91Èȱ¬

I saw you down there today in your sunglasses, it definitely wasn't that hot!
Must be nice having most of the local crowd not have a clue who you are, i'd imagine the 91Èȱ¬ crowd will get quite a different reaction at Silverstone.

Really enjoying the blog. By the way, surfing the web and listening to your iPod does not constitute as beavering away! It might wear well with the folks back at HQ, but I'm on to you!! ;)

Needless to say I’m as jealous as Jealous McJealousy from Jealousyville that you’re going to be up close and personal this weekend at the Oz GP.

If you’re talking to Jenson, tell him to drive it like he stole it!



All the best,

DH

I'm normally more of a reader than a commenter but here's a few words of encouragement. Really impressed by the detail of the blog so far plus the addition of photos now as well. If you can keep this going then I suspect this'll be an excellent supplement to the TV and other online coverage of F1.

I'll get back to my lurking now.

Hi,
First time I've read ya blog, so far so good! Totally thrilled for you for landing the gig, I'd be shaking with excitement and pinching myself every minute with disbelief! What a job!!!
Shame about not landing the HD side of stuff, damn that Bernie!
How's the buzz on Brawn GP sounding? Worth me having a flutter?
Beaux

It's getting closer and more exciting, enjoying following your blog. Does anyone know if the "red button" stuff will be available on iPlayer? I will record the race as I probably won't be up in time so when the race has finished I will have missed the red button stuff or at least be part the way through it. I can't find this info anywhere.

Please say yes, please say yes.

I am jealous too. I made it to the Oz GP last year - it was phenominal. We had V8 supercars too. I am glad we now have a broadcaster who will show 100% of the race. Let me know if you need someone to analyse your data 'cos I am your man! Will even carry cases etc etc!

Looking forward to the coverage, especially practice sessions too. I'll be there on Friday morning...

Get to the front McLaren!

GW

really enjoying you're blog Jake, keep it up!

Great blog today Jake..im really enjoying your insight into how you guys go about your business.
i read the article in the top gear formula 1 mag and im impressed with the lap times that you and the team put in.
Mind and ask Cat Deeley for her number for me if you see her in the pits ha ha

keep up the good work mate.

Another awesome post Jake, this is such a far cry from ITV last season, the blogs offer a great, light-hearted approach on proceedings! So yeah, keep up the great work! :)

Also looks like EJ's enjoying himself, can't wait to see him and DC on screen, should be interesting to say the least!

Excellent snaps Jake.

Good to see you getting down to work, although I'm sure at times it probably doesn't even seem like work what with all the Eddie Jordan gigs you're bound to see!

KUTGW.

Great stuff so far Jake, simple and light hearted, loving it.

Just wondering what you think of St Kilda, I moved here about 3 years ago from the UK.

The buzz is definitely picking up around town, must say I'm starting to get excited!

nice apple setup Jake!

looking forward to the 91Èȱ¬ coverage

Cool Blog Jake

From the photos it seems you all are having a good time. I think adding photos to your blog builds up to pre-grand prix excitment.

I keep hearing the advert on Radio 1 and seeing the advert across the 91Èȱ¬ channels and im just so excited, and as a devoted F1 fan I will be watching the action live.

Keep up the good work Jake

Thanks Jake again for another great blog... this is kinda turning into the Jake Humphrey's appreciation society... not a bad thing though!

Thanks for all the photos. We can just about sniff the excitement... shame it is dull, wet and cold here in the UK.

Remember, if you need someone to carry that laptop and ipod around the world for you just give me a shout. I'm sure I can rearrange my diary to help you out!

All the best for the weekend... keep the blogs and photos coming, mate!

Like the pictures wish I was in Oz cant wait for the coverage to start. The little ads with the 'chain' on the radio send a shiver down the spine and really wet the appetite for F1 to start. Great idea to give us fans an inside view keep up the great work.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Excellent Blog again Jake,the build up to Sunday is increasing my excitement every day. Having the pictures is giving us an insight to what a real roving reporter gets up (even it is surfing the net and listening to the ipod).
Australia again is wetting our appetite for another glorious F1 season. This time the battles, I feel, are going to be closer and more exciting, with all these new changes. Positive move in my opinion.
Anyway, let the race begin, and prove to us all that F1 belongs to the 91Èȱ¬, instead of amateurs.

