The Official 2018 F1 Thread
03-25-2018 | 12:11 PM
#31
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Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 867
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From: Maryland
You must not watch any Indycar on ABC, although luckily that dreadful deal is over at the end of this year. Hopefully no one responsible for ABC's coverage gets involved with ESPN, but the missed restarts would suggest otherwise.
03-25-2018 | 12:28 PM
#32
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Joined: May 2011
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From: San Carlos, CA 94070
That was one of the worst live sports broadcasts I've ever seen. It was like they had commercials on a timer and just threw them in whenever they were due. If ESPN can't afford to have someone watching the stream to push the "commercials now" button why bother. I also never understand why they can't cut a commercial block short when something happens. It's bizarre that seemingly simple things aren't done.
My "favorite" moment was when apparently SkyTV had a commercial break and ESPN didn't even bother to throw in their own commercials.
03-25-2018 | 12:31 PM
#33
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Joined: Jan 2016
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From: On a pygmy pony over by the dental floss bush
+1
Poor production quality, unintelligible commentary (especially Paul DiResta), technical problems in the "On The Grid" pre-race show for the first 19 minutes and 24 seconds and when it did come on poor Martin Brundle looked like a lost tourist roaming about with no plan or situational awareness. Last year, Will Buxton at least added some charisma to the scene and Will was pretty in tune to the behind the scenes goings-on from both a technical perspective about the cars and the driver/team side of things. And I always enjoyed the post-race interviews with all the drivers in the field that F1 Extra provided when NBCSN covered the races. No such coverage with ESPN and SkySports. IMO, a huge downgrade on overall TV content and coverage with respect to NBCSN coverage. Not that NBCSN was perfect, just better.
The race itself, heartbreaking to see HAAS cars drop out for what was obviously pit crew jitters and lack of preparation. I see now that Toto is blaming Hamilton's loss on a "software glitch" with their race strategy software, the same software they've been using for 5 years. Hmmm....yeah (spoken with Bill Lumberg accent from Office Space). That doesn't explain why Hamilton couldn't pass Vettel after the pit stop pass Vettel made. Vettel's car was better for him on the second set of tires.
Poor production quality, unintelligible commentary (especially Paul DiResta), technical problems in the "On The Grid" pre-race show for the first 19 minutes and 24 seconds and when it did come on poor Martin Brundle looked like a lost tourist roaming about with no plan or situational awareness. Last year, Will Buxton at least added some charisma to the scene and Will was pretty in tune to the behind the scenes goings-on from both a technical perspective about the cars and the driver/team side of things. And I always enjoyed the post-race interviews with all the drivers in the field that F1 Extra provided when NBCSN covered the races. No such coverage with ESPN and SkySports. IMO, a huge downgrade on overall TV content and coverage with respect to NBCSN coverage. Not that NBCSN was perfect, just better.
The race itself, heartbreaking to see HAAS cars drop out for what was obviously pit crew jitters and lack of preparation. I see now that Toto is blaming Hamilton's loss on a "software glitch" with their race strategy software, the same software they've been using for 5 years. Hmmm....yeah (spoken with Bill Lumberg accent from Office Space). That doesn't explain why Hamilton couldn't pass Vettel after the pit stop pass Vettel made. Vettel's car was better for him on the second set of tires.
03-25-2018 | 01:42 PM
#35
Three Wheelin'
Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 1,420
Likes: 95
From: Philadelphia, PA
Originally Posted by okie981
That doesn't explain why Hamilton couldn't pass Vettel after the pit stop pass Vettel made. Vettel's car was better for him on the second set of tires.
Look how Ricardo pulled away from Alonso after restart and their was a queue including boats behind Alonso.
Hamilton was faster ( on strat14) than Vettel but couldn't pass
03-25-2018 | 03:21 PM
#37
Racer
Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 279
Likes: 7
+1
Poor production quality, unintelligible commentary (especially Paul DiResta), technical problems in the "On The Grid" pre-race show for the first 19 minutes and 24 seconds and when it did come on poor Martin Brundle looked like a lost tourist roaming about with no plan or situational awareness. Last year, Will Buxton at least added some charisma to the scene and Will was pretty in tune to the behind the scenes goings-on from both a technical perspective about the cars and the driver/team side of things. And I always enjoyed the post-race interviews with all the drivers in the field that F1 Extra provided when NBCSN covered the races. No such coverage with ESPN and SkySports. IMO, a huge downgrade on overall TV content and coverage with respect to NBCSN coverage. Not that NBCSN was perfect, just better.
The race itself, heartbreaking to see HAAS cars drop out for what was obviously pit crew jitters and lack of preparation. I see now that Toto is blaming Hamilton's loss on a "software glitch" with their race strategy software, the same software they've been using for 5 years. Hmmm....yeah (spoken with Bill Lumberg accent from Office Space). That doesn't explain why Hamilton couldn't pass Vettel after the pit stop pass Vettel made. Vettel's car was better for him on the second set of tires.
