Ron Dennis slams broadcast commentary of F1, is he right?

[John S]

Along with taking aim at F1 commentators Sir Ron admits to loving life in Britain even though Tax regime is to put it mildly uncomfortably heavy - [my words not his].

Must admit I get frustrated with Sky's David Croft, he's increasingly falling into 'Murrayisms' traps, and sometimes I wonder which race he is seeing as he seems to be losing the plot rather too often lately.

Anyone else got any pundits or commentators they feel may be on the slide, or just don't like?   
     
https://f1i.com/news/540048-ron-dennis-will-never-go-back-to-f1-slams-rubbish-tv-coverage.html

[Jericoke]

I can imagine for ANY F1 insider the commentary is going to be difficult to listen to.  Dennis knows so much about the sport, the commentator isn't going to have much to add for him, and any mistake, mis characterization or over generalization will be grating.

I'm subscribed to F1 TV, the 'main' commentary team is Alex Jacques and Jolyan Palmer.  We also have the option of listening to the Sky team of David Croft and Martin Brundle.  Martin Brundle is my favourite F1 commentator, so I'll always pick him.  I feel like he knows the drivers, so we get a better 'inside look' at why things happen.  (It could be complete BS, I don't know)  I've never been a Croft fan, but figure he does an adequate job.  On weekends where Brundle isn't available, I'll listen to Jacques and Palmer.

What I miss most with F1tv is they do their own gridwalk, so I don't get to see Brundle's.

[cosworth151]

I'm not a big fan of the commentary on the Sky feed that ESPN uses. That said, I heard the best single line of commentary since the Hobbo days Sunday. While the cars were going from the pits to the grid before the start, they kept cutting away to pictures of people in the stands. I'm not sure with of them said it, but one of them said, "Can't we just show the cars please?" Bravo & amen! 

At least Sky is better than Fox. There coverage of Indy was absolutely horrible. They didn't even notice that the race had started under caution. They cut away to adverts and switched back literally just as the green came out!

Later they managed to totally miss several of the shunts. It was even worse than their NASCAR coverage.

[Alianora La Canta]

At times I get irritated with every commentator for one reason or another. Of the teams I routinely hear in clips, I generally have the most time for the Canal+ crew, but my limited understanding of spoken French means I may simply be missing the problematic bits.

Sky Italia's commentators are also good, as long as they are not given opportunity to express what might politely be regarded as dated attitudes towards women (Valsecchi and a colleague got suspended for a race in 2023 because of the sort of on-air flirting that would get him slapped in the face by many a self-respecting lady - their female co-presenter (not the subject of the flirting) had to "throw" the broadcast to the pits to stop them from embarrassing themselves further).

I haven't forgiven the Dutch broadcast for calling Lance Stroll "autistic" a couple of years ago (he hasn't publicly mentioned such a diagnosis, so if it was true, it was hurtful and if it was false, it was hurtful).

While I was researching an essay I wrote for Tumblr on Monday, I chanced upon the Chinese commentary team. They are very enthusiastic and seem to know what they are talking about, but I only know three words of Chinese, which would make following a live broadcast nearly impossible.

I am in an odd situation whereby one of my friends has Sky UK and my family doesn't. So for European or Asian rounds, I watch qualifying live with my friend, then go home and watch Channel 4's highlights of qualifying with my family. I prefer the latter. This has less to do with the individuals but in how they make use of their abilities.

For example, David Croft is the most enthusiastic commentator of the British contingent. When the situation calls for excitement, he excels. When it calls for moderation or anticipation, he unfortunately tends to stay stuck in "excitement" mode. This runs the risk of turning the broadcast into a high-pitch, high-volume monotone. Martin Brundle has the opposite problem - great at wry one-liners, tends to still try wry one-liners when David should probably instead be allowed to shine.

Both commentary teams make quite a few mistakes and neither are as amusing about them as Murray Walker used to be, but I have found that their errors are mostly not overlapping. F1TV, for the last couple of years, has taken Channel 4's commentary when possible and Sky UK's when not.

(Tangentially, I have a lot of time for Chris McCarthy's commentary work for F2 this year. He'll make a fine F1 commentator one day. Also, I've heard some of Fox's output for Indy because Sky takes the Fox broadcast. Sometimes I feel like random members of the audience would be more informed, even if I acknowledge that the commentators have good technical skill at speaking).

