Tag: f1

Oh boy Lewis. Honestly when you look at your remarks in the cold light of day you’ll cringe and what’s more your future in the sport might now be in peril. That might seem way over the top for what might be seen in some quarters as a jokey remark but it was clear from his tone that he wasn’t joking. He fully believes that he has been unfairly targeted by the F1 stewards because he isn’t white and not because he’s a thug on the race track who believes he has the right to barge people out of the way.

Speaking to BBC F1’s Lee McKensie after the race the McLaren driver fumed, “It’s an absolute frickin’ joke.”

“I’ve been to see the stewards five times out of six this season.”

When Lee McKensie pressed Hamilton on why he felt the stewards were picking on him, the McLaren driver retorted: “Maybe it’s because I’m black.”

Hamilton then added, as if to make light of his previous remark: “That’s what Ali G says.”

You can watch the interview in full on the BBC Sport website

Now I know it is one remark but what is clear to me is that Hamilton has brought the sport into disrepute. He has openly not just criticised the team (which many drivers do) but has openly questioned whether the sport is played on a level playing field and that if you aren’t part of the in club then you aren’t excepted. This seems unlikely considering how many different drivers have raced in F1 from all matter of nationalities and ethnic backgrounds and no-one to my knowledge has ever hinted at racism in the sport.

On the BBC F1 broadcast both commentators Martin Brundle and David Coulthard believed both incidents in today’s race were worthy of penalties. Once the bar had been set when Paul Di Resta decided that the car in front should be used as a brake at the hairpin then it seemed relatively obvious that his two incidents were worthy of penalties too. Many other drivers have seen penalties this season for causing an avoidable accident.

Lewis Hamilton has always come across as a bit of a baby when things don’t go his way but to drop in a hint of racism is inexcusable even in the heat of the moment. An apology better be swift or Lewis may well find himself not being allowed to race for a weekend and that would seriously piss him off. He has been nurtured at McLaren since pre-teenage years but they don’t seem to have been able to teach him how to deal with the media. He is fast becoming the biggest whiner on the grid and considering some of the other drivers on the said grid then that is quite an achievement.

No doubt nothing major will happen to him but at some point McLaren will think that the talent they are getting is not worth the hassle and the FIA themselves may not tolerate too much more of this kind of behaviour.

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Two blogs within an hour of each other? What on Earth is going on?

Well the news that Jonathan Legard is gone from the F1 Commentary Box is one that deserves a fresh blog. Now I don’t dislike Legard but I will admit that it just wasn’t working with him and Martin Brundle and one had to go – and considering how great Brundle is – it had to be Legard. I wish him all the best and he is a fine play-by-play guy but for whatever reason with the BBC on F1 it wasn’t working. So onwards and upwards for both Legard and the BBC F1 coverage.

So today after Legard confirmed he was off first thing it meant that speculation would abound as to whether or not David Coulthard would step up into the Martin Brundle role, with the aforementioned Brundle stepping up to play-to-play and we didn’t have long to wait for the answer. The BBC sent out a Press Release at around 10AM GMT that indeed it would be Brundle and Coulthard for the 2011 season. Brundle has only a year left on his contract but if this partnership is a success then you can expect the BBC to pay the going rate and for this to be the partnership well into the next decade.

Having two ex-drivers in the Commentary Box has unnerved some people but it shouldn’t be a problem. Steve Cram is a fine athletics play-by-play guy and everyone loves Jonathan Agnew on Test Match Special. In fact when it comes to cricket the commentary is mostly done by ex-players and it works well. I know F1 is faster but we’ve seen and heard Brundle slip into play-by-play mode on more than one occasion on both the BBC and when he was with ITV and he seemed perfectly adept at it.

Brundle will still do his grid walks, which are an important part of the coverage in my opinion and DC will still do pre and post race with Jake and Eddie in the pit lane. Both workloads will grow but they are embracing the new challenge. I for one am excited about the new pairing in the Commentary Box and we’ll see how it shakes out. I have every faith that Brundle will carry on being a World Class broadcasters and if he and DC bounce off each other the way that I think they can then all will be right within the BBC F1 world.

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Over on DigitalSpy there is a long thread going on about F1. With strong rumours circulating that Martin Brundle has told the BBC that he can’t work going forward with Jonathan Legard then it looks like one or both of them will be leaving the commentary box on the BBC next season. Most people want Ben Edwards in or just promote both David Croft and Anthony Davidson from the 5Live coverage.

Here are my thoughts on the situation as I posted over there:

As one of the casual observers and F1 watcher I’d like to bring what the average person thinks to this discussion.

They like Martin Brundle. They don’t like Jonathan Legard. They don’t know who the other commentators are.

I have watched the Practice sessions so do but your average F1 watcher for qualifying and the race do not. The average ‘Joe Public’ like Brundle and have done for years. He was part of the last great F1 commentary team in most people’s eyes. His relationship with James Allen was often questioned but deep down they had a respect and understanding. Allen knew that Brundle had insightful things to say and let him say them. Legard seems to want to call everything.

Murray and Martin had a very simple technique when they wanted to talk and the other one was – they tapped each other on the shoulder and it worked. They very very rarely spoke over each other. As far as I’m aware JA and MB used the same communication technique. I have no idea if JL and MB use it but it doesn’t seem like it. Even if something big happens when MB is talking JL feels the need to call it and that is where for me (and most people I speak to) the problem is. This isn’t like football where your colour guy is rarely talking in the middle of a clear goal scoring opportunity – things happen in F1 at anytime.

In cricket they do have lead and colour guys but whoever is talking when a wicket falls or any big event finishes the call and the other guy will chip in with their thoughts when the call is over.

JL needs to get over the ‘I’m the play-by-play announcer’ spiel as even though he is – MB can call live action if he is in the middle of talking. I don’t want MB as the lead play-by-play guy but if he’s talking when something big happens then he can do that. Murray let him do it and James let him do it. Commentators do it in most other sports so why can’t JL do it?

Your average Joe Public would want Murray back but that isn’t happening so all in all they don’t care as long as whoever comes in works well with MB.

To use an old Ferrari term when they signed Rubens – think of A.N.Other New Commentator as Commentator 1a and MB as 1b. That is how it has worked well in the past and how it can work well in the future. James Allen would be fine as long as he toned down his love of the Brits. His voice came across as too faked at times (probably trying to be more Murray like) and he didn’t need to. However he did (and still does) know the sport inside and out so he would be an option that most would be ok with.

As for Ben Edwards – he suffers from ‘Gareth Barry’ syndrome. All the time he’s not there he becomes a better and better commentator. Whether he’ll do a good or great job we won’t know until they try but if you ask every one of the five million or so people who they would like to lose least from the F1 team then it would be MB (followed by JH) and who they would like to see go most it would be JL I’m sure.

To read my thoughts on DC joining Brundle in the Comms Box for 2011 then please follow this link

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