planetf1.com

...the race coverage is superb, but with each passing season the other content gets less and less...

I cannot think of a new program so far this season, last season was hardly any. And they seemed to have scrapped the F1 show altogether bizarre.

I agree. I watched almost everything they aired to begin with but this season I haven't even bothered with The F1 Show, though I noticed it's gone down to just half an hour and seems to be only on race weekends now. I haven't noticed any new episodes of the Steve Rider interview series either, and that was great. I get the feeling they haven't attracted the viewing figures they hoped for and so are scaling back.

The actual race weekend coverage seems more padded than ever too. Endless over-stylised, over-edited VT sequences, Lazenby flailing, Herbert pushing the concept of redundancy as far is it will go (he's a great bloke but he just rephrases whatever the last person said... only with experimental grammar). It's a shame because among the filler they have some good stuff. Obviously Brundle and the commentary, but Ant Davidson has really come into his own with a tool like the Skypad at his disposal, his analysis is exceptional and my heart sinks when I realise he's away and they've drafted in Paul di Resta or someone equally awful to cover him. Mark Hughes is my favourite journo and with him on the payroll (if not on camera) you get numerous of his golden nuggets. Kravitz still serves a purpose, as frustrating as he can be. My favourite bit of any weekend nowadays is actually Brundle's on track observations during FP2. I've always thought the most interesting and informative insights on motorsport come from people who are right up close track side and know what they're looking at.

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Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?
-Epicurus

It's a waste of a channel. There isn't enough content on it.

I'm of the opinion that anyone watching that channel would also have an interest in MotoGP, LMP, Touring Cars, Indy Cars, Nascar, WRC, etc..... it would be worth Sky investing.

The thing that irritates me most about sky is that they are taking over F1 in 2019. I do expect they will get more viewers than they did before which is good for them but F1 will surely loose a lot over all as there will no longer be free live coverage.

I also don't think the Sky coverage is a whole lot better than than the BBC or Channel 4 is now. I would say that during the races and qualifying, it is possibly a little better on sky. I still think Croft makes plenty of mistakes like Ben Edwards does though. To me, the best commentator combination was Coulthard and Brundle. I really liked it when they were the commentators.

I think Channel 4 is actually better than sky during the pre race coverage. (other than more frequent adverts of course). It may just be me but there are hardly any of the Sky presenters that I don't quite irritating. Some of the parts Ted Kravitz presents is extremely tedious and I have had to stop watching it several times because he irritates me to much. There is some very interesting facts he does talk about but I have try really hard to keep watching it without getting annoyed by the way he says certain things. I remember when he was on the BBC and I don't remember him being this bad. I just about remember one of the first things he asked Haryanto in an interview. Something like "What is your favourite food and do you cook any of it?" Seriously, how of the topic of F1 is that?!

Even when Brundle had moved to Sky, I think the combination of Jake Humphrey, Eddie Jordan, and David Coulthard on the BBC was much better than what Sky have now. I even prefer most of the presenters on Channel 4 too. All my opinion though.

It has also taken me quite some time to get used to Sky as I used to watch everything on the BBC. Adverts are so tedious and repetitive! I know many people will say that The BBC really went downhill in the past 2 years with F1 but having no adverts really did improve things massively.

As I said, I do thing the qualifying and race is fine on sky but I think I will probably start to watch less of the stuff before the races. I have enjoyed that stuff much more on Channel 4.

The few times I've watched BBC or C4 instead of Sky, Edwards has made a lot of errors, and some really bad ones too. Far more than I can recall coming from Croft.

Also, personally I really can't stand the mike that Edwards is using, I find it highly tiring to listen to him due to that. Why can't they give him some proper kit?

I stream SSF1 through my mobile when I have a spare half an hour or so, but every time I switch it on they're doing some tiddly piece on Johnny Herbert during his F3000 days - ALL THE TIME! Surely there's more to broadcast than a pointless documentary on one of their pundits who won two races?

It seems to me their investment hasn't made the profit that they hoped it would. Or are they now complacent seeing as they're the sole UK broadcaster from 2019 and don't really care anymore?

