Finally, after something like 12 years, the BBC has won the rights to show F1 from 2009. A new five year deal has been struck according to Mr E. No other details are forthcoming at the time of writing.

Which means - no more f***wit James Allen, Louise Goodman, Mark Blundell (hopefully) etc, and no more adverts.

With any luck they'll keep Brundle.

And hopefully they'll drop the stupidly patronising Ask Mark style features, the annoying F1 competitions where the answers are easier than picking sweetcorn out of mashed potato, the stupid graphics and crap like that.

But it should also mean a return of the ONLY song that can do F1 justice.

ooooh i missed this

in an ideal world we'll get the level of effort itv have used but with a bit more knowlage and of course we won't have those adverts

agree 100% about the music !

to be fair to itv though, it's amazing if you watch any of the bbc's coverage that we look back on it so fondly as apart from the music, no adverts and of course murry walker (and james hunt RIP) the actual coverage is pretty poor in comparison to itv's, programs started just before the race start with none of the sumary of qualifying and little, if any, off track stories. also we have to remember that they are broadcasting to all potential viewers, not just hard core enthusiasts and if those little ask mark bits provide some info for the casual viewer then they are relevant. (i suspect that the real cricket buffs who read wisden everynight in bed moan about all the stupid basic stats that the tv companies put on screen during a test match and that say they should go into more detail about a batsman's record on playing to a left handed spin bowler with a ball thats been hit 36 times in a slight cross wind from the left whilst facing the sun on a clear day with 10% humidity on grass thats 2mm high, personally i think one guy throws the bloody thing and another belts it with a plank ).

the biggest problem with itv is james f***wit, he is so blinkered in his views and combines it with the abilities of giving the impression he knows very little about racing but a lot about the pointless details and that he finds racing as interesting as paint drying, though he could probably give you an accurate list of dulux's cataloque. murry on the other hand probably could make paint drying sound like a matter of life or death and you knew that whne he goofed it was because he had 27 differing lines of thought about the race going on in his head at once

I agree, hopefully they will keep Martin Brundle and set fire to James Allen for being a total cock monkey.

Please, please DO NOT BRING JAMES ALLEN OVER!!!

Yeah, great news

I've just had a quick scan on the net, and it seems as though everyone is saying the same as Tristan. Keep Brundle, bring back "The Chain" and ditch Allen. In fact i've yet to see a single post anywhere on the web that wants F***wit Allen to stay erm.. i mean

I guess the question is, who do you get to replace him ? A few have mentioned Ben Edwards from the BTCC, but i dunno, i think his 'shrillness' would get wearisome after a while. Do you think 'Ted from the pitlane' would be up for the job ?

Charlie Cox, he is hillarious!

But Brundle's pissed the FIA off. They've been threatening to sue him for not being nice about them. He said he thought they'd try and force him out. Perhaps ditching ITV is part of that process.

A friend of mine just sent me the news link to the BBC web. Although i did not watch F1 on the BBC when it was last broadcast there I believe that is a great bit of news.

The absence of adverts on the BBC is great. Itv had ads every goddamn 15 minutes... which was so irritating.

It will be interesting to see whether they will keep Martin Brundle. I hope that they will get rid of the rest especially James Allen....

I say D. Hill and M. Brundle for commentary

woohoo no more ads as of next year

mad

Well, Murray Walker is still on BBC payroll as a concultant and guest commentator, they already said he will not come back full time, but I'm hoping he'll do next years British race

Yup, I'm only going to say the same as everyone else is saying:

Stop the cock, bring Brundle over, and it's great news all round!

Hope you're not right Sam about the FIA forcing Brundle out. Why do they want everything so sterilised and controlled? Some of Brundle's grid walks and cheeky questions were the most interesting thing in F1 in some recent years. If you're right, no doubt it'll be part of the small print of the Beeb's contract that they don't employ Brundle.

@ SamH, Apparently the change came about when Bernie first approached the Beeb asking them if they wanted the contract back.....But to suggest that doing that was a way to get rid of Brundle all sounds a bit petty to me. Then again, this is the FIA, so i wouldn't put it beyond them.

@Garph, Thats a good shout actually, Charlie Cox and Steve Parish are a really good combination, but would the BBC want to split them up ?

It would be the ultimate experience if shumi got into the commentary. But it would be like james allen with ferrari(instead of hamilton).

Quote from Mazz4200 :

@ SamH, Apparently the change came about when Bernie first approached the Beeb asking them if they wanted the contract back.....But to suggest that doing that was a way to get rid of Brundle all sounds a bit petty to me. Then again, this is the FIA, so i wouldn't put it beyond them.

