NEW For 2011 BBC One F1 Commentry Team

[ESPImperium]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/88857

So Leggard is finally gone with Brundle taking over Leggards role and DC taking over Brundles role?!?

Would have been better with the 5LiveF1 guys in my opinion with Brundle joining for quali and the race.

Whats your opinion on this one???

[Steven]

Sounds like a good move to me.

To me Martin Brundle is an extremely good commentator, calm, correct and to the point. Obviously we'll have to see how it goes, but I'm pretty confident it will be an improvement.

Anyway, I'll have to try Flemish TV again, as the broadcaster changed here as well. Perhaps it's better than VRT's commentators. That was a disaster You cannot believe how bad if you're already complaing of Legard :p

[ben_watkins]

For all of us peeps who watch the BBCs excellent coverage of F1, it looks like Jonathan Legard has been axed from the comms team..

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/88857

Personally I never found his commentary bad.. not great but not bad..

I do like Crofty and Ant Davidson on the Radio 5 Live/Kangaroo TV comms. A very light-hearted yet informative style.

And if the Autosport article is true, I'm not sure DC will be great in the comms box all race.. Bit of a dull voice. I liked the tension [real or pretend] between him and EJ during the links.

[Richard]

Hopefully, we'll see an end to scenarios where the commentary gets excited that there's going to a dramatic upheaval because a driver with a 30 second buffer starts losing a second or so per lap with 10 laps left. Doh! The guy's resting his car, no way is he going to be caught , or even overtaken. That was one of the maddening Laggard-isms.

Oh, and the random changes in pitch and excitement were annoying too.

Oh, and wanting to find conspiracy and drama was another annoyance. I hope Brundle & Coulthard stick to their "--- happens" approach. They both explained the "Alonso's faster than you" incident as part of racing.

Radio commentary is so much more professional for all sports, TV doesn't compare. Radio people say more (silence is forbidden), they have to explain (because you can't see a picture), and it has to be clear (because verbal diarrhoea on the radio is like a fuzzy pic on TV), they don't talk over each other (because we need to hear what they are saying), they have to say something of meaning (because there's no picture to be a fig leaf for up for their drivel)

[Martin Keene]

I think it is interesting that everybody spent years bitching about the commentator employeed by ITV and nothing happened. Coverage switches to the BBC, funded by the viewer and the public, and after two years of bitching he is gone.

Maybe the BBC really do listen...

[Richard]

They have different remits. ITV needs drama and excitement to fund advertising. The BBC has a remit of public service so it has to be informative and go for quality. You see it in all their output. ITV does X- factor brilliantly, BBC does Dr Who. One is bling, the other is creative. Having seen TV in other countries, I’d say we don’t recognise the quality that we get in the UK.

I dread it when politician’s meddle with TV/Radio. They should have a look at RAI in Italy or Fox in USA and realise “there but for the grace of God ..."

Rant over.. back to OP .. will be nice to educated and calm commentators who have actually been racing too.

[Sawtooth-spike]

This is good news in my book, i really didnt rate legard, he made really stupid mistakes all the time and was not very interesting.

Will DC and MB make a good team? who knows. But i think DC should be good on the grid as he knows most of the people down there (like MB did).

I must admin, Crofty and Ant are great, i think they should of gone with Crofty, and and Martin.

[tinhouse]

I'm glad to see the back of Legard, too. You would have thought that the BBC would want someone with either Murray Walker's personality or James Allen's knowledge but somehow with Legard they got someone with Walker's knowledge and Allen's (lack of) charisma ...

I, too really like the Davidson/Crofty combo but find that they tend to end up being TV commentators which is fine if you were watching with the video feed, but rubbish if, like me, you sometimes have stuff to do on race days and end up tuning in on the radio.

Anyway it'll be interesting to see how Brundle & Coulthard get on. They obviously go back a long way through the managment relationship, and as long as their natural competitiveness as drivers doesn't get into a one-upmanship thing as Walker and Brundle occasionally did then I think we could be in for some great and very informed commentary.

Looking forward to the first race even more now.

[Just_a_fan]

Having seen TV in other countries, I’d say we don’t recognise the quality that we get in the UK.

Ain't that the truth. We have some great TV in the UK (although there is too much of the mental anaesthetic e.g. X-factor etc. for my tastes).

[forty-two]

Well, far be it for me to launch into a pro-auntie rant, I do think that the BBC offers great value for money for it's license payers, and generally their output (across all categories) is world class with a few notable exceptions.

I like MB's commentary and I like DC's input, but I must admit that in the last couple of seasons, I have on a few occasions found myself wondering whether DC's opinion was perhaps being tainted by his ongoing connections to the Red Bull garage, although I can't remember the last time I thought that.

When MB took DC with him on the occasional grid-walk during the last couple of seasons, I got the feeling he was "training" him a little bit, but somehow the gridwalks were always "better" when MB went alone

I personally never objected to "the Ledge", not least because he's the dead spit of my father in law.

On the 5Live topic, I enjoy David Croft and Ant Davidson, but I just wish someone would teach the latter the proper use of the word "WHAT". How many times does he use the word WHAT when he means THAT? GRRR drives me mad!

[thestig84]

I think its a great move, Im very relieved I dont have to put up with repetitive phrases like "shot in the arm" and rhetorical questions all the time like "whats Alonso doing? and what about Hamilton" He should have been informing us not asking us! Not to mention the mistakes

Very surprised to see so much negativity to Brundle being lead and sudden love for Legard on twitter . Seems many are never happy. Quite a bit was from journos though so probably Legards friends. James Allen has written a well reasoned backing of Brundle on his blog http://goo.gl/fb/5x8oz

Im not worried about DC. I think he will be spot on with Brundle's 14 years experience to help him along. On his Redbull bias, Ive not really noticed it but Im sure he can curb it with tips from Martin. People who say he lacks charisma....err Legard?!!!

Edit to add. While I agree with pro Crofty comments I think people overlook that perhaps BBC asked him but he is happy where he is. He seems to thrive on 5live where he gets a bit more freedom and has his team that seem to be really good mates. Why should he want to swap!?

All in all a good move IMO, thank you BBC

[Richard]

I thought DC improved the grid walks. You could see from the body language that current drivers recognised him as one of them. They seemed more relaxed to chat, especially Vettel. You got a bit more camerderie coming across and an insight into driver banter.

[Pandamasque]

Legard was the main BBC F1 commentator last year, but that was then. And this is now. So here he is. Down the stairs. Touches the hand-rail... and another one. Out he goes. This is crucial. Meanwhile, there is Coulthard. He's right in the both, let's follow him. So...
This is the man in form, this is the man out in front. With a mic firmly in his hand. But is he gonna be good enough?

Seriously though, I'm happy JL is out and also that 5Live team will stay intact. I'm probably one of few outside UK who put the TV on mute and go through all the trouble to get iplayer working here.

Edit to add. While I agree with pro Crofty comments I think people overlook that perhaps BBC asked him but he is happy where he is. He seems to thrive on 5live where he gets a bit more freedom and has his team that seem to be really good mates. Why should he want to swap!?

Amen.