
Commentator: “And Hamilton has spun again he’s got no downforce, er I mean his car is not very good at all around bends.”
What about all the girls on the grid at the start not to mention the technical things, how did CBBC explain that?! If there’s any audio or youtube stuff I’d love it if you could post it Jamie. And by the way it is a good suggestion to just hear the engines it would make you feel you were there.
@ Chris D: Bernie’s greed. FOM won’t provide an HD feed because it can’t be bothered.
@ PetrolHead247: It’s v8s these days there petrol. Don’t sound anything like the v10s, but still great. In any case, in all honesty, the technical gossip/insights are what I appreciate most about a commentary team. The technical inner workings of the sport are what interest me most.
I too like listening to the views of the commentators – espeically Martin Brundle – but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ditch Eddie Jordon; he is uninformative, embarrassingly out of touch and makes me cringe whenever he sucks up to Bernie or comes ou with some pointless platitude.
I like the David Croft + Anthony Davidson commentary. It’s more fun than the TV pair & has the benefit of someone who has driven a current F1 car.
I was getting sick of Eddie Jordan brown-nosing Bernie Ecclestone at Silverstone. Bernie (and his stupid, old-person ideas) is part of the problem with F1 IMHO.
I’m pretty sure they already offer a ‘no commentary’ option. Am I not right?
Jonathan Legard is soooooooooooooooooooooooo annoying. I always flick to the 5live pairing, although I miss Brundle and Kravitz.
Definately add Clarkson to F1 races. I don’t need someone to boringly tell me exactly what I see. F1 needs commentators that add to the show, not just duplicate the video footage in words. Clarkson would make things much more exciting. Heck, why stop at making Clarkson just a commentator? Any one else onboard with me to vote him as the new FIA head? I can just see it now, F1 races with loops and tunnels where drivers will spiral through and spend part of each lap driving upside down from all the downforce. I am sure he will also insist on adding weapons to each car to “stir things up.” Out with the old people and in with the Clarkson. F1 these days is no different than watching the parade of minivans drive through in a line to drop kids off at school. It is boring, predictable, and all in a line.
Who’s in? Clarkson will singlehandedly raise F1 to greater heights and revive the sport. Let’s do it!
Passing through England just last month, I had the plesure to see a couple of F1 races on the BBC, and to be honest the commentating was very poor, in other words I expected more enthusiasm from the panel as they are ex drivers and people that had been involved in F1 in the past, such as Jordan.
In the States where I live there is a sport channell SPEED with David Hobbs and others that to my mind they have a very complete program and they do hear the sound of the cars expecially the very first lap they ask you to turn up the sound and the commentating will be resumed at the end of the first lap and if something had to be said then they will find a space to recap the action and duly commentating on it. During the race there is alway enough time to put some comments on aereodinamics and so forth, but by enlarge there should be very little to say as pitchures and actions do speak for themselves.
Regards.
Vittorio
Any chance we could get a red button option to mute Jonathan Legard?
BBC is doing great! Finally we can watch F1 again from the continent broadcasted by the one and only broadcaster. Also appriciate Eddie Jordan, don´t forget the men´s heritage, he did something what not everybody is capable of! Hope you guys make the FOTA and FIA realise that this yrs cars are mud, bring back the wings in shape bcs F1 does not deserve cars this ugly!
I don’t really care about that no more stupid adverts in the middle of the race and F1 is back home.
The no commentary might work. Need one more thing to make it work tho. Bring back V10 engines!
I’d love it if they just shut up for the onboard shots at least, it’d make me feel like the driver, yes, i am a child
The Stig in the comentary chair… (ah yes, a moment of silence until he starts making beeps)
Actually, I’m watching F1 from Star Sports with Steve Slater on the comentary chair, and I’m satisfied with that. But once I watched it on Speed and I don’t like the point that they delayed their “live” coverage 15 minutes for sensory reasons. Stupid…
And yes, I agree about Jeremy Clarkson on the comentary chair. With Hammond…
What’s with the Legard bashing? He’s no worse than James Allen! I think it’s just misty eyed longing for Murray.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Agreed. He’s got massive shoes to fill. For some reason everyone thought that Murray would come out of retirement because F1 moved back to the BBC. So I suppose those people aren’t too happy that someone else is in there. Personally, I wanted to see Ben Edwards in the commentry box, but Legard is doing the job for me.
And, for those of you who didn’t get a chance to see it, here is a short clip demonstrating the CBBC commentry:
http://www.dailymotion.co m/video/x8thqb_safety-car -mic_auto
It’s quite insightful, actually. You’d never hear that about the safety car anywhere else.
