The BBC F1 coverage thread (Legard out. Brundle and DC in.)

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PeterJB
So who is replacing DC's position as presenter? Davidson?
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Looking at it again it says. "The Scot will dovetail his new commentating duties with his ongoing punditry role alongside ex-team owner Eddie Jordan and the Beeb's anchorman Jake Humphrey." So it seems he'll do the pre-race coverage, run to the commentry box, then run back to do the post-race coverage. Even looking at the original crash.net report (which I should have linked to previously, here it is) the only thing which holds any weight is, "a BBC spokesman told us that "we're still looking at our line-up for next year's F1 coverage'" the Coulthard stuff all seems to be speculation from "a reliable source". I don't know how reliable this website is.
 
Crofty + Brundle = Win

Please not Coulthard, his accent will really begin to annoy me (Though nowhere near as much as Legard does with his apparent lack of... Ability, intelligence, knowledge etc. regarding F1).
 
I wouldn;t go holding my breath. The PlanetF1 article makes it pretty clear that this is all unofficial and doesn't quote anyone directly.
 
Seismica
Crofty + Brundle = Win

Please not Coulthard, his accent will really begin to annoy me (Though nowhere near as much as Legard does with his apparent lack of... Ability, intelligence, knowledge etc. regarding F1).
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Agree with you on most of it not sure if his accent would bother me though, not sure how Coulthard would handle commentating but he has to be better than Legard, his commentating was quite bad and did grate. Some races he would be ok then others just plain bad.

At least it looks there will be some changes. From the article you get the impression that Martin Brundle really wasn't happy commentating alongside Legard, who knows if its true though.
 
I'd prefer to see Ben Edwards, though he would be missed from BTCC and GT1, Croft works better where he is.
 
Seeing as DC is moving over to commentary I would love to see Lee Mckenzie replace his role. She was excellent at the Japanese gran prix last year and who says it has to be a bloke!

Robin.
 
Lee McKenzie wouldn't really work well as a pundit though....she was ok at presenting in her once only gig.
I don't see how she would be a good replacement pundit? Surely someone like Herbert or Irvine would be better? I don't really see McKenzie being great at describing a lap for example :lol:. Not really her job.

To be honest, other than Legard, DC is the only person I wouldn't miss much. Although he makes a good double act with EJ, I wouldn't miss his tiresome Red Bull bias.

Anyway, I hope it isn't going to be Brundle and DC in the commentary as I'm not really sure it will work that well. I guess it has to be better than Legard and Allen though, but I would prefer to see the BBC make an effort to hire a more exciting commentator rather than just hire from within the company.
 
725
From the article you get the impression that Martin Brundle really wasn't happy commentating alongside Legard, who knows if its true though.
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Who needs the article? Just watch the abu dhabi gp again. When Trulli's rear wing fell off, Legard commented that Jarno's front wing fell off. Martin said "Rear wing actually" and legard said "well, it's a wing anyway" and Martin Brundle just made this grunting noise that said it all.

Ardius
Anyway, I hope it isn't going to be Brundle and DC in the commentary as I'm not really sure it will work that well. I guess it has to be better than Legard and Allen though, but I would prefer to see the BBC make an effort to hire a more exciting commentator rather than just hire from within the company.
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Not sure if his knowledge of F1 is good enough, but if it is, Charlie Cox would be great. Would be a crime to take him away from Moto gp though. Fair enough, he does make silly jokes, but he's very entertaining and knowledgable (at least in motogp anyway).

Would it be too much for Crofty to continue with r5l for practice sessions and join brundle for quali and the race? Got to say, he really is the best known person for the Job. Not a big fan of Ben Edwards, but he's already turned down an offer to commentate on F1. Or so I read...
 
I personally don't mind Charlie Cox as I enjoyed his late-90s BTCC commentary. But I can definitely see how people can find him very irritating.
I think Ben Edwards is a little more universal, as would David Croft, but I don't really want the radio coverage to suffer. It would also be a shame to lose Edwards from the BTCC commentary, but ITV have got a couple of other commentators there who are good enough.

Any of these three are better than Legard, Allen or a MB+DC combo though.
 
For some reason I miss Jim Rosenthal as an F1 presenter. I guess its because I basically grew up with him being on ITV's coverage. He has done decent pundit work since then but its doubtful we would see him on the BBC anytime soon.

Robin.
 
For reference, here are some examples for people who don't know who we are talking about:

Ben Edwards (with Tim Harvey as ex-driver commentator):


David Croft (with Anthony Davidson as ex-driver commentator):


Charlie Cox (with John Watson as ex-driver commentator):
 
I'd take any of them, but the only problem is Cox will not let Brundle get a word in! Also he's doing a fine job on the MotoGP and can't see him leaving that gig.
 