Loving the Blog work Jake - Hope EJ is wearing his Lynx or other members of his band may be suffering! - Hope all goes well for you and the team on Sunday. PS - Like the beavering away comment but I am with the Dozyhound on that one - also a nice shirt you have on - looks like one I had for xmas last year.!

Great blog so far. I'm not much of a blogger, nor have I read many...but this is a goodun! So thank you!

I'm going to be in Italy for the Australian GP this weekend...so not going to be able to watch it on the 91Èȱ¬...so I'm disappointed about that. Although on RAI Uno they do put the footage in the top corner of the screen while the adverts are playing...so it's not ITV revisited.

Awesome blogging so far Jake. Are the nerves starting to jangle yet? I am about to implode with anticipation of the new season.

the restaraunt does look like st kilda to me.tho could be chapel street aswell.lucky devils. oh to be back there again this year. F! and new season of afl aswell. no fair

Cant wait for the new season to get up and running! Have read all of the blogs so far and will continue to, as almost everyone else on here as already said top work so far and keep it up!
I can guess the excitement is really building out in Melbourne, with the field so open going in to the first race, what odds on Mark Webber's Red Bull winning at his home GP?

Have to agree with the majority of people here too - its really good to see so much effort goin into the F1 pages by the 91Èȱ¬, great work on the blogs and the vintage races, well done all.

Off to press my red button now - can't wait!!

woooooooooop james may lol

im getting excited major now

is anyone else going to be freaks like me and watch the first practice session?? I wonder if they will have highlights on here like ITV did?

By the way, is the MOST over used phrase in F1;
"for sure....." ?
Comments please!
Great blog.

I love the 91Èȱ¬ website for F1 already. The proposals for F1 on the 91Èȱ¬ are awesome and I've already enjoyed the red button season preview and then today the Classic Australian GP's.

Then I found out there were extra Classic Clips online!! It's great and loving the blogs gives a good insight into the teams schedule etc.

Cannot wait for the live action to begin now. ITV were good but the early signs are the 91Èȱ¬ will take F1 coverage onto a new level

Enjoying reading your blog. Excellent work. I hope ou can keep this going throughout the season. You are really wetting my appetite for the new season. Roll on Friday.

i will be up at 445 am on friday morning to make sure i get to see the new title sequence first..

cant wait..shame i'll have to leave for work at 7am.

Hey Jake... if you want to give the folks back home a taste of st kilda try this 20 minute stroll from your hotel and back and take some happy snaps:
Turn left out the hotel, round the corner past the palais theatre (host to a fabulous Sinead O'Connor concert last year). Keep going past Luna Park (unless helter skelters are your thing), past the tram stop (another melbourne icon)and down Acland street (check out the cake shop window displays - awesome). Then return to Luna Park and turn left, over the road to the beach and bayside. Turn right past the Stoke house and the baths to St kilda peer and then back across the flyover to the hotel.
Take the camera and enjoy the stroll... Welcome to Melbourne (and thanks for bringing some english rain !)

Sorry - one more thing for your website techies to consider... why do new blog postings go to the bottom of the page ? Shouldn't the latest stuff go to the top and you scroll down to get the thread rather than having to scroll down to get the latest posting ?
Just a thought...

Jake,

It's great to see all these posts appearing on the site (and not forgetting Lee posting to her own site) - its a great way to get people to understand what you're experiencing as you do this job. Here's hoping it all comes across on the shows at the end of the week!

It would be better if the F1 front-page had some way of doing time-based ordering of all the posts going on. It'd be easier to follow than the magazine-like "features" section, and let us have easier access to some of the older posts.

And now you're au-fair with your new laptop... any plans to twitter?