Never let truth get in the way ... r the FIA's dictatorship?

Quote from Mazz4200 :

I guess the question is, who do you get to replace him ? A few have mentioned Ben Edwards from the BTCC, but i dunno, i think his 'shrillness' would get wearisome after a while. Do you think 'Ted from the pitlane' would be up for the job ?

I'd say Martin Haven alongside Brundle, Tiff Needell replacing Mark Blundell, Ted Kravitz can stay but Louise Goodman can go with no replacement. I don't the the FIA are planning on getting rid of Martin Brundle, they could probably do it without changing broadcaster.

50% of Cox and Parrish is banned from Macau after blowing something up, IIRC.

@Sam again ("the duke" posted before me)

Oh yeah, i'm fully aware of the back story between Brundle and Bernie/FOM/Mosley/FIA etc, but, knowing Bernie, i can only think it was down to a purely financial reason, rather than a playground spat (albeit a rather serious one).

Or maybe Bernie's just as fed up with James Allen as the rest of us are

--

@The Duke, Martin Haven ?? i've no idea who that is to be honest, i'm so out of touch these days.....

Quote from duke_toaster :

50% of Cox and Parrish is banned from Macau after blowing something up, IIRC.

Probably Poland as well, since Mr Parrish torched some substandard toilet blocks...

Aslong as James Allen has gone and they dont have that Suzy Perry (spelling) or Louise Goodman im happy .

Good to hear that we could be in for some far better broadcasting. It would be a real pitty if Brundle isn't allowed to move though. I just hope that ITV don't try and go for Moto GP now

The home of Moto GP is Eurosport, watch it else where and you miss out on 125 + 250 races and the best commentary team in motorsport ....

Quote from VALE 46 :

The home of Moto GP is Eurosport, watch it else where and you miss out on 125 + 250 races and the best commentary team in motorsport ....

The BBC are showing the 125 and 250 races this year (press red or check Freeview channels 301-303)

just seen bbc 1 oclock news and itv are saying that they pulled out of bidding and won't miss F1 !!!

given the way they messed rallying about and how every year the touring car coverage is changed it wouldn't actually surprise me as they just don't seem to be sure what they want to do with motorsport or infact with sport in general. the only sport they appear to want is one which will fill vacant slots such as boxing in late evenings, in fact when you think about it the coverage of the grand prixs that take place during the uk night tend to get longer coverage than the european races despie lower viewing figures

Quote from tristancliffe :

Finally, after something like 12 years, the BBC has won the rights to show F1 from 2009. A new five year deal has been struck according to Mr E. No other details are forthcoming at the time of writing.

Which means - no more f***wit James Allen, Louise Goodman, Mark Blundell (hopefully) etc, and no more adverts.

With any luck they'll keep Brundle.

And hopefully they'll drop the stupidly patronising Ask Mark style features, the annoying F1 competitions where the answers are easier than picking sweetcorn out of mashed potato, the stupid graphics and crap like that.

But it should also mean a return of the ONLY song that can do F1 justice.

YAAAY
No more stupid ADVERTS!!!!!!!!!!!
:laola:

Quote from Mazz4200 :

Do you think 'Ted from the pitlane' would be up for the job ?

Ted Kravitz is a very entertaining bloke, and an honest and forthright journalist to boot (his pitlane diary column on the ITV website was consistently the best thing on there by far last season). It would be a shame if the BBC don't take him.

And bear in mind the drivers like Louise Goodman - if she wasn't there we might not get so many retiring drivers willing to talk about what ended their race.

Quote from JO53PHS :

YAAAY
No more stupid ADVERTS!!!!!!!!!!!
:laola:

+1

My list for what the BBC must do:

1) Get Murray in the box for some races

2) Drop James Allen

3) Get rid of the stupid pre-race show features

4) More onboard cameras

5) Less ad breaks

6) Take a leaf from the US and use more unique camera angles

7) Revamp the pitlane coverage, show more pitstops

8) Overhaul the graphics

DK

Word of warning guys: Whatever you do, don't request some old commentator, who hasn't been on air for years, back. We've seen it here and it ain't pretty to watch.... or listen.

For some odd reason, whenever there's a bidding for f1 rights, things only get worse for the viewer.

Great news... I'll echo the "keep Brundle, drop the Cock" sentiments

I just hope that the BBC take it a bit more seriously this time around though. Last time they had it, there was no live qualifying, no race buildup, and as soon as the winner crossed the finish line, they were off to Songs of Praise