Dear F1 TV Directors,
Ross Brawn, and his team, seemed to have done exactly what was promised this year regarding the ‘race-ability’ of the 2022 F1 cars.
We’ve been treated to another epic battle between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc as they passed and re-passed each other multiple times in a truly epic end to the race.
But despite all this, it feels like the TV direction is really letting F1 down right now during pivotal moments of the race, and it all seems very avoidable.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate what a difficult job it must be trying to cover a race, and for the most part, you do a good job, but I think it’s time to have a think about what is the most important thing about live F1… and that’s that it is LIVE F1!!
STOP SHOWING REPLAYS. STOP SHOWING CROWD SHOTS.
WE WANT TO SEE THE RACE!! #SaudiArabianGP #WTF1
— WTF1 (@wtf1official) March 27, 2022
When the two championship rivals are having an absolute epic wheel to wheel battle for the lead, you know what we want to watch? That’s right—the actual racing action.
There is NOTHING more important than a battle for the lead in F1, so we really don’t need to see anything else. Not someone pitting, not team principal shots and certainly not footage of the crowd, particularly before overtaking moves are even completed.
This is a sport, not Gogglebox.
Also, did we not learn from the Monaco Lance Stroll incident? Why are you so trigger happy with the race replays? We are watching a live race here, and we want to watch what is actually happening on track! We can see replays later or even after the race if needs be.
Sky Sports’ F1 adverts say ‘it’s only live once’ and it’s true.
There is nothing like watching live sport, particularly live F1, and when F1 themselves have worked so hard in making sure the on-track action is truly epic, please, please, please let us see it and not something else.
Regards,
Every single F1 fan
+ don’t forget the interface, in Bahrain it was crazy just don’t showing the time and placement sheet for like 10 maybe 15 minutes?? Not to know who is where and who is catching up was getting on my nerves. + when we follow a new battle, would be nice to show the same animation as it’s kinda new in 2022 with like highlight marketing it on the left site of the time sheet. I know it’s sometimes (!) done + shown down below in 2 boxes… after some time…. But I think would be better to show it like every time right at the beginning of a new cut/battle… I think especially for the new fans it’s easier and quicker to show, which battle gets shown right now. And I think f1 is doing nearly everything for the new fans… whats also kindo good and ok, dont get me wrong 😉 all in all, good jobs are beeing and have been done but theres always things to improve and to get better ( kinda merc mentality) 😉
Absolutely. I’m glad I’m not the only one that thinks this.
I Agree 100%!
I’m with you Tom! We don’t want to see replays, shots of the crowds, driver’s wives and girlfriends. If we want to see replays we will rewatch the race later online.
Agree completely with this. We needed to see what was happening in front and instead we got several replays of Hamilton overtaking a back marker. But all through the race several overtakes were completely missed
Hamilton was a backmarker.
Nearing the end of the race with many battles going on they took the times down. Leave the gaps up so we can track multiple action points.
Lost among the graphics problem last week was that the coverage was flawless so I’m more than willing to cut some slack this week and heck I’ll give credit for cutting away from the winner to show the other battles at the line. That’s the kind of thing they’ve missed in the past.
It’s been very poor in general. Several overtakes were completely missed. The graphics never show the gap between cars when you really need it. And then they show several slow Mo replays of Hamilton overtaking a back marker instead of showing us the lead cars
And I’ve somehow double posted, sorry
Sky are the biggest twats here. Why do I need to buy other channels just to watch F1 while majority of the world can buy directly. I know that wont change cameras but gives me access to more.
Defo agree they need to change their business model to match other streaming companies out there. At least got a good deal on a monthly Now TV sports pass, but dont want or need all the other sports channels. Guess we’ve got to wait until this Sky contract us up and hope theres a big bidding war for the next one
There are a lot of sites where you can stream live sport, in HD, for free. I won’t post them here because I might get in trouble, but there are definitely ways to watch the race for free.
Buy F1TV and be done with.