Poor production quality, unintelligible commentary (especially Paul DiResta), technical problems in the "On The Grid" pre-race show for the first 19 minutes and 24 seconds and when it did come on poor Martin Brundle looked like a lost tourist roaming about with no plan or situational awareness. Last year, Will Buxton at least added some charisma to the scene and Will was pretty in tune to the behind the scenes goings-on from both a technical perspective about the cars and the driver/team side of things. And I always enjoyed the post-race interviews with all the drivers in the field that F1 Extra provided when NBCSN covered the races. No such coverage with ESPN and SkySports. IMO, a huge downgrade on overall TV content and coverage with respect to NBCSN coverage. Not that NBCSN was perfect, just better.
The race itself, heartbreaking to see HAAS cars drop out for what was obviously pit crew jitters and lack of preparation. I see now that Toto is blaming Hamilton's loss on a "software glitch" with their race strategy software, the same software they've been using for 5 years. Hmmm....yeah (spoken with Bill Lumberg accent from Office Space). That doesn't explain why Hamilton couldn't pass Vettel after the pit stop pass Vettel made. Vettel's car was better for him on the second set of tires.
The pre-race show was the perfect start for the kind of coverage it looks we're going to get with this cheaped out TV package. Maybe Liberty will spend some of the money saved on more grid girls - woops, screwed that up too. I also miss the post race corral interviews, the tech segments and all the other bits missing now.
Over the years, the video coverage has always been provided by the F1 feed with commentary added off site. I think NBC Sports only covered Three events while on site in 2017. What Liberty has done is contract with ESPN to broadcast the European oriented Sky Sport feed as is, doing away with the extra cost of a dedicated U.S. oriented commentary crew. As a result, we get metric weather info on the graphics (how many American F1 fans know that 8 m/s is windy), surprise commercial breaks with no recap or explanation on what happened when coverage resumes and a poor viewing experience in general.
This mess can be easily fixed if the tight wads at Liberty would part with some money to re-institute a U.S. based commentary crew using the F1 feed.
Maybe if enough fans voice their displeasure, changes will be made.
The race itself was a typical opening round on a no passing style track. Unfortunately the outcome was dictated by the decision to use the VSC in an actual pace car situation (which Charlie figured out after the damage had been done), and luck instead of the better car/driver on track.
Hopefully, Bahrain will be better.
03-25-2018 | 04:06 PM
#38
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2004
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But hey, if there's a team who can get away with breaking the rules/spirit of the rules without a penalty being applied, it's Ferrari.
Bish
03-25-2018 | 04:19 PM
#39
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From: Durham, NC and Virginia International Raceway
Not that it makes a difference, but ESPN just apologized for their subpar performance... can’t wait for the F1 streaming app. So sorry for the HAAS boys.
03-25-2018 | 06:09 PM
#40
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Joined: Feb 2005
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From: 01776
I really don't think its "Racing" at all when a team uses a flaw in the rules to gain time by driving thru' the pits. Hell, the VSC rule is designed to slow the cars down on track; maintain the separation and avoid having to bring out the actual SC and concertina everybody up. Never was it written to allow someone to skirt the rules by picking up time driving thru' pit row.
But hey, if there's a team who can get away with breaking the rules/spirit of the rules without a penalty being applied, it's Ferrari.
Bish
But hey, if there's a team who can get away with breaking the rules/spirit of the rules without a penalty being applied, it's Ferrari.
Bish
03-25-2018 | 06:18 PM
#41
Drifting
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 2,138
Likes: 179
03-25-2018 | 07:13 PM
#42
Instructor
Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 111
Likes: 21
From: Williamsburg, VA
Let’s give it time...Brundle knows what he is talking about. The other fellow Croft is a bit giddy, DiResta being Scottish takes awhile to understand.
For Melbourne the racing was pretty good.
Alonso should be pleased, Vettel happy, Hamilton losing out (I don’t care), and Kimi was entertaining as always. Haas proved they will be competitive, Verstappen went to school. I think this year is going to be great as long as it doesn’t turn into a Mercedes runaway.
For Melbourne the racing was pretty good.
Alonso should be pleased, Vettel happy, Hamilton losing out (I don’t care), and Kimi was entertaining as always. Haas proved they will be competitive, Verstappen went to school. I think this year is going to be great as long as it doesn’t turn into a Mercedes runaway.
03-25-2018 | 09:28 PM
#43
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Joined: Jan 2016
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From: On a pygmy pony over by the dental floss bush
Granted, but Toto's excuse was lame IMO.
03-25-2018 | 09:33 PM
#44
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From: On a pygmy pony over by the dental floss bush
03-25-2018 | 09:37 PM
#45
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Joined: Jan 2008
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From: S. Florida