Martin Brundle & David Coulthard to be F1 commentators

[schead]

Originally Posted by cmotd

in my 25 years of F1 watching experience commentators tend to favour their countrymen, regardless of which team they're in. Anyone who isn't british will know what I mean after having experienced years of blatant Hamilton worship, Button worship, Hill worship, Mansell worship etc etc etc that is the only bias you will hear

Indeed. Whilst I went along with the Mansell worship, (I was 10 in 1986 when I started watching), I have been getting more ****ed off as the years go by. Brundle tends to be above it though, whilst DC tends to admit his preferences. Altogether, I think MB and DC will be less biased than the likes of JA and JL.

Or at least they will be more likely to admit bias.

[Teretonga]

Murray walker unashamedly spoke about british drivers but as a non-brit it never bothered me. I knew he worked for the BBC and later ITV, that the commentary was for them, so I understood and accepted that he would be nationalistic.

Honestly, its a non issue for foreigners. All commentators have some nationalistic bias and does it really matter?
No.

[E.B]

Originally Posted by wnut

As bella said ....
Also he has been associated with F1 for many years and continues to travel extensively with the F1 circus. His insightful and intimate knowledge of the people and teams involved in F1 is a real eye opener. Magnificent choice.

I cant believe I am saying this, but I would take Leggard back over Diffey in a heartbeat.... no I would go and learn another language and watch their broadcasts online!

Diffey permanently sounds like his jocks are on fire. Even his quiet tone is akin to James Allen with his 'Jenson Button wins the Hungarian Grand Prix' rendition.

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by E.B

I cant believe I am saying this, but I would take Leggard back over Diffey in a heartbeat.... no I would go and learn another language and watch their broadcasts online!

Diffey permanently sounds like his jocks are on fire. Even his quiet tone is akin to James Allen with his 'Jenson Button wins the Hungarian Grand Prix' rendition.

Ahh I think wnut was being a trifle sarcastic there....

But if I am wrong I'm sure he will correct me.

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by wnut

As bella said ....
Also he has been associated with F1 for many years and continues to travel extensively with the F1 circus. His insightful and intimate knowledge of the people and teams involved in F1 is a real eye opener. Magnificent choice.

I think you're joking. He is a terrible commentator and a dreadful human being as well probably.

Listening to him shout over WSBK coverage in the early noughties was a low point of my life. "HE'S DOWN!!1! HAARRRRGAAAAAAARRRR!!!! NORRY-YUKEY HAARRRRGAARRR!!!!!!!11!"

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by cmotd

For those of you who don't like reading the comments that you respond to, or who don't understand English very well I'll repeat what I said in bigger letters:

commentators tend to favour their countrymen

now, if you still don't understand what that means, i'll explain it more fully

British commentators favour British drivers
Australian commentators favour Australian drivers
etc

see how that works? I didn't say that Australian commentators wouldn't be biased, I actually said that they would be ... der

I never said you didn't! I said that you could do with your own commentator. Which it seems you could. I also made a little joke that they would also be biased. I suppose I may even have been suggesting that Aussies would be even more biased, but I only meant it in a light hearted way. At least that is the tact I like to take in the Webber threads! Just for a bit of banter. If we're going to take this nationality thing too far, I'm not really interested in taking part (this is not a negative comment directed at you BTW, just an observation of where I am coming from).

I'm sorry that we seemed to have reached a point that required that style of retort. Nothing was meant by me to imply anything you may or may not have written.

Anyway, you could do with your own (biased if you like or not) commentator. Wouldn't that be worth doing for whichever channel carries it? Would it mean more viewers (even in the middle of the night)?

[wnut]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

I think you're joking. He is a terrible commentator and a dreadful human being as well probably.

Listening to him shout over WSBK coverage in the early noughties was a low point of my life. "HE'S DOWN!!1! HAARRRRGAAAAAAARRRR!!!! NORRY-YUKEY HAARRRRGAARRR!!!!!!!11!"

I agree with Knowlesy above absolutely.

Just for the record - I was being hyper sarcastic none of what I posted was true I was trying to show the irony of having someone like him as a commentator and I could think of nothing worse than having him as a commentator.

The local feeds should take the commentary from the people who travel with the GP circus and have intelligent input into the show. The BBC coverage with whoever they use is way better than any other coverage I have seen anywhere. Hamilton hero worship can be sickening, and doing nothing but bag the Germans and Ferrari is also irritating, but still worth putting up with for the info it is surrounded by. Coulthard and Brundle should do a good job, their grid walks are excellent.
Coulthard asking the mechanics why anybody would bother copying that thing was one of the best I have ever heard.

[ECW Dan Selby]

If it's any consolation, the British worship or more specifically Hamilton worship is much better on BBC than it was on ITV. By 'better', I mean 'less of'

I swear at one stage the only word in Jim Rosenthal's vocabulary was 'Lewis Hamilton!'