NO EDDIE JORDAN
He is simply annoying
About a decade ago Jorge Koekling, former peruvian driver, was the comentator for ESPN in Latinamerica. He just did not talk during the onboard shots, which sometimes lasted for the whole lap.
Great idea, now many comentators do the same, including during F1 transmitions. If you don’t get these “meditation times” with BBC, insist on it.
If you read this Jorge, gracias, te seguimos en Speed siempre.
I’m pretty sure I get the no commentary option. On my sat receiver, on the red button feeds, the F1 race always has 4 sound options. In fact, it has 6, with option 5 and 6 being mute. So, nothing new. Sorry.
Two simple changes would, I feel, make the current team work well.
1. Someone should explain to Legard that he’s now commentating for TV and not radio, and so he doesn’t need to fill every second with prattle.
2. EJ should be prevented from talking to any one outside the BBC team. He’s tolerable when arguing with DC (although Mike Gasgoine was far better), but it’s just plain sickening when he gets oily.
Could you imagine Jezza commentating?
“And he’s run wide, the cloven-hoofed imbecile!!”
“And there’s a shot of Nicole Scherzinger – I wouldn’t mind a few hot laps with h- oh sorry chaps, er, Lewis is still in 19th, annoyingly, ” etc.
As for just hearing the cars, whilst sometimes it’d be nice, it would just make everyone moan about the death of the V10 engine again…
you know the Nascar commentators stay quiet 4 a bit during the race so u can hear the cars, so if they can do it surely F1 can
I want 2 c both F1 commentators out and replaced with the 2 from the BBC MotoGP coz they are hilarious
Legard and Brundle are hardly chatterboxes, compared to 5 Live’s commentary they keep the chatter to a minimum.
My perfect commentary team would be David Croft along side either Brundle or Davidson or even both. Clarkson would be typically useless at commentary, but he would liven up the pre/post race analysis as a pundit. In fact, the Top Gear team really ought to have a slot somewhere in the broadcast to do what they do.
That is brilliant, I live in Mexico so I get to watch F1 at 6am or 7am and as the transmission has different languages I can choose different audios and there is an option to only listen to the noises from the track without the commentators and let me tell you that is a great way to wake up in the morning also a very good way not to nod off if the race is boring or to keep me up if I pulled an all nighter to stay awake to watch the race
Nothing like the noise from the start grid with all the engines at full revs
Sorry, off topic BUT:
Just learned that the 2010 rules include smaller front tires. Why the hell does the FIA want F1 cars to look like bicycles? A GP2 looks way cooler!
This will make even more sponsors run away, brands do want to expose on elegant machines, not on silly monsters! Bring the wings in shape and bring the bigger tires, an F1 should look cool!!!!!!
The best commentary team I have heard is the pair from the Eurosport coverage of the MotoGP. They are well informed, enthusiastic, accurate and very entertaining.
We couldn’t take them for F1, because their love is for bikes. But someone like that paired with Martin Brundle would be brilliant.
How F1 coverage could be improved (other than cutting the commentary) would be to stop going to the pitlane or looking at someone in the back of a garage… there is a race happening and it would be nice to see it. All too often you watch a car get into a slipstream with a slow corner coming up and the coverage cuts to a mechanics head or a pretty girl, then once the overtake has happened (as it was clearly going to) we look back to the cars to see the places have indeed changed.
The BBC coverage is soooooo much better this year, but i do agree, it is very nice to just listen to the noise of the engines sometimes. Martin always used to say “and lets just listen to this noise for a bit” but we dont get that anymore.
Also is it just me or have you all noticed the number of mistakes Legard makes. Legard: “What is kimi doing overtaking sato, he must have spun or something, i just dont understand it”
Martin: “Thats Massa and he is lapping sato, its fine, nothing to worry about”
They do already have a “No Commentary” option on the red button for the F1. I love the multi screen options because they offer the on board view from some of the cars.
Brilliant coverage this year. Top Gear and F1 what more do you want to justify the TV licence. All other programs are just a bonus.
The number of mistakes made by Legard is minimal, you all should for once listen to the Dutch reporter on RTL, that guy makes so many mistakes it’s really not only annoying, but a disgrace, he can never distinguish the cars and drivers, makes hughe mistakes, and he genrally thinks the knows everything and everything better, he is biassed has a clear favorite and to make a long story short, I watch the BBC and in general the are so much better than RTL, even Eddie Jordan is a genius (a harmless one) compared to the reporter from RTL.