I %100 WOULD… if I lived anywhere but the UK.
The graphics are worse than last year on so many fronts. They don’t provide the useful info when it is needed. Colours used to have certain meaning, now they’re just red. They could also make use of the 2nd screen we had last year showing showing 2 different actions on track simultaneously.
As for over all race coverage direction, they should really hire that guy from 2-3 years ago who managed to impress Sir Martin Brundle by pressing all the right buttons at the right time
Yes sometime gaps between Driver, leader missing so long
also FL (is that hard to just show it)
Last race its also Bug with Yellow flag around laps 45 ++
also pitlane channel missing from F1TV pro
Sky Sports F1 coverage SUCKS from top to bottom, start to finish.
Tom is right. They will cover passes by out of the points drivers as long as they are British.
Most of the driver commentators are pretty good but they don’t pick the camera shots.
As for the non-driver commentators, David Croft is truly awful.
He is constantly saying stupid and irrelevant things.
He was even mindlessly running his mouth today so much he missed a pass for the lead.
Ted Kravitz is not much better.
These idiots seem to think they are funny and it is their job to entertain us.
WRONG, WRONG, WRONG on both accounts.
F1 needs to cancel Sky Sports, period.
No one else could be this bad even if they worked at it.
Sky Sports don’t pick what is shown on screen, they just get the same feed broadcast to them to commentate on that every broadcaster gets.
Croft is giggling like a young girl most of the time, get other nationalities other than British.
Absolutely spot on, Croft & Kravitz are the worst commentators I’ve ever had the misfortune to listen to, so much so, that I stopped watching the coverage via Sky, I have no problem with any of the other commentators but those two need to go!
so true .
Brundle is fantastic, but yes, I hate Croft.
He always says “one hundredth” like it’s the unit. “Six one hundredths” is nonsense; you just say “Six hundredths”. You wouldn’t say you bought something for “Six one pounds”. He’s an absolute potato.
Crofty is correct though, six hundredths is 1/600 (0.0016) of a second, were as six one hundreds is 6/100 (0.06 s)
The only thing we need replays for is a crash, a penalty of sorts (like going off track or with sainz and perez with the safety car line) and after an battle between drivers
Also absolutely hate the helmet cam when there is a close battle for a position. You cant understand the racing line and the gap.
I think its not wrong to show replays of importent moments, but it would be the best if we see it on a smaller screen that we can also see the Race going on. Try to do it Like Sky when they have Interviews wich they show in the lower right corner F1. Please do something 🙏
As well are the graphics not good at the moment. We have not been able to see who has the fastest lap until someone activated the icon in the late Race.
When you show the minimap it’s very hard to see the gray HAAS dot on the white and gray map.
The colors for the sectors do not match the reality, someone who is slower than before gets a purple and someone who is faster gets a yellow sector..
I’ll end here but these are just a few things of many.
Please listen to the viewers F1 TV Directors🙏
I’ve noticed this in quali. One driver gets purple first sector, next driver concurrently has purple first sector. You’re either the fastest or you’re not. And they don’t have identical times either.
Then someone gets a yellow sector but we’re told they’ve gone faster. It would be good if the sector times were shown under the graphics as well.
I also liked it when they showed who was under investigation and fastest lap on the graphics.
I don’t mind one replay, but the super slowmo and the crowd reactions have to wait for a better time.
I think we got 2 replays, a slowmo and crowd reaction for the pass? While the battle really wasn’t over yet
I think I’m in the minority, but I like the new graphics on the whole. I just can’t deal with all the issues that keep arising.
Removing the VSC graphic to show 10 laps remaining really confused me, I thought it had ended, only to realise it was just another graphic bug.
Last weekend there was 10-15 minutes with out any intervals on screen. F1 fans watch for the evolving strategy, not being able to see interval times basically makes it impossible to have any idea what is going on, apart from who you can actively see on screen.