Psst. Gotta add... my first experience of blogging was when I visited Oz & Melbourne 3 years ago. Being able to post text & photos that people back home can see immediately - and respond to - is amazing, isn't it? The world would be a smaller place if only you could get to sleep on planes ;-)

Typical 91Èȱ¬, very professional and looks a great set up, what a year this'll be

cant wait jako!

I don't think I have ever been this excited about the start of a new season! The build up has been great and I love reading your blog. Go Jenson!!

I think this is the most anticipated F1 season in a long , long time. Its certainly re-generated my interest but I'm also over the moon that the 91Èȱ¬ have got the (uninterupted) coverage back. When "the other side" had it I either listened to the Five Live coverage or if I was able to watch then the sound on the T.V was down and Five Live was on the radio!Only problem encountered was that Premiership football seemed to trump F1!!!!
What with the boat race on Sunday as well (wrong side again but coming back where it belongs)its going to be a great weekends sport.
Good Luck to all at the 91Èȱ¬. On the strength of the website its going to be great coverage of a hopefully great season.

Hi! Great to see your blog on the 91Èȱ¬, great to see f1 on the 91Èȱ¬. Loving the iCal idea for putting race dates into calendars. It's a f1 geeks dream.
Any chance of the 91Èȱ¬ having an f1 twitter account we can follow?

"Some of you may know who I am from C91Èȱ¬, others from The Olympics, Sports Personality or my other 91Èȱ¬ Sport presenting work"

I remember you from when you was on Rapture m8. You did a show called Gamers. I also seem to remember some kind of blair witch special you did out in a woods somewhere for the channel. Lmao. It was one of those channels i could get without a cable box by just plugging in the cable aerial and tuning it in lol. Anyway, Youve come a long way kidda. Good luck with the F1.

Jake, we are being spolit by all of this.
It hasbt started yet and we have pictures!
Wow, are you sure that Lgeard was with you lot in that picture?
Has Brundle not joined you yet?
Still, you seem bust working away, Im sure those nerves are jangling...all of us back here in Blighty just want it to start!

Nice blog Jake. Are we going to see you at all on Australia TV (ten) or will it be just 'Ledgy' and Martin Brundle?

MrJimbo10, apparently James Allen now works for RAI Uno, in Italian. Please let us if that works out better than ITV.

Great Blog Jake.

Actually feels like we're there; which is good, because the weather here is rubbish, and some Ozzie sun would be very welcome.

Good to see you working hard too!!!

Looking forward to qualifiying on Saturday - just want it all to start.

Great Blog Jake!!

Glad the 91Èȱ¬ boys have got the coverage back this year. Cant wait for oz, will be up at 1:30am on friday to watch the practice on Red button. Will the British GP be in HD as you are the home broadcastor.

Come on Lewis!!!!!

This is a fab blog! Really enjoying reading it. Can't wait for the weekend and to see how the 91Èȱ¬ coverage works. Will the graphics have those little yellow boxes to show positions like they used to? I watched the highlights of the '94 Australian GP yesterday and it really struck me how much F1 - and its coverage - has changed since then.

Good luck for the weekend, Jake.

Jake.
I know you must be busy preparing for the practice rounds and your first GP but please keep these blogs coming. They make us feel involved with the day to day going ons in both the F1 and 91Èȱ¬ scene.
Can't wait to get the Red Button coverage started, was with Unclemuncle last night planning our viewing times.

Good luck with your first broadcasts.

P.S. what’s the latest news re diffusers.

Well Jake looks like you're gonna be having a good time covering F1. Lucky sod. Anyway with yourself and the team you're working with I think it'll be a good year or maybe a pirelli :o) And with an added bonus of no more bloody ad breaks then things are looking up. All we need now is Jenson to win. Good luck to yourself and all involved.

What a job eh? Going out there to blab to the nation about the exciting start to the season!
On another note - Eddie Jordan's group are absolutel rubbish and they wouldn't have a hope in hell of getting a gig anywhere else...

