When I first heard that ITV were giving up the UK TV rights to F1, and that the BBC were again to cover the sport, I was delighted. My delight was for the obvious reason that I would be able to enjoy continuous coverage of races without commericial breaks.
Since then I have had second thoughts, a host of doubts have troubled me. I realised that I had enjoyed ITV's coverage, the fact that they begin their coverage an hour before the grand prix start time, the analysis segments, the track guides.
And, of course, Martin Brundle's grid walks and informed commentary.There were TV reporters on the grid before Brundle arrived, and the BBC have more reporters and commentators than you can shake a stick at, all funded by the ever-generous taxpayer.
But who have the BBC got who drove in 158 F1 races, scoring 98 championship points? Who partnered Michael Schumaker, Reubens Barichello, Mika Häkkinen etc.? Who has been pulled out of the wreckage with bones broken and blood flowing?
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Just being an ex-driver is not qualification enough to be a commentator, but Brundle uses his background and the fact that he knows everyone in the sport to inform and enliven the viewer's experience—he usually understands what people are doing and why they are doing it, and can convey his knowledge simply, often with a memorable turn of phrase.
Admiration of Martin Brundle is widespread. He has won the Royal Television Society's best Sports Pundit award six times, he has been described by The Times as the greatest TV analyst in this or any other sport. Most tellingly, he is being sued by Max Mosley and the FIA—that has got to make him a good guy.
It may be that my concerns about losing Brundle from the F1 TV scene are groundless, and that he has a BBC contract in his back pocket. After all, he was an occasional F1 commentator for the BBC back in the Murray Walker days. Or it may be that he is not really interested, although I would be amazed.
Brundle is not perfect, he occasionally gets things wrong, of course he does. Mostly though, he gets things right.
Here is what he wrote about Max Mosley and his recreational activities:
"The specific detail of the scandal surrounding him is largely irrelevant, in my view. The sporting regulation he has used over the years to keep teams in check relates to bringing the sport into disrepute.
"If you live by the sword, you die by the sword."
A TV sports journalist who has the nerve to take on the head of his sport is simply not someone we can afford to lose.
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about 1 month ago
Great stuff Peter . Good t see an article on someone other than the drivers.
Martin Brundle is one man i want to see when the switch takes place . what a guy .
Just watch Kimi Raikkonens onboard Pole Lap at Spa Francorchamps last year , martin is terrific on the commentary , i cant think of a man who can explain :
a) what Kimi is doing throughout the lap
b) what the car is doing throughout the lap
c) describing every corner to a T
d) telling us what the driver feels through each corner , forces , gravity etc .........
Long may king brundle reign .
5 stars . POTD to follow
about 1 month ago
Allen and Blunder, the two worst race announcers after Murray Walker. F1 coverage from UK is the worst ever, as long as they don't take Allen and Blunder, the show will be better.
from about 1 month ago
James Allen I'd have to agree with but when Martin BRUNDLE and Murray Walker were the commentators F1 coverage was amazing. I don't know who you think does a better job because frankly I'd have to disagree, whoever you chose.
about 1 month ago
Has there been any say about who the BBC will or won't be using for their new F1 coverage?
from about 1 month ago
There has not, but we should know in August. There have been media claims that the BBC would like Brundle to be F1 anchor man, with Jonathan Legard as race commentator, and David Coulthard and/or Damon Hill as pundits.
from about 1 month ago
I believe David Croft will be a member of the team. He does the commentary for f1 on the radio.
about 1 month ago
If they want great coverage, they should take a live feed from the States.
about 1 month ago
Another has been like the Music Hall Man and Wurzil Gummidge.
He should go back to banger racing and watching Pickies lay tarmac.
I hope he has plenty of money to pay Max Mosley.
If anyone brings F1 into disrepute it is Martin Brundel.
about 1 month ago
I think keeping Brundle would be a good move as I have said before ... I am sure they could keep the full team the big one for everyone is probably the dropping of James Allen and his greatest hits ! I think the vast majority of us on here would agree with that one !
about 1 month ago
I am sure the NoW will have a job ready for Brundel.
Those of like mind should stick together.
about 1 month ago
Paul, I'm not sure if you're dissing Mark Blundell (fair play) or Martin Brundle (outrageous). The two are business partners, which might go some way towards explaining Blundell's presence. I've not seen the US coverage of F1, so can't comment on that.
Keith, how exactly does Brundle bring F1 into disrepute? And how are you associating him with the NoW?
