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"BBC snatch F1"

What about that news today F1 heading back to the BBC Yeah no more commercial breaks!

Just imagine what Clarkson would be like commentating on F1. May woild probably complain that it's too noisy and fast.

Quite easy, until Clarkson gets punched in the face after irritating "Eyebrow Man"?

The perfect commentator combination has always been a fan and a ex-driver combination. It's why Murray Walker was such a hit. His enthusiasm was infectious and he could just focus on the action while the ex-driver would focus on the technical side.

It's a reason why James Allen doesn't work. He used to spend his time in the pit lane being close to the teams and working out fuel strategies. He is too intimately involved to ever be the next Murray Walker. Martin Brundle is good and should stay in the commentary box.

I would love to see a Top Gear special where the 3 of them commentate and/or take control of an F1 weekend. How hard can it be? :)

I'm optimistic for the BBC's coverage here, personally hoiping that Allen's got rid of myself as not only is he inherantly biased and irritating, but gets his statistics wrong; if he's obsessed with them and I can prove him wrong, that's a pretty strong indictment!

I'd like to see Martin Brundle at least to be hired by the beeb, but the rumours on presenters are interesting; Richard Hammond and David Coulthard (I imagine this could be his last year in F1) have both been mentioned. I'd be amused to see the other Top Gear presenters involved too, but I that'd make things a bit silly, possibly? :^)

Adrian Chiles is good at presenting all manner of things, maybe he'd be suitable too?

I was trying to think what ITV had to 'replace' F1 and then I remembered the deal ITV and Setanta made to air England and FA Cup matches. That starts from August 2008 so that might be a conflict.

After seeing the excellent job BBC have done with Moto GP,It will be a letdown if they don't do as good a job with F1.Martin Brundle and Louise Goodman are both good presenters but James Allen and Ted Kravitz are rubbish.I think having an ex driver (and current driver manager) on board like Brundle opens doors other presenters would find shut.For this reason I think it would be good news if he came across to the BBC.But most of all having to take a break from watching 20 odd cars covered in adverts been driven round a track plastered in adverts to watch a 5 min break of some more adverts wont be missed at all !!!.

Steve Ryder used to do the BBC's coverage but seeing as he moved to ITV not so long ago, it would be a difficult move back possibly.

James Allen has to go really. He is the cause of the Hamilton bias in the commentary box. Keep Martin Brundle though. I like him as his analysis and information about the cars are one of the highlights of ITV's coverage.

I've read a lot about people wanting Ryder hosting, Blundell out, Brundle and Ben Edwards in the commentary box, and Louise Goodman out with a younger woman in the pitlane, someone like Suzi Perry as she works for the BBC. Suzi Perry has critised F1 in the past though, hasn't she?

There has also been a lot of debate about the theme song. To me, The Chain screams F1 and I would love to have it back but some want something more updated.

EDIT: I just read news of broadcasters being allowed to have more ad breaks in programmes. With this and ITV wanting more football, I can see Bernie biting ITV's hand off when they offered to opt out of their deal.

I agree with all you say, on the ITV forum there are calls to bring back Murray Walker! ( I hope not though) can you imagine his kiss of death returning! louise goodman is good but Steve Ryder is a NO NO! i hope they can get a good team together as its a quality sport that needs quality commentators not biased ones - its a strange move for ITV as I am sure that LH will do well and would have secured lots of advertising for them, I favour the Red team myself and we wont talk about last weekends disasterous start to this seasons campaign :0

Digi

The biggest advantage will be no adverts. The amount of times I've watched ITV's coverage and something has happened while ITV was on a break was mind boggling. One occasion was when Hakkinen won the World Championship because Schumacher's tyre deflated all in an ad break. Even Hamilton slowing down in the last race last season was during an ad break.

It goes without saying that the BBC can't go back to what they did all those years ago. They can't just turn up for the formation lap or start qualifying 25 minutes late. I personally don't want to see the Hamilton bias. I watch F1 for the racing, not for everyone to purr over Hamilton for an hour and a half.

It's going to be an interesting transition though. Which of the ITV staff currently will they keep, if any? Will they show practice on interactive as I doubt they will show it on the BBC channels or will that be a website thing? Will they show practice at all? What channel will it appear on? Probably BBC2 but you never know.

I personally can't wait. The BBC's sports coverage is usually pretty good nowadays and the snooker and other interactive coverage is what interactive is all about. You don't have to miss something if you don't want to.

The decision to stop the contract from ITV one year short is a curious one. They are saying it's for commercial reasons but I don't buy into that excuse. If anything, the Hamilton factor has boosted audience figures and the recent introduction of practice on the website showed what demand there was as the slowdown they suffered was pretty bad.

It would seem that the BBC have got an amazing deal and I hope they take advantage of it, so we'll have to see what they have planned. They have a year to work it all out.

What about that news today F1 heading back to the BBC Yeah no more commercial breaks!