Not a new idea – but a really good one! The Indycar coverage in the 1990s used to do a full lap in-car without commentary once or twice every race. “Let’s just listen to this car for a bit…” Fabulous! (They used to do that on the occasional laps when noone was overtaking… sorry, couldn’t resist!)
Idea- Put it on mute then make the noises yourself? Could be quite interesting.
No in all seriousness it could be a good idea, I prefer the David Croft and Anthony Davidson combo over JL and MB, but only for qualifying and Practice (wierd?), don’t really like the guy who’s on with Maurice, not sure why.
Get rid of Jonathon ‘commentating for the blind’ Legard and replace him with David Croft. The guy has the right blend of enthusiasm and knowledge, reminds of Toby Moody on the Eurosport MotoGP commentary.
And while on the subject of getting rid of people, Eddie Jordam can go. It annoys the hell out of me when he precedes every question he asks with “May I ask…” Bring back Mike Gascoyne if he doesn’t find a job with one of the new F1 teams.
Hi everyone am simon from East africa
I think Leggard is slowly getting into it more now. He’s learning to shut up and let Brundle do some talking as well, and it works much better. A little more silence wouldn’t go amiss though.
Bring back the screaming V10s and V12s from the mid 90s (watch YouTube Ferrari F1 V12..). Than the reporters shut up automatically.
@Stig’s Irish Cousin & Shi Ruan: Yes they’re V8’s now. Thanks for picking up on that btw.
I agree with many people here. What you need is a specific mute option for individual commentators (i.e. Legard). Someone get a petition going. The level of dislike for Legard’s commentary is huge. Surely the BBC will change him for next year?
Martin Brundle however is surely the best sports pundit around.
Get a petition going and send it to the BBC. Legard out!
They do!! I swear they do because I used it during the Britsh GP. Listening to those F1 engines was great however its a pity they’re not v10s anymore. They would be even better!
Get shot of that half wit legard, he needs muted for the remainder of his days, god he’s bad.
I hope the bbc listen/read comments about him and do the decent thing and get shot.
Five lives antony davidson along side brundle would be the best combo!!
Make it hapen BBC!!!! now!!!
Legard out!
Legard out!
Legard out!!!!!!!!
We get a sort of mangled BBC/Bahrain sport hybrid, The audio is sometimes out of touch with the video ie. we hear BBC but see something else. At silverstone we could see the after race conference but could here the woman interviewing someone (We have never seen her or DC or EJ btw), then the audio came on for the conference, and we could see Barichello talking but hear Vettel. Those two main guys, Brundle and someone I think, are quite dull.
Jeremy Clarkson and Damon Hill would make a better pairing, or JC and a special guest every race. JC wouldn’t be as daft as we imagine, so we would get quality as well as brilliance.
Clarkson is King!!!
And another thing, why do the commentators think they have to fill every second with their voices. Would it be so bad just to sit and watch the race? That way they can explain when something important is happening (ie a big crash) rather than yakking on about strategy and downforce. Football guys sometimes sit and watch, so why can’t F1?
Please swap Legard and Croft! I currently switch to the 5live option during races but theres three problems with that
- No Brundle (even though Davidson does a good job)
- No Kravitz
- It quite clearly commentary meant for the radio with them reading out all of the times, when I can see them on the screen.
Therefore that doesn’t satisfy my requirements for F1 TV commentary- Legard out!!
Bring back Adjustable Turbo’s or screaming V12’s, super-soft qualifying tyres which fall apart after one quick lap, ban refuelling during races, put the driver’s feet back in front of the front axle, get rid of KERS and carbon-fibre, get rid of aerodynamic rubbish, ban wheelcovers with a sticker of a wheel on it, replace ALL drivers by good ones, put Murray Walker in the commentary-seat, bring back the on-screen lap-time / position / gap graphics like we had in the early ’90’s, get rid of run-out areas the size of Max Mosley’s ego, ban McLaren for lying.
Apart from these small changes, I like F1 as it is right now!
Sorry, I forgot one… all Tilke circuits should be closed.
” “
Ohh my god Jolly Club needs to be put incharge!! Basically ban anything wimpy and put sole emphasis on going faster!
We should investigate who is running or who are the brains that make Moto Gp tick and if possible bring them over to F1.
Could it be that FIA will agree???????????????
i like the sound of the Formula one-less commentary but i would still prefer to see a break away series. hopefully after next season it can happen because i think technology development and the cars would be of an absurdly high level. the technology would be practically unrestricted, making the cars faster and faster to the point where they leave 2 big, fat black marks through the word ‘physics’ in every dictionary, every time they take off from the start finish line…
also, i hope Valentino Rossi wins the MotoGP, hes class and funny.