Mark & Ben, you are two fine fellows with impeccable taste.
Thanks to all for reading and commenting!
about 1 month ago
No Peter I was referring to Brundle, in my humble opinion, the current GP coverage, is at best second rate!
about 1 month ago
5 stars nice one mate. loved it!
about 1 month ago
Let us wait and see the results of the pending court cases to find out just how Brundel matches the morals and values of the NoW.
Brundel is only a second rate media commentator, his opinions on F1 are irrelevant.
We can but hope that any future cases in France will expose far more information and that the editor and hacks of the NoW responsible for the Mosley entrapment end up in prison where they belong.
about 1 month ago
Brundle cannot be replaced by a single man on this earth .
Could you see anyone else walking up to max mosely and saying what he did ( after alonso blocking saga 05 or 06 ) . he really give him a piece of his mind on live TV .
The way he tries to get a chat with Raikkonen , even tho he knows the answer will be NO after brazil 2006 .
Walking up to nicole sherzinger and saying " nicole , lewis hamiltons girlfriend ? " who on earth is there that would say that kind of stuff ?
If they keep brundle and louise goodman ill be happy , in fact ted kravitz can stay too he does a good job when in the pit lane .
about 1 month ago
great stuff mate, five stars! i would like to see brundle commentating for the beeb, just as long as james allen doesn't follow him. i think a brundle/coulthard line up would be pretty cool.
about 1 month ago
Dont bank on it.
about 1 month ago
Brundle has quite rightly won a few awards for his ability to translate the high energy and highly technical world of F1 down to its base elements so even the most casual of channel surfers can understand.
The only thing that has been wrong with his commentary lately is the guy who he has been paired with.
Due to Allen's incompetance at tearing his eyes away from the timing screens and predicting strategies instead of telling us what is actually happening right in front of our eyes, Martin has had to do more of the lead commentary work and less analysing.
Pair him with someone decent again and we'll see him get back to his brilliant best.
I'm still hoping for the BBC dream team of Ben Edwards and Brundle, however I'm fearing that it is a bit of a fanboy fantasy at the moment.
Ben Edwards is easily the best commentator around, just listen to his enthusiasm and excitement on BTCC or A1GP broadcasts, and if you paired that up with Brundle's insightful analysis then the sky would be the limit!
Still, whoever the BBC get in it will be better than the lead at the moment, I just hope they manage to seperate the wheat from the chaff and bring Brundle and the best of the ITV team over while jettisoning the rest!
Thanks for a great article, interesting to see something on the media side of the sport. It is something I take a great interest in and tempted to write about myself, but wondered if there'd be any audience for it. Well, know I know, and I thank you for it! ;-)
about 1 month ago
I think hiring Juan Pablo Montoya would be great move. At least we would laugh. F1 parody. Or someone else similar.
I would like to see F1 on Eurosport again.
about 1 month ago
Put simply, if brundle isn't there and james allen is, I refuse to watch a UK feed. I'll find some way of watching the US feed.
Brundle and Ben Edwards would be a great partnership, but I think that Maurice Hamilton may get it. He already does the 5 live coverage and has reported on F1 for donkey's years.
F1 on BBC should be very good. I just hope the same production team could do it. They do such a good job, and frankly, the only things that should change are allen and the ad breaks.
about 1 month ago
Hey people, I found the piece I was looking for, it's fairly recent, but I can't remember the date but heres the link:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-1032607/Beeb-want-Brundle-F1-hot-seat.html
about 1 month ago
It wouldn't surprise me if you'd be able to watch the F1 and choose the audio like they do with the football. It'll probably be available on BBC HD too!
about 1 month ago
how many races or championships did martin win? Sorry, but I won't miss him and his biased comments which side british drivers. Frankly the cars have changed since he last raced and there have been new tracks too.
ITV spends an hour before the show, lots of this and that to fill in the time but they have NO Courtesy for its F1 viewers to show the FULL post race conference with all three drivers. Take the last race for instance, lewis won and they only showed lewis yap away. Did they show massa or piquet?
I love F1 and next to the actual race, I have always looked forward to watching the three podium winners talk at the post race questions. For me, its the end of a great race day viewing. I don't want to go and try and waste bandwidth to view it at the itv website.
Anyway, I am sure BBC will be able to get some ex-F1 drivers to fill in the shoes of Martin. Take coultard as an example. Soon to retire and in need of a job. Mr. Button should follow Coultard in my opinion too and he loves talking to make excuses for his poor F1 career.