Not David Croft, he's not had much experience of TV motor racing commentary, I think that showed with Legard, that he was a "radio man". I prefer Ben Edwards to Charlie Cox, charlie just gets a bit ott.
 
I like Anthony Davidson and Karun Chandok as commentators. I would like to hear a female commentator too. Why is it such a "blokey" job? At least we don't have teenagers with whiny voices, but i wouldn't bet against that happening sometime with the BBC thinking that is what we should have. I have had to cancel my mobile phone contract with Three because they put 2 idiots a girl and a boy on as the menu voices for the voice-mail service... The boy sounds like he is on drugs and has a horrible dialect.
Call me Mr Fussy.
 
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There have been a couple of female commentators, Katherine Legge doing some with Radio Le Mans comes to mind.
The problem with commentary is you are required to have a very passionate interest in the sport to begin with, and it goes without saying that motorsports is pretty male-biased already. Then consider that commentators tend to last many years, making it difficult for newer commentators to break in without being compared to vastly experienced predecessors.
There haven't been many female race drivers either (relatively), so hence not many "ex-drivers" to help co-commentate.

Its not something that bothers me at all though, I want quality commentary, regardless of gender. I'm hope that the Beeb continues to employ people for quality and avoid the "politically correct" route.
 
Ardius
The problem with commentary is you are required to have a very passionate interest in the sport to begin with, and it goes without saying that motorsports is pretty male-biased already.
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The bigger problem is that you cannot allow dead air. Look at James Allen - he was universally despised when he did live commentary, but his pre-programmed segments (for Australia's OneHD) and his blog are actually very high quality most of the time. His problem was that when you're in the commentary box, you always have to be speaking. You can occasionally get away with silence; a favourite trick of the commentators in V8 Supercars is to ride on-board with someone for a lap of the circuit without saying anything and letting the noise speak for itself, but you obviously can't abuse that. I suspect that this is also Jonathan Legard's problem, but I'm amazed at some of the reactions people have given him. At last year's Japanese Grand Prix, a lot of people were up in arms because Legard supposedly cut Martin Brundle off in the middle of commentary, but watching it again on YouTube, it was obvious Brundle interrupted him and it didn't quite register with Legard.

But then, I've long maintained I'd gladly listen to a Legard-Allen double act if it meant escaping Rust and McConville.
 
Ardius
Thats not really a reason why there are few female commentators though...
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Off-topic, but Liz Halliday has always done a good job with Eurosport's le mans coverage.

I do think Croft should get a shot though...
 
Seems Legard's Twitter has all but confirmed he'll be leaving;

@jlegard
Life moves on. Ask Nick Heidfeld or @narainracing. You never know what's next. To the critical and the complimentary, thanks for the company
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His Twitter account. Now BBC need to make the right move and hire Crofty over Coulthard.
 
Well we'll need to wait and see how it turns out. Would've preferred crofty, but I don't think it would have got the go ahead if Brundle didn't like what he heard during their tests.
 
Coulthard :banghead: Oh great that's something to look forward to , all where going to hear is him banging his Jaw on the Microphone thoughout the Race :yuck:
 
There's always Five Live Sports Extra on radio to make up for it. Croft and Davidson are very good.
 
Harley45
Coulthard :banghead: Oh great that's something to look forward to , all where going to hear is him banging his Jaw on the Microphone thoughout the Race :yuck:
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:lol: :bowdown:

Currently, I'm in the library. I laughed so hard when I read that, I got a lot of funny looks... Totally worth it...

Tired Tyres
There's always Five Live Sports Extra on radio to make up for it. Croft and Davidson are very good.
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They are excellent. Karun Chandok fits in with them really well. He's very knowledgeable and it's fun hearing him talk about the good old days too. Even though he wasn't alive or was very young at the time of the race in question.
 
Interesting... I've always been a fan of Brundle as a co-commentator - but it will be interesting to see hear how he does as lead... DC is similarly an excellent choice for his previous position - as trackside expert pundit - but again, it remains to be seen how he deals with being a live co-commentator... he's a tad deadpan for my liking, but I reckon they will make a good team. Legard didn't do a bad job, but I didn't like him - he was already gaining a rep as being a bit slow on the uptake, and (I hope I'm not being too unkind here) a bit of a buffoon... The BBC could have done with a bit of a more ambitious leap for someone completely new, but then again, since when were the BBC known for their radical new approach to, well, anything? They've even reverted to using "The Chain" as the theme music... forget HD, BBC will probably be opting for good old fashioned B&W instead for 2011!
 

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