2021 F1 Driver ThreadFormula 1

[UnkaD]

I wonder how long it'll take for Crofty to say something like "Arise, Sir Lewis!" I imagine it'll happen on his first pole or win of the year.

I miss Steve Matchett.

 

[Blitz24]

I miss Steve Matchett.

That was half of the reason to watch F1 in the US. To listen to Hobbs, Matchett and Varsha.

 

[SlowGrayAudi]

Crofty is the worst commentator.

Just stick the retired old boys club in there.

Brundle
Di Resta
Ant/Karun

That way we dont have an idiot shouting the wrong name half the race.

 

[Liquid]

Crofty is the worst commentator.

Never liked his commentary. Nor Ben Edwards.

I don't know why but I'm just very hard to please when it comes to lead commentary. I haven't enjoyed many in the last 20 years apart from German language broadcasting's Jacques Schultz.

And for the record, you can't have two race drivers as commentators because whoever takes the lead role sounds like an idiot having to ask the other commentator for technical explanations he clearly actually does know already but has to ask on behalf of the audience.

 

[SlowGrayAudi]

Never liked his commentary. Nor Ben Edwards.

I don't know why but I'm just very hard to please when it comes to lead commentary. I haven't enjoyed many in the last 20 years apart from German language broadcasting's Jacques Schultz.

And for the record, you can't have two race drivers as commentators because whoever takes the lead role sounds like an idiot having to ask the other commentator for technical explanations he clearly actually does know already but has to ask on behalf of the audience.

Thats a good point you bring up.

I dont know his name but the commentator that does the GT World Challenge europe. The guy that is obviously older i think is fantastic. His vocabulary is second to none as well.

Gonna try to find his name.

 

[ScottPuss20]

Thats a good point you bring up.

I dont know his name but the commentator that does the GT World Challenge europe. The guy that is obviously older i think is fantastic. His vocabulary is second to none as well.

Gonna try to find his name.

John Watson?

 

[SlowGrayAudi]

David addison or john watson. One of those guys

 

[Roo]

I'd rather see a PER VER on the podium than a pervert at the back of the grid...

A top 3 of Perez - Verstappen - Tsunoda would give you perverts at the front of the grid.

 

[daan]

I wonder how long it'll take for Crofty to say something like "Arise, Sir Lewis!" I imagine it'll happen on his first pole or win of the year.

 

[PeterJB]

Hamilton hasn't made any kind of acknowledgement yet. Maybe he's planning to reject it?

 

[Liquid]

 

[mustafur]

Never liked his commentary. Nor Ben Edwards.

I don't know why but I'm just very hard to please when it comes to lead commentary. I haven't enjoyed many in the last 20 years apart from German language broadcasting's Jacques Schultz.

And for the record, you can't have two race drivers as commentators because whoever takes the lead role sounds like an idiot having to ask the other commentator for technical explanations he clearly actually does know already but has to ask on behalf of the audience.

Guess I'm in the minority here but the stupid questions that a non race car driver would bring up just hurt my head, I do admit I'm a fan girl for the Brundle/Walker or even the Hunt/Walker combo, but I really didn't mind the Couldthard/Brundle combo in BBC, it worked for me, Couldthard is pretty laid back which makes it work more then a upright race driver like Diresta or Chandhok who aren't as much so, A laid back Ex F1 driver defeintly works imo.

I think Button would probably work in this role as well, he is similar to Coulthard.

 

[PeterJB]

I wasn't watching F1 at the time so I don't have any particularly warm feelings towards Murray Walker. Martin Brundle is a saint. James Allen was just a proto-Crofty, Jonathan Legard was meh, Coulthard is fine other than his fetish for fuel levels, Ben Edwards is a tad too enthusiastic for my liking, and Alex Jacques is fantastic.

 

[Jimlaad43]

Hamilton hasn't made any kind of acknowledgement yet. Maybe he's planning to reject it?

He has accepted it because the Honours list when it is released shows all those who accepted the awards. The letters of acceptance are sent out prior and people are given time to accept or reject it, and if you reject it, you don't appear on the Honours list and it isn't acknowledged that you were nominated out of respect for your decision.

 

[NotThePrez]

Well, 🤬 me, then! That was substantially faster than expected, and just as bad as I expected.

And for the record, you can't have two race drivers as commentators because whoever takes the lead role sounds like an idiot having to ask the other commentator for technical explanations he clearly actually does know already but has to ask on behalf of the audience.

Honestly, though this may be influenced by me also watching NASCAR, I feel like I would for the most part prefer it if recent drivers were nowhere near a comm box in a consistent lead role. I feel like it gets to the point where either, as you mentioned, the commentator has to make themselves sound stupid asking questions they already know the answer to, or they're expected to be a continuous fountain of knowledge, which can throw off the overall balance of the commentary team, and may risk losing the audience.

Granted, personality is a factor as well. While I wasn't alive at the time, hearing races with the Walker/Hunt combo was usually entertaining in its own right. From what I've heard, DC was also pleasant to listen to, but I wasn't actively watching during that era. I do enjoy Rosberg showing up on occasion on practice days and providing good analytics and general knowledge bombs to the audience.