I remember seeing in the first or second race the option of turning the commentary off. I haven’t looked since then, but I’m sure it was done. Obviously on the red button.
Changes. Remove EJ. Bring back MG. Remove JLeg and put in Crofty. Make sure that both DC and MB do the grid walk. Use Ted more.
And Using the deaf sign technology of overlaying the wavy hand person, get various pretty ladies to unrobe. For those of a different nature, maybe try Max and his parties.
HD is avalible for F1 as they have been broadcasting it in Japan for at least 2 years. No reason then for the BBC to not do it.
Why can I not get sound on vids? the volume button has a x in it and I can’t get rid! HELP!
it’s easy, I remember enjoying a commentary-free race when the journalists had gone on strike in Italy. Got the hint?
I read in the comments above that bbc doesn’t broadcast F1 in HD because the FOM doesn’t have the technical support for it. But how comes that in my country (Romania) u can find F1 in HD o.O?
My teeth grate when Legard trots out the phrase “battle is joined”. Argghhhh. Please promote David Croft.
http://www.f1badger.com/2 009/05/jonathan-legard-2/
Agree with ‘justanordinairyfan’, even German RTL is better than the Dutch RTL and the Mol guy is even more arrogant than the drivers (I know from the paddock). Belgium is not doing to bad either but BBC rules! Just a shame there are no more V10s and V12s and even worse, the cars look annoying ugly this yr!
(who the hell approved this frontwings..)
We have never had it so good! do you really want to return to adverts and James Allen?
I have to say that just hearing the sport without idiots talking over it in general would be good. Its not like I am listening on the radio I can see what is going on!
The Eddie jordan and DC dynamic is great I think. Eddie jordan is very blunt, what ever he thinks he blurts out. DC is more reserved, thinks what to say, and how to say it. Think of Eddie as a clown and it makes sense. Martin brundell is a decent enough commentator and his insight is quite interesting.
However that piece of trash Leggard is the worst thing in F1 on the bbc. cant stand his voice, his useless and misinformed opinions. The way he pronounces buttons name… like as if he is about to orgasm.. err… I mean crisis! take him off and put on Murray Walker, he’s at most of the races any way.
I’m sure there is an option during the race via red button to turn off commentator and just listen to the cars. what I usually do is whenever the idiot leggard speaks I just mute the tv for a few seconds till he shuts up.
Engine noises arent as good as they used to be. I really miss the v12s from the good ol’ days. I aslo thought the v10s from few years back sounded quite good. shame we have just the sound of these measely 2.4 v8s these days.
I like the commentary option the BBC give you often find myself switching between TV and Radio commentators but it would be good to here the cars for a bit.
They could even do like FOX do for the NASCAR coverage in america and Crank It Up
Jonathan Legard is disappointing – a bit dull and not very enthusiastic. I think Charlie Cox would be fantastic (remember how he brought the BTCC to life?) – knowledgeable, lively and not too serious. He would complement Brundle nicely.
Anything is better than the moronic steve slater which we get on star sports in india. he yaps like a poodle in heat and his predictions are the diametric opposite of what is actually going to happen. he can never figure out that hamilton & massa wear yellow helmets, gets all the cars wrong.
all that could be dealt with f1 were more intriguing. i dont care about downforce and tyres with green stripes and fuel in qualifying. bring back the rules of the late ’80s & early ’90s with turbos, low slung cars and biiggggg wings.
i agree with ricard he does’t sound like a commentator at all !
I saw raw F1 transmissions in the South of France in 2001. I tuned to one of the channels of Monaco’s official TV station and voilá: no commentary, no commercial breaks. Also, the sound was sharper, clearer, and louder since -as you may understand- in normal transmissions they bring it down in order to keep it below the commentator’s voices.
I don’t know if it is still like that today.
let top gear do the commentry and put the stig on the red button -silent.
the only time you can not ear the womping is if you go onboard the cars via the red button and that enoys the hell out of me as they keep switching to diffrent cars i thought all the major teams had onboard cameras so why not make it so you can choose which driver you want to be onbord with or who you support keep it up JB lol.
I think that Murray Walker, and Richard Hammond would make a good combination, because Murray Walkers words are cursed, and we can listen to Richard Hammond make a fool of himself.
Time for Jonathan Legard to go to bowls…………..
Can’t the BBC just pull Legard’s plug out, nobody would miss his awful commentary!
all i can teel you is that you need to do fire trucks show i built a little one called squirt which is fully functional of the size of a golf car what i would like you to do is a show about fire units in any country as a 40 year veteren of the fire service it would be good to see as here in western australia we have some dam fast fire trucks laurencedrage@dodo.com.au