All in all, I would be happy to see the last of ITV showing F1 and along with their commentators. Bring on BBC and hopefully a new crew.
from about 1 month ago
sorry, but martin has won le mans. he is a f1 veteran, and one of the most respected men in the sport. is that not enough for you?
why would F1 tv show the whole press conference when you quite easily watch on the website? people forget that there is such a thing as time constraints.
coulthard hasn't won any titles, so why would he get the gig over his manager? why the hell would jenson ever get a pundits job?
brundle doesn't make poor excuses for his career, he just knows, as do we, that he never had a good enough car to win. when he was next to schumy, they set the car up primarily for ze german.
just get rid of allen. he makes you want to punch the tv. i actaully had the race on tv, but my radio blaring with 5 live.
from about 1 month ago
The ITV commentators are talking to a mainly British audience, amongst whom there is naturally an interest in British drivers, that was true in the BBC days and will be true again next year. However, I would deny that proper respect and appreciation has not been shown to other drivers.
I know of no reason to think that the BBC will give F1 greater scheduling priority than ITV have done, the reason being the same poor audience figures that have caused ITV to bail out. These closely relate to my previous paragraph, the rise of British Lewis Hamilton has boosted the UK F1 audience somewhat. Even so, an F1 race rarely attracts more than 5 million UK viewers, and only then when it occurs in peak viewing time in the evening. Our enthusiasm for F1 should not blind us to the fact that most people see it as terminally dull.
from about 1 month ago
Great comments Eric, spot on!
about 1 month ago
i see no reasons why the BBC shoudnt take on itvs team. its a great team for starters, and i dont care what anyone says, Brundle is easily the best motorsports commentator going at the moment. I remember when he joined murray for he 97 season when itv first began their coverage.
The adverts were stupid like, but what could you really do about that. anyone remeber when alonso and schumi were battling for a race win in italy? and like 3-5 laps before the end of the race itv went for a break....
anyway, brundle should go to the bbc, and its true, he might actually not be too bothered about going, but listening to him commentating and all his pieces he does for the fans, id think he would be wanting to still commentate, and to go to the bbc. And if he does want to go, the bbc would be absolutely daft not to take him.
i would be really dissapointed if he isnt at the bbc next year. please Martin!!!!!!! Join the BBC!!!!
so you can continue your great work.
i was actually going to write an article about this issue, but yeh, you beat me to it hehe well done
and a word for the great one.....murray walker is a legend! and he should do say, a one off appearance a year for the british gp. As long as he warmed up for it a few weeks before...so he isnt rusty!! you kno the bbc want to do that.....
about 1 month ago
You talk of Walker and Blunder, saying they are the best ever. May I ask who else you have heard, for your comparison?
from about 1 month ago
for F1, well wasnt murray commentating for many years, so i dont think there is anyone better than him. martin has won at least 5 awards for his commentating, with the judges saying he is the best at his game, and the times said he was the greatest tv anaylist in this or any other sport.
im not the only one saying how good he is...
and i havnt heard anyone else do F1. because well how would i. i have BBC1 BBC2 ITV1 AND CHANNEL 4 so yeah.
whos your greats paul? who does tickles your fancy?
about 1 month ago
The best I have heard are the Speed channel guys from the states, great coverage, very entertaining!
from about 1 month ago
yeah i think everyone has a fave dont they. some people may prefer british commentators to american that kind of thing.
from about 1 month ago
Some of the Speed commentators are English, David Hobbs is for sure!
about 1 month ago
Academic really, there is unlikely to be a British GP after 2009 and Brundel will have a different reason for public interest long before then.
about 1 month ago
Picking up on earlier comment, I have no idea what people's fascination is about the press conference.
Personally I prefer to see the drivers do what they do best, race, not sit in a room looking like a deer in the headlights struggling to come up with new ways to say "well, thanks to the team for some great strategy and that combined with me trying my hardest meant I won/got a podium" blah blah blah.
F1 has become so corporate and media savvy it's not like they can say anything that would actually make the damn thing interesting, like insulting a rival or questioning a decision of the officials or anything like that so I can do without the bland PR briefed statements thank you very much.
It's the same in NASCAR too, they ask the driver how he managed to win the race and all they get is: "Oh well, the gatorade I drank before the race gave me the energy I needed and the Goodyear tyres didn't blow for a change so I could stay on the track. When I'm not racing I shop at Target and Home Depot and drink Pepsi..thank you very much!"
Drivers should drive, I could care less about hearing them talk!
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