Selby

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by ECW Dan Selby

If it's any consolation, the British worship or more specifically Hamilton worship is much better on BBC than it was on ITV. By 'better', I mean 'less of'

I swear at one stage the only word in Jim Rosenthal's vocabulary was 'Lewis Hamilton!'

Selby

Yeah and he was only presenting football highlights at the time.

[Paradise City]

Walker would put more attention towards the British drivers but he would discuss them rather than put them on a larger pedestal than the others. I don't mind that as his audience are Brits. James Allen, who's commentary was O.K, would worship Brits as christlike figures. That was nutty. Did Legard do that too? I can't remember to be honest.

[garcon]

I've always thought the degree of domestic hero worship varied more depending on the channel than the commentators.

In the UK, on ITV we came to expect the level of borderline xenophobic jingoism designed (rightly or wrongly) to appeal to the lowest common denominator - media-hype led, z-list celebrity worshipping Sun readers who'd never watched an F1 race before Lewis Hamilton('s other half) appeared in Heat magazine.

BBC are still biased towards British drivers in terms of coverage, but in a much less embarrassing way.

[E.B]

Originally Posted by wnut

Coulthard asking the mechanics why anybody would bother copying that thing was one of the best I have ever heard.

That particular comment / dig IIRC aimed at the Mercedes Team..... yet people are still questioning the conflict of interests issue and claiming he will be biased towards Mercedes.

Perhaps the fear of DC's possible favouritism of Merc F1 / RBR suggestion from some, is more a reflection of their own personal bias against DC, and being used to justify their personal bias rather than being a true concern over commentating ethics generally..

It is ok to have an opinion of personal favourites, (and those you dislike) and so there is no need to hide that like / dislike of an individual by making unfounded accusations to justify or cover a personal opinion. ie to post I like / dont like person X is fine, it is an opinion that is yours so no need to make factually incorrect statements to disguise / justify that opinion.

Not aimed at anyone in particular, just a general observation.

[Knowlesy]

]

Originally Posted by garcon

I've always thought the degree of domestic hero worship varied more depending on the channel than the commentators.

In the UK, on ITV we came to expect the level of borderline xenophobic jingoism designed (rightly or wrongly) to appeal to the lowest common denominator - media-hype led, z-list celebrity worshipping Sun readers who'd never watched an F1 race before Lewis Hamilton('s other half) appeared in Heat magazine.

BBC are still biased towards British drivers in terms of coverage, but in a much less embarrassing way.

It is better than ITV, but at the same time it was just a shift in bias too. It seems more pro-Button than pro-Lewis in my opinion. Legard and DC in particular seemed almost desperate for Jenson to win the McLaren battle at times.

This is more acceptable it would seem as Jenson is one of the boys. Or something.

But ITV was indeed a low point. People are incapable of independent thought and so ITV only succeeded in splitting the audience - 45% of the audience worshipped Hamilton as Jesus thanks to ITV, 45% hated him for no reason other than ITV. And still do! The other 10% were uninfluenced.

What was interesting though was around 2004 ITV did a similar hype job with Button, the only difference being he never actually achieved anything other than finishing third a bunch of times and flopping spectacularly at the Italian GP. We also got his girlfriend providing music to the San Marino GP because he got a pole position. And yet the backlash wasn't there then?

[strider]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

]It is better than ITV, but at the same time it was just a shift in bias too. It seems more pro-Button than pro-Lewis in my opinion. Legard and DC in particular seemed almost desperate for Jenson to win the McLaren battle at times.

This is more acceptable it would seem as Jenson is one of the boys. Or something.

I think there was a general feeling in the F1 paddock and elsewhere for that matter that Jenson was behaving like a particularly good WDC and this was appreciated, so there was some support for him on those grounds. Also, Brundle is a particular admirer of his ultra-smooth and economical driving style, whereas the GBP prefer Lewis's approach of ragging the a**** out of the car at all times, which is much better to watch.

[Peat]

Did anyone else see the erstwhile Mr.Legard on Football Focus this morning?

Seems he's been 'relegated' to covering non-league football.

scoff scoff scoff.

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by Peat

Did anyone else see the erstwhile Mr.Legard on Football Focus this morning?

Seems he's been 'relegated' to covering non-league football.

scoff scoff scoff.

He does the football league commentary too. Last week he was doing a Championship Swansea game.

The amount of times he said "crucial".

[ECW Dan Selby]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

He does the football league commentary too. Last week he was doing a Championship Swansea game.

The amount of times he said "crucial".

I watched that!!!

I was sitting there watching The Football League show then suddenly I think it was Swansea Vs. Cardiff came on, "with commentary, from Jonathan Legard". I laughed - I definitely laughed.

Then one of the teams conceded a penalty, for Jonathan to bark "well, this could be CRUCIAL!" - needless to say, I nearly spat my ahem, cigarette across the room!

In all seriousness, he was quite good I thought! Definitely better than on Formula One lol

Selby