Maybe once Legard gets into the swing of things, he and Brundle can form a good pertnership, it will all come together. Hope so.

The problem with Legard for me, is, when he tries to sound excited, he starts getting tongue tied. A good commentator will make the race sound exciting, while still maintaining enough composure to relay the facts back to the audience fluently. So far this season Legard has failed to do this.

Thanks for your great comment! I agree with you on almost everything. The BBC’s coverage is much better than ITV’s, which had become stale, complacent and formulaic over the years. The pre- and post-race shows in particular have been given a much-needed breath of fresh air, and it looks like they will develop more as the season progresses. I can’t wait to see what else the BBC have up their sleeves.

Two race weekends have passed. Two very different race weekends as it turns out and neither of them have featured the BBC F1 team in a settled, predictable environment. Funnily enough this trial by fire is probably the quickest route of getting everybody gelling together. The first weekend, which my comments pertain to on the whole, had a team who reportedly only rehearsed once before the beginning of the season. This was followed by a race weekend that threw a whole bunch of challenges at the team—testing their reflexes and initiative—whilst also requiring rogue elements from the first weekend to smooth themselves out. I think they’ve survived the ordeal handsomely and, risking hyperbole, are bringing us closer to the sport since the ill–fated 2005 US GP when ITV ripped up the running order.

Jonathan Legard was a shock to the ears, frankly. Perhaps this is largely due to him meeting my ears previously unheard and commentating in a style I’m not used to, but I think it’ll take a few races for both him and myself to settle into this new relationship. On first impression I’d point to both his propensity to talk apace with the action on–screen, often breaking his verbal flow to meet the new pictures, and his uncomfortable idioms more suited to football commentary; both familiar criticisms. I can respect his desire to describe what is happening at that moment, because there may well be members of the audience with sight impairments who need that extra detail, but finishing up his current point and taking a breath may be less intrusive. A little more negative space in his commentary would be welcome.
The chemistry with Legard and Martin Brundle may not light the world on fire right now but they are both very knowledgeable figures and respectful of each other and should make for enjoyable listening as the season moves on. Simply having Brundle as part of the team is so justifiably right. It would have been terrible had he not been there. As I have said before, he is as much the voice of F1 today as Murray Walker had been in his time.

On the subject of commentary, the CBBC feed. What an insult. Admittedly I only heard the commentary in the embedded video there but the principle is broken. I started watching F1 in the early nineties, I joined my now late father in the lounge, watched the coverage unfold and had to interpret the actual, intelligent sporting coverage as well as ask questions in order to understand the sport. There is a lot to understand in F1 in order to see more than cars going around and around a track for two hours on a Sunday afternoon. Weak comedy skits amongst simplified analysis is doing a disservice to the sport and the intellect of today’s children. It encourages them to be lazy, to have this stuff spoon–fed to them as opposed to making them work a little. Had there been kids’ commentary back in the day, my father would not have been watching it with me and a regular family moment would have been lost. If the BBC are keen to promote this sport to young people then why not put together a simple 15–minute show during the kids’ spot in the schedule in the lead–up to a race weekend, presenting a suitable interpretation of current F1 news and the important factors in the coming race, and then promote the heck out of the existing coverage.

Jake Humphrey did quite well. Again, initially I wasn’t sure about him. I didn’t find him to be a particularly commanding figure but he quickly showed himself to be keen, energetic and smart to the sport. He can walk and talk at the same time (something I suspected Steve Rider and Jim ‘The Count’ Rosenthal weren’t capable of) and adapted well to the pressures of the Malaysian broadcast. A fresh face or two amongst the seasoned veterans also can’t do the appeal of the coverage any harm. He did well to handle Richard Branson and did his best with Eddie Jordan.

While I’m attempting to keep my language clean here, it’s very hard to do while talking about Eddie Jordan. Eddie rampaged through that first weekend like Godzilla with a sore arse. I respect his candidness, which is absolutely required, and the experience and knowledge he brings from the non–track aspects of F1, but he is presenting himself as a rather unlikeable character, antagonising the show and gulping up airtime. By the end of that first weekend I was sure that Eddie’s demeanour would be a hot topic from the production staff during the debrief. Given how Eddie was more muted and gave Jake and David room to speak uninterrupted it would appear he indeed was a hot topic and was dealt with. Eddie will bring an interesting, and perhaps often controversial, insight into events but it will be difficult to warm to his officiousness.