[Dare]

I'm not a big fan of the commentary on the Sky feed that ESPN uses. That said, I heard the best single line of commentary since the Hobbo days Sunday. While the cars were going from the pits to the grid before the start, they kept cutting away to pictures of people in the stands. I'm not sure with of them said it, but one of them said, "Can't we just show the cars please?" Bravo & amen! 

At least Sky is better than Fox. There coverage of Indy was absolutely horrible. They didn't even notice that the race had started under caution. They cut away to adverts and switched back literally just as the green came out!

Later they managed to totally miss several of the shunts. It was even worse than their NASCAR coverage.

Every sporting event Fox shows has more commercials than
the actual sport. Too bad Fox News doesn't do the same

[John S]

I'm not a big fan of the commentary on the Sky feed that ESPN uses. That said, I heard the best single line of commentary since the Hobbo days Sunday. While the cars were going from the pits to the grid before the start, they kept cutting away to pictures of people in the stands. I'm not sure with of them said it, but one of them said, "Can't we just show the cars please?" Bravo & amen! 

At least Sky is better than Fox. There coverage of Indy was absolutely horrible. They didn't even notice that the race had started under caution. They cut away to adverts and switched back literally just as the green came out!

Later they managed to totally miss several of the shunts. It was even worse than their NASCAR coverage.

Every sporting event Fox shows has more commercials than
the actual sport. Too bad Fox News doesn't do the same

Dare old friend other news channels are available why do you punish yourself? 

[Jericoke]

At least Sky is better than Fox. There coverage of Indy was absolutely horrible. They didn't even notice that the race had started under caution. They cut away to adverts and switched back literally just as the green came out!

Later they managed to totally miss several of the shunts. It was even worse than their NASCAR coverage.

The Fox coverage of Indy was bad, but I felt the commentary team did fine.  (Of course, I simp for Hinch, so I'm not exactly unbiased)  As for going to commercial during the yellow flag start, I sort of get it.  They have to show a certain number of commercials, and you never know how many yellows there will be, so going to commercial during yellow means, theoretically, not cutting away from action.

[cosworth151]

My problem was that at the time they went to commercial they hadn't even noticed that the race had started. I honestly don't think they'd noticed.

A car got into the wall on the last lap. They showed a quick shot of the car and nothing else. No mention of who it was or what his condition was. Just lots of pictures of people celebrating. Unforgivable.

[Jericoke]

My problem was that at the time they went to commercial they hadn't even noticed that the race had started. I honestly don't think they'd noticed.

A car got into the wall on the last lap. They showed a quick shot of the car and nothing else. No mention of who it was or what his condition was. Just lots of pictures of people celebrating. Unforgivable.

Nor any explanation why they went yellow, when in the past a last lap yellow was 'ignored' if it was behind the leaders to let them race to the flag.

[Dare]

I'm not a big fan of the commentary on the Sky feed that ESPN uses. That said, I heard the best single line of commentary since the Hobbo days Sunday. While the cars were going from the pits to the grid before the start, they kept cutting away to pictures of people in the stands. I'm not sure with of them said it, but one of them said, "Can't we just show the cars please?" Bravo & amen! 

At least Sky is better than Fox. There coverage of Indy was absolutely horrible. They didn't even notice that the race had started under caution. They cut away to adverts and switched back literally just as the green came out!

Later they managed to totally miss several of the shunts. It was even worse than their NASCAR coverage.

Every sporting event Fox shows has more commercials than
the actual sport. Too bad Fox News doesn't do the same

Dare old friend other news channels are available why do you punish yourself? 

Believe me I don't watch Fox News. I'm suffering for the people I know
that do watch and believe every word.

[lkjohnson1950]

Yup. Friends I always thought were thoughtful, intelligent people spout the FOX line and just refuse to listen to anything refuting it. 

[cosworth151]

I've been known to point out that I may be a septuagenarian great grandfather but at least I'm not golf, Buick & Fox News old. 

[Dare]

Best F1 commentary for me was the Old Speed Channel with Varsha and Hobbs

[cosworth151]

Amen to that. Still the gold standard.

[lkjohnson1950]

Absolutely