I personally love Motors TV. Even ITV4 has more to offer than SSF1 lately.

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#KeepFightingMichael

They'll care - they do put alot of thought in to sports broadcasting. I do however wonder how long the F1 specific channel will last. EPL Football is their goldmine and they don't even have a dedicated channel for that.

I was hoping F1 channel would develop, we'd have all the usual shows and they'd begin to add more motorsports to it. Maybe some Indy coverage, maybe better coverage of feeder series, etc. Seems like they just don't have the viewership to justify the budget as many others have alluded to.

The F1 Show at first was superb. Then they decided to have an audience. Why? It killed it stone dead. Sky tried that with the football on a saturday night as well. It just doesn't work. Completely unneccessary.

Although you think it would be worth investing, is there a big enough fan base in this Country to have Indy Cars/Nascar or anything else? I don't know anyone who is interested in anything you listed but MotoGP and even they are few. I know loads of people who are in F1 and even more so with Cricket, Tennis, Rubgy and especially Football.

For them to invest in other things they need viewers, advertisement revenews and frankly I doubt there is a big enough fan base to watch those live when people viewing isn't that good on highlights.

As for it's a wasted channel, I don't agree - they don't hold back on content. Old races, discussions, technical programs - it's all about F1 which is what its about. I don't mind having it on while I am doing anything else. Only reason I don't spend so much time watching the channel is because football is on at the weekends or other half has the TV. Wasted? I don't think so. There is a lot of F1 which they show and as I said - they don't hold back the content. I know a lot of people that enjoy watching it all.

They could at least cover the feeder series. As for the others, it does not matter that much if F1 fans are not interested as far as SKY is concerned, if they pick up a million new nascar viewers ith is still a million viewers paying. Sky is world wide, so if it fits in with US time and not UK time, so much better for them.

May not be first choice for F1 viewers, but how many times can you watch the 1973 season highlights, which could be available on demand anyway.

Thing is that they've backed themselves into a corner with the "Sky Sports F1" name - probably at the behest of Bernie or to keep him sweet.
If they'd gone for something like "Sky MotorSports" then it would have given them more flexibility.

Yes they do so GP2 and GP3 on the channel but that's (usually) part of the F1 weekend programme at the circuit F1 is at that weekend.

But if you were the right-holder for Nascar or IndyCar would you really want to have your content on a channel who's very name promotes a rival series?

I know exactly what you mean. A couple of years ago it was Paul di Resta in a helicopter at Silverstone. It was incredible, it felt like every single time I flicked over onto SSF1 it was stuck in a perpetual loop of aerial dourness.

_________________
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?
-Epicurus

Maybe the few times I have watched Sky, thair have just been quite a lot of mistakes. I am much more used to the Ben Edwards and David Coulthard combination as I have watched most races that they have covered since 2012. I have only watched the races on Sky that Channel 4 haven't been covering live this year.

I can agree about Ben Edwards though, he does make some pretty bad mistakes. Suck as last year, one time he said "and off the track goes maldonado" it quite clearly wasn't even a Lotus. It was a force india. It's not good that a commentator gets an idea in their head that it is always going to be Maldanado that goed off track. I think he may have said that on more than one occasion.

However, I do actually prefer David Coulthard to Martin Brundle. This year, I feel that Brundle had been complaining a little too much. From some of the reruns of the races last year I have watched on sky, there were several things that I remember Coulthard either noticed or predicted would happen that nether of the commentators seemed to notice on sky.

Both Sky and Channel 4 covering does have ups and downs but Concidering you have to pay for sky, I don't actually think it is a whole lot better.

the first 15 minutes of every program normally contains 9 minutes of extra loud adverts

I think all the commentators are prone to errors. Due to being away for the weekend I had to watch the C4 coverage. At the end of Q1 when the big story was obviously that Massa had been eliminated, it was something like 45 seconds from the moment he was knocked out to the moment either Edwards or Coulthard picked up on it. I can understand missing little details here and there but that was a pretty big one. That said, my girlfriend often tells me I pick up on things neither Brundle nor Croft have mentioned so it's probably just as true of the Sky pairing as it is the C4 one.

