BBC announces F1 commentators for 2010

Brundle and Legard!

The BBC has retained its top-notch team to guide you through the 2010 Formula 1 season.

Jake Humphrey presents our TV coverage, alongside 13-time Grand Prix winner David Coulthard and former F1 team boss Eddie Jordan. Commentary will come from Jonathan Legard and award-winning broadcaster Martin Brundle.

The 5 live commentary team is led by David Croft alongside new signing Formula 1 driver Anthony Davidson and pit lane reporter Holly Samos.

And respected F1 journalist Andrew Benson leads our web team.

[news.bbc.co.uk]

Hadn't noticed anything being said about the UK TV commentary team in 2010, so I looked round the Beeb's site and found this.
Don't know about anyone else, but I'm more than cool with this!

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looking forward to more of the same catch phrases from Legard then!

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X (@ed24f1)

Bah, it was OK but there are better combinations than Legard/Brundle IMHO. They're both a bit deadpan on the commentary, even though Brundle's knowledge is excellent. I always feel like we need a little injection of life into proceedings, which the punditry team certainly bring.

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I think everyone was hoping for a David Croft/Martin Brundle partnership, sadly its not to be. I also read on another forum that Brundle actually has a stipulation in his contract stating that he won't work with him for whatever reason(s).

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As much as I like Brundle, if he won't work with Croft, then I'd probably sacrifice him in order to get Croft and Davidson in together. Ant can be a bit raw, and while he's not as good technically, he does bring a more modern insight which does come across easily in his commentary.

Strangely, I generally feel in sport that commentators should shut up and merely assist the eye rather than constantly talk, and that's what, on paper, Legard brings... but somehow, despite ticking the main boxes, he still grinds. All this "up the hill", "down the straight", "over the line"... driving me "around the bend"...

"push on!"

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Lee McKenzie ftw

Sim

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"I'd love to know what goes on in that crazy head of yours sometimes, Sim..." - Locke Cole

The one thing I personally would've changed about the line-up would be promoting Holly Samos to the main presenting team, for more than one reason But that doesn't mean I have a problem with Lee; I'm cool with her.

I'm aware Crofty is a pretty good commentator and he and Ant seem to be a good team, but I personally wouldn't swap Brundle for those two.

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Legard makes James Allen seem like a genius behind the microphone.
All Legard says is drivel like 'away he goes, what can he do now?', and provides no insight whatsoever.
Simon Taylor would be my first choice as commentator, if anyone remembers him from the early ITV F1 days, he did F3000 commentary too.

Simon Taylor made me want to kill myself. Everything he ever did was made to sound like an advert for the middle class.

is the beeb gonna have all the red button stuff this year? If i remember rightly, they only have 1 channel on freeview now for interactive stuff, so are they going to use that for F1, or is interactive saved for people who have sky/freesat?

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Team Japan Owner - GPGNC

Put it this way; if you dont like Legard, press the Red button.

I have no problems with any of the commentary teams, I just like to Red button it every now and again to keep things interesting

How about John Watson?

I never heard him commentating till he joined the Beeb's BTCC commentary team in 1998, and he never particularly impressed me as a BTCC commentator. It was only more recently I came across his live F1 commentaries on races and quali sessions on EuroSport in the early/mid 1990s(on YouTube etc) and he really seemed to come across pretty nicely on those, he seemed much better suited to F1 commentary. I personally wouldn't mind him joining the commentary team, or even him replacing Legard. The BBC probably wouldn't like the idea of having two former drivers commentating instead of just one though.

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When Watson & Cox worked together I always felt Cox was the stronger. Certainly during BTCC Watson made constant gaffes and missed so much, while Cox showed a genuine enthusiasm and light-hearted humour which I think is missing from many commentary teams (look at the praise for Croft & Davidson), yet he and Parrish get panned for that style on MotoGP (not a fan of Parrish, but they do work well together).

Don't get me wrong, gaffes and missing things aren't a problem if they make up for it elsewhere, but I never felt Watson did.

According to Twitter, it looks like 5Live, alongside David Croft, will have Jackie Stewart commentating on Saturday, and Jacques Villeneuve on Sunday at Bahrain.

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X (@ed24f1)

salvasirignano Wrote:
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> Legard makes James Allen seem like a genius behind
> the microphone.

I call BS on this. It seems people are already looking back on the rose tints, since Legard didn't turn out to be as awesome as he hoped. Looking back, watching old videos, makes me realise just how utterly pathetic James was as a commentator. I don't know of many commentators in any sport that have been as hated as James was. @#$%& James Allen.

And whilst we're on the topic, why the love for Ant? His commentray is nothing but him pimping himself. It's all about him. Even when Jenson finally won his first GP, Ant tried to twist it to about himself. Through the season he talked about himself more than the action. If Ant was as awesome as he thinks he is, he'd be on the track, not watching with the rest of us.

Legard isn't great. Maybe not even good. But he is far better than the other options we have, especially James Allen.

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theRacingLine.net
SportsCarArchives.com

Dave tells it as it is. Legard can be dull, but I've never once wished I could punch/kick/shoot him, in fact I can't remember a single time off-hand when he's annoyed me at all. That alone is the clicher for me.

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DaveEllis Wrote:
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> salvasirignano Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Legard makes James Allen seem like a genius
> behind
> > the microphone.
>
> I call BS on this. It seems people are already
> looking back on the rose tints, since Legard
> didn't turn out to be as awesome as he hoped.
> Looking back, watching old videos, makes me
> realise just how utterly pathetic James was as a
> commentator. I don't know of many commentators in
> any sport that have been as hated as James was.
> @#$%& James Allen.
>
> And whilst we're on the topic, why the love for
> Ant? His commentray is nothing but him pimping
> himself. It's all about him. Even when Jenson
> finally won his first GP, Ant tried to twist it to
> about himself. Through the season he talked about
> himself more than the action. If Ant was as
> awesome as he thinks he is, he'd be on the track,
> not watching with the rest of us.
>
> Legard isn't great. Maybe not even good. But he is
> far better than the other options we have,
> especially James Allen.

Hmm, well maybe that was a little strong, but I think (and it is just my opinion ) that Allen's commentary, whilst being rubbish, was still more insightful than anything Legard had to offer last year, which was naff all.
As for Anthony Davidson's commentary being all about himself, can I call bs on that?

As much as I detest Allen, I will admit that he knew his F1 stuff; but there's so much more to being a good commentator than than just knowing what you're talking about. Allen had a knack - a God given ability in fact - of just being annoying. He had the exact opposite of charisma, whatever that is. He was a smug, smarmy, pretentious little @#$%& who just rubbed everyone up the wrong way with his commentating style(or lack of). There's a reason why he was - and still is - disliked so much.

Legard's F1 knowledge might not be up to the spec of Allen's(or at least it wasn't in 2009), but as an overall package he's a much better commentator than Allen was. And with Brundle alongside him, no commentary will be short of F1 knowledge/insight or style either.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/12/2010 04:26AM by EC83.

No, I disagree. I'd much rather have an enthusiastic, knowledgeable but irritating commentator over an inoffensive but dull and lifeless one.

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