The first one in particular gets on my tits. Typical Benson. Nobody would deny that Hamilton is quick, but he's always making out that Hamilton is somehow a cut above the rest, and then comes out with a bullshit statement like "it is a belief widely shared in F1" to back it up. That's his signature move right there. Like Legard's "a team principle who (conveniently) wishes to remain anonymous tells me..." He looks for any excuse to deify Hamilton, and takes any opportunity for a thinly veiled dig at Vettel. I couldn't believe his qualifying report this weekend, which was full of superlatives for Seb. I reckon someone had slipped something in his coffee. He probably woke up the next morning aghast at what he'd done. Back on form today though. An interesting comment in the blog though was that Alonso sounded out Christian Horner in 2007. Imagine how differently things could've been if he'd joined RBR rather than Renault...
Even with all the failings of BBC blogs, i much prefer there coverage than on ITV, so for now i dont really mind what BBC's journalists say.
Very true. Jim Rosenthal + commercial breaks = annoying. However, the BBC is publicly funded and, as licence fee payers, it's totally justified to expect and demand the highest levels of journalistic quality and a reasonable degree of impartiality. And any media outlet should ensure its output is factually correct.
Well im from Ireland, so thanks for paying , I dont actually read any of these blogs, i always meant to read Brundle's but never did.
You guys should be happy BBC covers F1, over here on the other side of the north sea, things aren't that great when you want to watch a decent coverage of a F1 GP. So I would say, thanks BBC for a genuine effort to bring a live coverage. At least we own the best circuit in the world ( maybe not for long)
I think the criticism of BBC's sloppy and at time unprofessional journalism is justified. However, we should keep this in perspective because their TV coverage of live events and particularly motor racing, is second to none. None that is. Anywhere on the planet! Of course, I am not suggesting they can sit on their laurels; they certainly have a few who appear to be along for the ride; but the TV coverage is simply superb in my opinion. ITV on the other hand, managed to make a quality thing look cheap and tacky with their outrageous, frequent and over-extended advertising breaks which had the motor-racing fan-base pulling their hair out at those dreaded words of Rosenthal or Steve Ryder: "And we'll be back right after the breakâ¦"! Let's keep this in perspective. The BBC have weak links but having got rid of the most bizarre and weakest of all, their coverage of F1 is now superb; and if the BBC lose F1 or drop it for whatever reason, we will all lament the dayâ¦
Very true, cosi, and I think the general consensus for the BBC's TV presentation is that, notwithstanding a few minor irritations, it is very good both in comparison with ITV's pitiful execution and in its own right as a sports TV show. I think both the OP and FF's bump are intended to direct the thread towards criticism of BBC Online's reporting, which is more often than occasionally "unprofessional."
I dont know, there were some points I liked about ITV's show. I mean it raised the bar alot when it took over. It made the bbc show before hand look quite shoddy.
I am well aware of that, Genji. Perhaps I understated my first line? I mentioned their TV presentation in order to keep a bigger perspective, since the title of the thread is generalised across BBC's coverage, of which the on-line reporting is just a part. I agree that this non-TV stuff is sloppy and fully justifies being criticised, which is why I said so.
No, that's why I quoted your first line, cosi. I was just trying to direct the thread back towards its intended objective and away from the TV presentation. There have been plenty of discussions about the TV show, how good it is, and how much better it is now that Legard has gone.
In what areas did ITV's coveraage raise the bar, El Bando? Personally I groaned when I found out about F1's move to ITV, despised its' shallow coverage and incessant commercial breaks, and didn't like their presenters (except the blonde woman who was alright).
Just reading the other posts and it seems I've gone off topic along with some others. Blogs and tweets and all that guff rarely tell anyone anything new, so blogs and tweets about F1 are no exception. Even Brundle, whose opinion I generally seek out, only ever rehashes what went on in the race and offers his view. What more could anyone do? Spend hours upon hours on the plane studying every lap of the race, listening to every radio transmission between the drivers and teams, harrassing team managers for the inside, inside, inside scoop? As far as I am concerned as soon as you read the word blog, you already know exactly what you're going to get. How many times does anyone eagerly click on whatsername's blog, hoping for a detailed breakdown of Sutil's pitstop strategy only to find out it's actually about cups of tea and custard creams? I actually quite like the idea of engineers drinking tea and eating custard creams. I'm no coffee drinker because I think it tastes like mud, and custard creams are plain enough not to be poncy, and fancy enough not to be dull. So big respect to those sterling fellows who buy the right sort of biccies for the hard working pit crew.