We saw more of actor hamilton in 15th place than we saw him leading last year, show us the racing not the Brits
I mean, there were maybe 50 overtakes the entire race and Hamilton was 15 of them. They’re going to show him overtaking when it’s 1/3 of the action.
Can’t even say “show us the Brits” because if that were the case we’d have seen way more of Norris and Russell as well.
They need to show standings at the end of the race. Both the race and overall standings before they go to podium. Replays should be on a second smaller screen unless there is a safety car. Commentators were talking about overtakes that weren’t even happening on screen. FFS don’t show the winners doing a victory lap. There are still 17 other drivers trying to make a finish. Showing the crowd is fine when someone overtakes. I mean almost every other sport shows the crowd.
It was sooo bad, the race directors need a serious talk with and stop replays, super slows and fan shots when an actual fight between the leaders is on
Sky Sport commentators are the worst .
They’ve completely removed the fastest lap indicator.
Lets hope they listen to us. It was so annoying.
I watch the video on ESPN, pause the DVR for about two minutes and stream the BBC Radio race coverage for the audio. The Sky Sports commentators are sometimes hard to understand and moreso when they start screaming like little girls.
The only problem is that the broadcasting basically follows what Sky wants to show. And since all the British media said that LH starting from 16th was the biggest story of the race, they showed every battle he had with other midfield cars. Other than that, it was good they focused on the Alonso vs. Ocon dogfight when Checo was comfortably leading. As for what crap the Sky journos say I wouldn’t know. I watch the ESPN Spanish broadcast led by Tornello who knows more about F1 that the entire Sky bunch together.
Sky does not dictate the feed, it’s quite the other way around. There are more Hamilton fans than those of any other driver and everyone wanted to know if he was going to carve up the field which he did up to his pit stop.
Hate the new graphics. hate that head cam they keep showing. They do realise I can see nothing but a tiny bit if whats in front of them and the reflection covers that.
Agreed the reflection kill the concept, daytime races may be better.
I don’t watch anymore because of the camera work. Zooming in tight on the cars all the time, they may as well be parked. The race director doesn’t know anything about motor racing
I also don’t like the new graphics. Times, intervals,etc displayed along the left side are really small unless you are up close watching a huge TV. The worst is the dark blue lettering shown when the driver’s communicate with their crews – just about impossible to see. I agree with the others who commented on the ill-timed replays. The battle for the lead, followed by battles for position further down, should always take precedence over anything else.
I am finally getting more used to the Sky TV crew, but I think I still prefer the old NBC -Speed channel crew; I miss David Hobbs.
Get F1 streaming bros. Solves everything and so worth it.
Cutting to close ups of a single car – any you can’t even tell what turn it is on or what the context of that car is to the race.
If they want to show crowd shots or replays they should do picture in picture.
It feels more like Fe cars this year . The. 18 inch wheels look horrible . The do look more like Fe cars . With an engine . I really do hate them wheels .
Noticed in Bahrain & then again at the weekend just wall to wall replays, almost always for something incredibly minor or something we had literally just watched live seconds ago. A whole group of us watching were getting pretty annoyed at it. Has to change.
Not me, they shouldn’t show a biased broadcast just because you think something more important is going on. In my opinion they should show everything going on at the time and replay some things they might have missed. What’s the point of having a live broadcast if you only get to see two drivers. The point of it is that you can watch the whole race, lead battle or not. It’s not like it kills you that they show 5 seconds of the crowds reaction to what is happening and I guess they could chose a better time for some replays. But that would ruin the whole experience for me and I feel like they would just be leaving the other teams alone. Another argument is that they need to show sponsors so they can get money too. They could also work on the graphics a little bit but they do not need to go to such an extreme to change the entire way the broadcast the event. If you want to see the racing only, why don’t you just look at the onboards or go to the actual race? I get that you cannot always do that and it is difficult, but just think about the people in the broadcasting box and that they are human too. Things cannot be perfect in all ways just because you’re opinion is different than theirs.
This!
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