Just as long as I don't have to listen to Jonathan Legard...

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There is nothing wrong with their F1 coverage, but it should have been called Sky Motorsports and shown a few other racing series. Right now it's a non-channel.

Crofty did a classic "Crofty" when Raikkonen was behind Verstappen too. Went really loud and excited shouting that Kimi was diving up the inside of Max when he wasn't doing anything different to the previous laps and hadn't even moved to the inside.

I do sometimes think I'm watching a different thing on screen to what Crofty is when he does that sort of thing, I don't remember the race but I recall him doing the same saying someone was going to go for a lunge up the inside when he was miles away.

Whether Murray, James Allen or Crofty, mistakes have never bothered me for some reason, I don't think I notice them as often as most. I'm only really interested in having a lead comm who can speak properly and gets excited, that's all I need from them. And an expert comm who really knows what he's talking about. Crofty isn't perfect but he's ok, and Brundle is in another league to everyone else I've heard do it.

_________________
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?
-Epicurus

It's all personal preference but I enjoyed the Brundle/DC pairing (can't remember the channel or year).

I understand people may prefer an Allen or a Crofty to give balance but I loved the two guys who knew what they were talking about set-up. The fact they never got especially excitable didn't bother me, I think I preferred it.

Speaking of which I simply cannot stand the commentators on the ITV 4 Moto GP coverage, I guess I'm just not a fan of that "loud" style.

Same as some others I thought the Brundle/DC combination was by far the best in recent years.

They had a great rapport, they actually spoke one another and (heaven forbid) seemed interested in each other’s opinions (rather than 2 blokes saying what they see).
That conversational style made the commentary far more interesting and entertaining IMO.

Anyone remember the GP (Canada I think) that was rained off for 2 or 3 hours, and DC and Brundle just talked right through? It was really great coverage!

I think that kind of rapport and conversational style is missing today.

As far as the mistakes go, they don’t really bother me, I get far more P’d off at unenthusiastic bland commentary than the odd mistake.

I fully agree with that part about Massa being eliminated. I could tell as he was slowing down to let someone past that he would have nowhere near enough time to get a fast run to move up from 18th. I was a little annoyed that neither of then seemed to notice. Like you said, it was bovious quite some time before they mentioned it that masa couldn't even make it to Q2.

Dear sky sports f1 channel. please can you tell me why we get only a half hour of analysis before simon lazenby has to say "thats all weve got time for". wrong. that's not all you've got time for because you are on a dedicated f1 channel. please from now on can he say "thats all we can be bothered to do".

obviously they are not making enough money from all the adverts and subscriptions. its exactly the same with football. you get about a minutes analysis at half time squeezed in between all the adverts. sky are a disgrace. and if i had to pay for it i would be even more p1ssed off

Havent bothered with the extra Sky content for a couple of seasons. I'll watch Ted, but still want to slap him every five minutes.

Its maybe just as its the beginning of the season; or the influence of Liberty, but the non Sky F1 content on the web is everywhere at the moment. Ive been watching various bits for the last few hours, and still coming across even more. F1s fan forum and other content, lots from C4 and other broadcasters; and plenty from the teams from inside and outside the paddock.

If this is the new norm I'll be more than happy.

Anyone misses Steve Slater & Chris Goodwin?

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Feel The Fourth

Yes I liked it and all the blunder of Steve Slater I did not like Sky sport glad we are getting C4 coverage now with live FP session as well

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM9-GK3MeLI

New to the Sky broadcast here, not overly impressed based on what I've seen so far.

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Räikkönen - Vettel - Bottas
Thank you Nico - You´re the champ!

PF1 Pick 10 Competition 2016: CHAMPION (2 wins, 8 podiums)

As much as I think Pat Symmonds is an intelligent F1 man...he is boring as hell to watch and so not engaging.

His attitude comes across as though he is depressed at what he is saying and doesn't want to be there.

He just isn't a TV person.

