Speed TV's Coverage.

Leading up to Monza, there was a lot of speculation
spread through the media if teams were going to run
their F-ducts or not.

Some teams were saying they would run theirs, others
said they wouldn't and others were on the fence until
the last moment. A lot of misinformation was being
spread around and it's obvious a lot of what the
commentators have to go on is the team's press releases.

This was obvious when Buxton interviewed Schumacher
and MS corrected him and told him M-B were running their
defuser which seemed to be an embarrassing gaffe.

In this case though, the announcers are only going on
what they're being told and whether the information
they're being provided is accurate or not, they should
be more vigilant in their reporting.

The SpeedTV announce team is alright and could be
a lot worse remembering the days (not so long ago)
when we were saddled with the likes of Chris Economaky
Ken Squire and John Bizignano doing the F-1 broadcasts
when we were only getting 2-3 live races per year.

BYE

 

+1 We should be thankful we have any coverage at all. Remember that the Speed guys are doing the race from a studio in Charlotte. That's a huge logistical challenge. The average american has little to no knowlege or understanding of F1 and would probably prefer to see a rebroadcast of some NASCAR event instead of a Grand Prix.

 

I agree that the comments were not accurate along the weekend, they should pay more attention to the information that its right in front of them. At the same time, I would not like to lose any of the covarage we are having at the moment. I mean, to have live broadcast of practice 2, qualifying and the race in the USA, with F1 not being that popular.....it's incredible. I would like to see less commercials, but I understand that they need to be there in order for us to get this kind of coverage.

 

Sad to say but the talent pool is a bit shallow these days and the job of F1 coverage doesn't attract the best and the brightest here in the States.

 

I looked at the photo you quote and cannot tell if the Fduct was installed or not.

Bob

 

I heard him say that and I was thinking McLaren changed the whole rear of the car and took the bit off the car altogether that went back to the wing.

Which UK VPN do people like?

 

Ha- I grew up with MUCH worse.

Economacki would go on about "Ren-alts", "Alpha Romero's", "Le-gear's" (ie, Ligier's!!).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pDDF2KA5H4

 

I like Speed's coverage. At least these guys know what they're talking about. I've seen football announcers used for auto racing before who wouldn't know one driver from another, let alone the teams.

Speed is limited by what they get from the Int'l feed. And, I wish they would get rid of the commercials and go with side-by-side advertising. But, aside from that, I enjoy watching it and think they do a good job.

I would say that I could do away with this Will Buxton guy. He's terrible in his questions to the drivers. He either asks the obvious or asks something that must make the driver roll his eyes back in his head wondering why they even bother talking to the press.

 

Buxton is so much better than Wiener Pinzor that now it makes Varsha look really dumb.

I can't stand it when Buxton calls a spade and Varsha calls him cynical and sugar codes over Buxton's message.

Best example was Monza where Buxton exposed Red Bull's team orders and Varsha was trying to cover it all up again. What an absolute idiot.

Hobbs is too far away from it, but I like the guy. Just give him a Whisky before the show.

Matchett is getting on my nerves too with his pseudo tech talk ("Based on my calculations the pit window will open in 23 laps, there or thereabouts", well duh! it is a one pitstop race and I can divide the total laps by half, thank you very much) and all the artificial drama he is trying to create: "That exhaust note sounded very strange. I wonder whether there isn't a problem with the engine?"

However compared to some of the NASCAR commentators our 3 guys look like absolute genius. "Boggetty, boggetty, boggetty!"

 

Speed's coverage is fine. The guys are all enjoyable to listen to. And if they miss the occasional detail so what. It doesn't exactly make the race unwatchable. Maybe I'm just happy we no longer have to listen to Derek Daly!

I also agree on Buxton. I'd rather have Windsor over him.

 

Derek Daly --- worst announcer ever. I can't stand his condescending "well.. well.. well" at every mistake (aka: look at how the mighty have fallen)

 

+1

 

Couldn't disagree more. Windsor didn't ask any tough questions but just kissed drivers asses.
Buxton is much more of a real journo.

 

Nobody will get any revelations on the grid. Asking tough questions 10 minutes before the start while the drivers are trying to get in the zone for the race? Too late. They will either give boring canned responses or just start ignoring him completely because he's annoying.

Tough questions are what the rest of the weekend is for. Sunday is the time to report what he's learned.

 

After all the mess he made last year I can't even stand the sound of his voice.

 

I don't mind Hobbs and Matchett, its Varsha that needs to go...

 

It seems lately that Varsha is way more into announcing
the Barrett-Jackson auctions and he seems to be more
well suited for that duty than F-1.

Also, it is refreshing when someone else steps in occasionally
like when Hobbs is off vintage racing (or something). Active
drivers seem to do well and offer great insights; they should
do this more often.

Things could be worse, as pointed out. We could be saddled
with Paul Page who used to make a mockery of CART
broadcasts or football/baseball-type announcers which
seem to get worse by the year with only a few exceptions.

BHW

 

+1.

I have no real issues with the SpeedTV team, I think they do a good job all things considered. Will Buxton is a huge upgrade from Windsor but he is also clearly a huge McLaren fanboy which is highly annoying.

 

Worst Williams driver, too!

 

+1

funny how folks complain and don't realize what they have ... instead the race could be on Vs and we'd have Jack Arute calling the race, ugh.

 

Not really:

Daily collected 8 points in 12 races in the 1982 season.
Zanardi collected 0 points during the 1999 season.
Nakajima collected 0 points during the entire 2009 season.

Some other folks with zero points in a Williams drive
Mario Andretti
Jonathan Palmer
Brundle
Schlesser

Granted these folks only did one race for the team. However Schlesser is a hot candidate for worst Williams driver ever as he in-famously took out the leading Ayrton Senna at Monza and hence gifting the victory to Ferrari driver Berger.

Daily was no revelation, but definitely not the worst Williams (or F1) driver by any means.

And as a commentator he is about 20 years LESS detached from F1 than Hobbs.

Yes, it could be worse. But is that the measure of all things?

It could also be a LOT better. It got a good deal better with Buxton replacing the idiotic Wiener. And if we had a more current F1 driver in the group of 3, it would still be better. We have former F1 drivers here in the States. And they don't have to be 40 years out of the cockpit.

 

Sorry but I did like PW. I like Hobbs -- even though he steps over the other guys a lot and has a lot of errors in his commentary, he's old enough, and old-school enough, to get away with hilarious comments like "in his native polish it's stickski" (or whatever it was), etc.

The other guys are there to do a certain job and they do it well. Ever notice that when the races are on Fox they put everything in NASCAR terms? Especially ironic since SPEED is the NASCAR channel! My point is, the commentary is as it is because of the audience they are addressing. Not because the announcers themselves suck ... as in Daly and/or Abrute.