As a huge Lewis Hamilton i am now dreading the start of this season. The noise coming out of Mclaren and from the man himself are not good..i mean, Jenson Button has been installed as the bookies favourite?!? not alonso..not hamilton..not massa but Button! i honestly cant believe it. Why have Mclaren and everyone else for that matter dragged their heels over winter testing..and yet Brawn GP take over the Honda team and suddenly they are the team to beat?
Lewis is now saying he's going to struggle to keep up with the pack..well, am hoping thats a smokescreen but im fearing the worst.

connors-75

the start of my last post should have read.."as a huge lewis hamilton FAN"..

The thing is, connors, Brawn haven't created the speed they've apparently got "suddenly". They've most likely been working on the car since late 2007. They've had time and investment from Honda.

I doubt the McLaren thing is a smokescreen, it's obvious if you read the likes of James Allen's blog they have real issues. However saying that they'll have brought new parts to the car since testing and they'll have KERS this weekend (presumably in a desperate attempt to claw back some time for the first half of the season).

Oh this is going to be so much FUN! Only about 11 hours until practice 1. Can't wait!

im really old fashioned-i dont want to read about the commentators doing this that and the other-i just want to watch the races

sorry Jake

Congratulations on the fabulous job, i'm sure it's hard work and all that but you won't get much sympathy here!
Loving the blog and the photos, looking forward to seeing more.
Cheers.

Two days to go and the first controversy over the diffusers. It will be a shame if the seson starts on a sour note when the build up has been fantastic. Note to disgruntled teams - its called racing! If certain teams have interpreted the rules differently to you does that make you right and them wrong? Me thinks you will just have to work a bit harder to gain a competive edge! Go Button and Barrichello, this is what it is all about, other teams coming forward and mixing it up. I want the 09 season to be remebered for all the RIGHT reasons.
Moan over

Hi Jake,
Good luck on the telly. Here's a quick question I'm interested to know the answer to. What clothes will you be wearing on raceday? Will you have a tie ir open-neck? Please don't appear like the football lot!

Sitting on my balcony in St Kilda listening to the cars whizz round. The dream? Living it.

I realised as I went to setup my Sky+ to record the practice session that its only on the interactive service?

Whats that all about? I could understand if it was prime time TV and there was a full schedule? But we were talking about 1am in the morning on a worknight!?!? Theres four channels full of repeats that could have spared an hour or two no problem....

For other middle of the night sessions could we get that sorted out? During the day I'll probably be watching them directly, but on a midweek night not a chance am I staying up until stupid oclock. Are they stored somewhere on iPlayer that I can access?

Great Blog Jake your excitment and love of the sport really shows. Can't wait for the weekend to kick off, got up @ 5.30 this am to watch 2nd practice, this is going to be a classic F1 season. Keep up the good work and "see" you in the morning. And from one irishman to another tell EJ to watch his language!!

Ken

Hi Jake!

Great to see you got the job. Made it worth waking early to see your fresh face. Loving the Blog esp photos. Really helps the fans to feel in contact with the sport that little bit more. Please keep it up, including any funny anecdotes/off screen banter with drivers etc. (I know what it's like for journos away at the races - there will be plenty to tell)

EJ comes across a natural, DC didn't. I guess it's only time before his natural personality and humour starts to show through.

Love the Beeb's graphics and glad to hear THE CHAIN is back.
My only downside to it all?...no loo breaks throughout the race!

Keep the good work up
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hi Jake,
I bet you are glad to be back,it must be hard all that sun and glam.
ok, great race, love the red button it really adds to the production.After the race everyone wants to see more not just "see you next race" so the after race chat is great.What is your opinion of standerised KERS.That is just as bad as standarised engines.The need for KERS may help some cars but designers can make a fast car,Red Bull,Brawn etc, without the KERS it also adds to mix the cars with and the cars without.I personally can not see what the system has to do with racing. The cars compete,its a race if they need for boost then re-introduce turbos.In Martins interview with Mclaren its so expensive to produce for the gains.What about Brawn,Force India will mercedes give them the KERS in the engine deal?Nice if they do after all it looks as if its part of the engine.Anyway good production as always looking forward to Catalunya i may be allowed to go this year.Thank you 91Èȱ¬.
Stewart