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Ben Edwards doesn't seem to know what's going on half the time. I as a casual viewer shouldn't be more aware of what's going on than he is.

To be fair, he wouldn't be the first. Murray Walker was and always will be a legend but oh my god the things he missed on screen. I often wondered what planet he was on half the time!

I was really hoping they'd changed the intro this year, but they've stuck with it. The remix of 'Just Drive' is so cringe-worthy and they decided to have a montage of last year's clips with a big highlight Rosberg-Hamilton crash in 3D graphics again. It doesn't get me pumped at all. Back in 2012 they had great introductory videos for each qualifying and race session as well.

I was hoping Herbert would be kicked with Symonds brought in, but he seems to still manage to make it on tv.

And on extra bits about Formula One with Steve Rider and such - isn't there only so many F1 legends to talk about? I thin they've kind of ran out of things to do, although they definitely could try harder.

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"Always believe you will become the best, but never believe you have done so"

I think Pat Symonds has been an excellent addition, very knowledgeable and blunt in his analysis.

Like Pat's input so far. Not seen anything of Damon this season, have I missed him or is he not doing the races any more?

Agree, they should just have 'Sky Sports Racing' or something. They show so many repeats, they might as well throw in some NASCAR, WRC, Fe, etc.

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I remember when this website was all fields.

They can't. BT has the rights to all of them, and the WEC and RX too.

Bottas and Lewis were close in q1 = Lewis wasn't pushing.
Bottas s1 time in q2 was faster = He was pushing too hard and that's why Lewis was faster overall.
Bottas faster in q3 = Lewis must have made a mistake.

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Räikkönen - Vettel - Bottas
Thank you Nico - You´re the champ!

PF1 Pick 10 Competition 2016: CHAMPION (2 wins, 8 podiums)

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Yes, very similar on Channel 4. So biased towards Hamilton. When you view the laps, you could hardly see Hamilton making any errors. Hamilton himself said he'd done a decent lap and said that Bottas simply did a better job. It is only biased Hamilton fans that see things differently.

Having recently moved out of home over last few weeks.....I was having to watch the C4 coverage this weekend and by goodness sky can't come quick enough!!! Much prefer their coverage.....I personally like crofty however can see some aren't big fans of his!! Brundle imo has made the coverage for whatever station he has been on whether that be on ITV back in the day all the way though to sky now.

Lewis dropped 3 tenths in S2, whether or not he'd have beaten Bottas I don't know but he definitely made a mistake.

Do you have the sector times for his final lap?

edit: I don't think that's possible, tbh. There must be some mistake. I've looked up their best sector times:



Lewis got the best times overall in S2 and S3, while Bottas got S1.

As you can see, combining his best sectors bettered Lewis' best qualifying time by only 0.035s, which meant that he wasn't far off his best sector times in his best Q3 lap. The most he could have dropped in any one sector was therefore 0.035s, so there's no way he could have dropped 3 tenths in S2

What different opinions we have. Man the Sky coverage is awful sometimes! I'm glad whenever Channel 4 is live I get the chance to watch it. I would always pick it over Sky. The pre and post race coverage is way better. And I also think Ben Edwards and David Coulthard is a better combination than Crofty and Brundle. From what I have sometimes seen on Sky, Brundle moans too much about F1 used to be better and Crofty would rather talk about what he had for supper the previous night. He talks real nonsense in practice sessions especially. (but I unlike you, really, really dislike Crofty) Channel 4 is just so much better.

I know Edwards as well as Coulthard make mistakes when commentating but I'd say they sound more interested in what is going on than the Sky pair do. Sky are just off topic too often and during practice sessions, they often sound like they are commentating for a different program, or else it is awquard silence, Especially since Di Resta joined. It feels like he and Crofty don't get on that well. I've sometimes played BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and listened to Alan McNish commentate while watching sky on mute and what he says seems to relate to what is going on the screen than Crofty does! a lot of the time. Some may like his silly jokes but I really don't.

Lewis actually did make a mistake in the second sector on his final run in Q3 though...Not sure what the confusion is about. Didn't you see the session? The sector 2 time you're looking at is from his first run.