A criticism that can be delivered equally to Eddie and David Coulthard is again something that should become appeased in time as both become more comfortable with their roles, and this is their interviewing technique. It is admirable that they are as involved in the interviews as the show’s chief host but, dear me, neither of them can ask a question yet. Eddie in particular waffles on, struggling to fit a question mark into what he is saying.

DC is OK. I was expecting to get a little more of his trademark frivolity but, again, time should see his confidence increase.

Other parts of the production are doing a marvellous job: the race day countdown clock; the brief A-Z style technical explanation VTs; the news segments; the high–quality computer graphics of the cars and tracks used throughout the weekend; Ted Kravitz and Lee McKenzie working the paddock… There are many deft touches throughout the coverage that show the care, attention and professionalism behind the machine.

The title sequence is superb. To discuss why it works so well is to dispense with how poorly ITV dealt with theirs. As ITV became more eager to push the glamour aspect of the sport, in the hope of somehow transcending their coverage beyond a sporting show, the title sequence and bumpers became more confused, almost downplaying the fundamentals and saying ‘look at these dapper gents, look at these amazing images from far–off worlds, look at the jizzing champagne, look at the nice lady and LOOK, LOOK OVER HERE, LOOK AT LEWIS HAMILTON DIRECTLY IN THE EYES. LOVE HIM AND LOVE US.’ The BBC does none of this and is wonderful in its focus and simplicity. No personalities, no teams, no particular locations are defined and not one metaphor. It shows a man working with technology to race his pants off against others in a high–speed, dangerous chase in ever–changing environments. And it does all of this to “The Chain,” a song one would not immediately imagine would fit with any sport but, once connected to F1, fits like a glove. It excites like no other.

The post–race Interactive Forum is a wonderful addition to the weekend’s coverage. Whilst sadly missing from Malaysia, the Forum shows a lot of promise despite the many hiccups from its virgin airing. It gives plenty of opportunity for viewer feedback, greater analysis from the entire team and the opportunity to cover the sort of stories that only appear after a race is through. The TV screen sat next to Jake Humphrey wasn’t really used but there was a segment during the Malaysian coverage where Martin Brundle was interacting with the same screen, controlling playback and drawing all sorts of stuff on the screen. This was fucking great. The ability to visualise things on the spot, like racing lines, and be in control of the VT while describing what is unfolding will further draw in the viewer and help them grasp often near ungraspable concepts. I hope we see more of this during the season, especially during the Interactive Forum. I hear that the BBC News Channel has a brief show on the Friday evening of a race weekend. I have yet to see this but it is another method of getting the BBC audience into a sport they’ve almost swept under the carpet during the preceding decade.

The last thing to discuss is the fantastic online resource. Being able to watch the entire race weekend online (as well as the via Red Button) is absolutely the right thing to do, and adding to that both live text updates and a live leaderboard almost (ALMOST) trumps the need to go anywhere else online. However, both the official live timing and Twitter are also essential parts of my F1 package. While the BBC F1 homepage is a rather messy affair, not entirely sure what to prioritise beyond the lead story, there is a lot to absorb. The blogs, particularly Jake Humphrey’s and Andrew Benson’s, open the discussion and insight further, and the video & audio resource is weighty. It is simply awesome to have Murray Walker as a regular too, who is still very much on the ball. Full availability of the weekend’s coverage on the iPlayer is a heck of a boon, meaning an awesome race can be watched again and again at any time. It may not be as up to date with the news in a way that other, more dedicated news sites (such as Autosport) can, the BBC F1 site at least deals with the major stories very well.

When it was announced the BBC would retake the reins of F1, the initial reaction was one of immense pleasure of not having to endure either commercial breaks or bad hair–metal and poodles jumped up on ecstasy pipes. I could not believe, however, there were people expecting the same BBC coverage from years gone by. ITV had raised the bar significantly over their tenure and the BBC would easily meet it if not improve on it by virtue of the additional resources at their disposal, such as the interactive features on Freeview and online, and more flexible broadcast time without commercial concerns. Every penny the BBC has spent on both the rights and the coverage itself has been worth it. I have not once complained about my license fee and I certainly won’t be starting now.