As for Crofty, I don't mind a lot of his antics too much, as I chalk that up to genuine excitement. However, I do dislike how seems to constantly make easy-to-avoid mistakes when calling the race. Him getting Bottas and Russel confused when Russel had his puncture at Sakhir was particularly bad.

 

[mustafur]

Honestly, though this may be influenced by me also watching NASCAR, I feel like I would for the most part prefer it if recent drivers were nowhere near a comm box in a consistent lead role. I feel like it gets to the point where either, as you mentioned, the commentator has to make themselves sound stupid asking questions they already know the answer to, or they're expected to be a continuous fountain of knowledge, which can throw off the overall balance of the commentary team, and may risk losing the audience.

You have to admit though it's heavily dependant on the personality of the person coming in, I think that is more important then how recent they came from racing imo.

 

[Dennisch]

We have Olav. We've always had Olav. We don't need anyone else but Olav.

 

[LeGeNd-1]

Although I don't deny Lewis deserves the knighthood, it will feel weird seeing him on the grid with that title. Personally I would've waited until the person has finished their career before giving out titles like this. Same with the Hamilton straight at Silverstone.

When did Sir Jackie get his?

 

[Liquid]

When did Sir Jackie get his?

2001, even after he'd sold Stewart Grand Prix to Ford. He did get his OBE in 1971 as an active driver though.

 

[artem9000]

That would be nice gesture to deny any privileges as knighthood in the name of equality, no?

 

[mustafur]

That would be nice gesture to deny any privileges as knighthood in the name of equality, no?

Lets be fair though, pre Hamilton no Brit won more then 3 titles, I'm sure if Germany had the same thing Schumacher probably would of been in the same situation.

The smallest time frame between a Drivers Career and Knighthood was 8 years before this with Jack Brabham who got it in 1978 after retiring in 1970, I would say half of the reason for his knight hood was outside driving though.

 

[Dotini]

...the Hunt/Walker combo...

I've been watching F1 on TV since the 60's. It seems there's always one of the commentators who is distracting rather than adding to the event. Crofty I sometimes find irritating. But Hunt had the droll humor I enjoyed and Walker was the standard against which all others were measured. .

 

[mustafur]

I've been watching F1 on TV since the 60's. It seems there's always one of the commentators who is distracting rather than adding to the event. Crofty I sometimes find irritating. But Hunt had the droll humor I enjoyed and Walker was the standard against which all others were measured. .

Hunt's Brutal but honest assessments of drivers definitely made the commentary fun to watch. Walker was the ultimate commentary wingman for the expert even if he got it wrong, he could word it in a way you got what he meant.

 

[Liquid]

Hunt wasn't afraid to call out 🤬 when he saw it, whether on track or in politics. An element largely missing in this "don't upset the shareholders and sponsors" era.

 

[Dennisch]

Hunt wasn't afraid to call out 🤬 when he saw it, whether on track or in politics. An element largely missing in this "don't upset the shareholders and sponsors" era.

The media trained drones don't help either. You see it in every sport.

 

[artem9000]

Lets be fair though, pre Hamilton no Brit won more then 3 titles, I'm sure if Germany had the same thing Schumacher probably would of been in the same situation.

The smallest time frame between a Drivers Career and Knighthood was 8 years before this with Jack Brabham who got it in 1978 after retiring in 1970, I would say half of the reason for his knight hood was outside driving though.

I'm not argue for honouring Lewis from the government side, but accepting this title considering Hamilton's activism is just hypocritical. John Lennon and Steven Hawking were more consistent with their values when were honoured by this title and declined it later.

 

[DG_Silva]

Hunt's Brutal but honest assessments of drivers definitely made the commentary fun to watch. Walker was the ultimate commentary wingman for the expert even if he got it wrong, he could word it in a way you got what he meant.

The other thing to remember was that the director of the programme for the BBC would deliberately only give Walker and Hunt one microphone between the two of them, so it prevented talking over each other and getting in the way.

 

[Liquid]

The other thing to remember was that the director of the programme for the BBC would deliberately only give Walker and Hunt one microphone between the two of them, so it prevented talking over each other and getting in the way.

One microphone fewer than the number of people involved? How can we get Ted Kravitz to subscribe to this rule?

 

[TenEightyOne]

Hamilton hasn't made any kind of acknowledgement yet. Maybe he's planning to reject it?

I don't think it would have been formally announced in that case. Iirc Benjamin Zephaniah was notified of his, declined it, wasn't on the formal list, then made a statement concurrent with the formal announcement explaining his reasons for declining.

My own view is that if I were called to kneel for a knighthood* I would do so, and I'd take it as a recognition of social respect rather than as an affirmation of The Empire. With that said, there are plenty of people whose heritage makes that a far more challenging decision. Hamilton has presumably accepted in order to be announced, but perhaps he's going through a bit of internal conflict over the recognition.

* England would have to be at the bottom of the barrel by that point, I know.

One microphone fewer than the number of people involved? How can we get Ted Kravitz to subscribe to this rule?

Just eject Kravitz from the coverage altogether. Rambling stories that need correcting and take nearly two laps to complete. Doesn't fit the sport's pace.

 

[BrainsBush]

Bit off topic? It seems Albon will join the DTM arena with Ferrari/RedBull

https://f1-insider.com/dtm/dtm-red-bull-kommt-ferrari-formel-1-star-albon/