2018 Formula One

Terry Oxandale

Skinny Man
It's been a nightmare thus far with only one race, and a second qualifying under the belt for ESPN2's coverage of Formula One this year. So far, both event's qualifying coverage ended before the qualifying ended (thus I had to go online to find out the Q3 results. Commercials on the first race where inserted mid sentence of the announcer's comments, and overall, has caused me to be ambivalent toward watching another disappointing presentation of F1. I though Fox coverage a couple of years ago was bad, but this is something else.

I read lots of reasons why this and that happened (Sky's coverage has no commercials, so insertion of such in the US will never "fit" properly. Ping-pong, and other such sporting events hold priority over F1 on the ESPN2 schedule, so there's no telling when any proper time will be dedicated to F1, which I understand was given to ESPN2 because nobody else wanted to fool (risk) competiting with dedicated paying vierwership of Sky's coverage in the near future.
 

Larry L.

Lifetime Supporter
These days commercials are crowding out actual program content no matter what the 'program' or network might be, Terry. I'd bet serious money if one were to use a stop watch and actually time all the commercials in any given program, you'd find they total darned near 50% of the broadcast time. I wouldn't be surprised if they totaled slightly over that.

I swear if I hear, "Hi! I'm Mike Lindell, inventor of My Pillow", one more time I'm gunna puke.

Thank God above for the 'mute' button.
 
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Terry Oxandale

Skinny Man
The second race was televised, and the result was much better. Commercials didn't seem to be randomly placed, and the entire race was televised (completed) before the cheerleading nationals started.

Looks like Ferrari has found Mercedes' number, or at least their at the same level now.
 

Terry Oxandale

Skinny Man
I loved Hobbs' descriptions...Clagg, etc. He made it much better with his sometimes goofy notes of what was happening on the track, but all the more personal to the viewer.
 
About the race.......

1) Vettel did brilliantly to coax so many laps out of his tires.
2) Tragic happenings in the Ferrari pit.....early release happens more then it should.
3) Torro Rosso, WOW!
4) Hamilton unhappy and maybe for good reason.
5) Kimi too, very unlucky....again
6) Game on for a great season as MB will come back.
 

Chris Kouba

Supporter
For the first time in a long time, it was an interesting race which was worth watching. I enjoyed it.

Best wishes to the Ferrari mechanic for a healthy recovery. Looked horrid.
 
I wish there was an on-demand option for viewing the races after the fact. It’s great they are broadcast live but I travel frequently and often can’t see them when they are broadcast....
 
This new format is the worse I've seen or listen to. Do these guys get estrogen injections before the race? One fellow gets so excited and the rate of speech increases to a high shriek.
1. I rarely understand what they say and usually kill the sound.
2. On announcer gets so excited and can hardly get the words out fast enough.
3. The track mics (engine sounds) and volume is louder and drowns out the announcers voices. Bad mixing. Weak voice projection.
4. Dead air.
5. David Hobbs has better voice for announcing. (more Base)
6. Why do they cut away from the final lap of the front runners to show a shot of some back runner getting out of his car in the pits?
7. I saw many advertisements yesterday preceded by a dull announcement that the race will be back after the advertisement.

I've followed F1 for 20 years. Gone to Europe to see the races. Even my wife can tell you who the driver are for each team. But this current ESPN debacle is a failure. So far I've watched 2 races without sound and the China GP with rerun to figure out the kind of English their using.
If you want to kill F1 ESPN your off to a good start. Give it up please.
 
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Terry Oxandale

Skinny Man
I thought the racing this weekend was captivating enough to where I didn't feel the need to fast-forward. Good race, and lots of action.
 
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