91Èȱ¬

Nice Blog Jake. I'm Really looking forward to the start of the 91Èȱ¬ coverage!!

Jake,

When you talk about V8s roaring by please don't follow ITV's example and stand right outside the garages whilst the teams start the engines and then try to talk WE CAN'T HEAR YOU :)

No problem hearing the sound of an F1 engine just don't try to have a conversation or plug the competition at the same time!

Good luck Jake. Really looking forward to seeing F1 back on the 91Èȱ¬, especially hosted by a City fan!

Good job Jake, here's to what will be a fantastic F1 season!

I was wondering though, how much about the sport did you know before getting the job? How much have you learnt since?

Excellent, wishing you the best of luck on your debut! I reckon a new exciting era of F1 is looming and the 91Èȱ¬ are the best broadcaster to cover it.

Hey Jake, can't wait to see F1 return to the beeb. Who would be your surprise tip for the championship?

enjoy it, sounds like a dream job to present uninterrupted F1 coverage at a time when the racing looks to be really spicing up due to the rule changes! Here's to a great year with yourself, DC, EJ, Mart and Ledge at the helm :D

Great blog Jake.

Really looking forward to the new season, with all the regulation changes it should be one of the most exciting seasons of recent times!

I agree with hdsport, please don't do pieces to camera right outside the team garages, by all means let us hear the wonderful sounds of the engines, but just don't try and do pre race build up from there!

Best of luck in your new job, and here's to a fantastic homecoming for F1 on the 91Èȱ¬!

Thanks for sharing with us Jake :)
I look forward to being a regular reader of your blog and am very excited to see F1 on the 91Èȱ¬ and I think you are a great choice for anchor.

All the best for this season, we'll all be with you from our settees!

PS - There is a minority on here who will post angry and hate-filled comments. Just to warn you, ignore them!

Hi Jake,

I'm sure I remember you presenting C91Èȱ¬ years ago with one of the actors from Byker Grove; you were about 2 feet taller than him and had to bend down so you'd both fit in the same camera shot!

Was most impressed with the 91Èȱ¬ - it was interesting to watch work your way up to the big presenting jobs and I was pleased to see they encourage internal promotion as well as importing big names from other channels.

Personally, I quite enjoyed Steve being so close to the garages and engines. TV normally struggles to convey just how loud Formula 1 cars are - if you stand in the right place at Silverstone you can actually feel the noise. Fantastic.

Best of luck, I'll be glued to the 91Èȱ¬ coverage every weekend.

I'll be honest, Jake; I've been one of the people who've seen you fronting various 91Èȱ¬ Sport programmes and have thought "who on earth is this kids' presenter and what place does he have in fronting big sports events?", and it's clear from your post above that you've recognised that as the stick your critics beat you with and fair do's for trying to answer it here.

You say that you're no less qualified than your predecessors because of your previous TV experience, but for me it's more a question of whether you have the necessary gravitas that fronting these big sports occasions warrant; it was shown clearest to me at the Beijing Olympics when you and Rishi Persad were the two main male presenters, wearing open necked shirts and sitting on a sofa, when only a decade ago it was Desmond Lynam and Steve Rider fully suited sitting behind a desk.

Trouble is, I can't decide whether your appointment is just a part of the growing informalisation of sports coverage - certainly at the 91Èȱ¬, whether it's what the audience wants and whether it's just me being a bit old fashioned - particularly because I'm also not keen on presenters starting on one area of TV and branching out into others, which is why I always had a problem with Adrian Chiles presenting MOTD2 at the same time he was fronting the business programme Working Lunch.

Anyway, regardless of my personal opinions of your presenting style and ability, I wish you good luck for the new season.

Good Luck Jake!

Looking forward to the new season as it sounds you are!

Good blog Jake, always enjoyed your presenting on other sports shows, looking forward to seeing you handling DC and EJ!

Which Grand Prix are you looking forward to covering the most?

I'd be interested to find out how much will be available with the interactive red button... Will we be able to choose to follow a driver, follow the pit lane, stats the teams look at? That kind of thing? Can't wait for the season to start, it never felt right on ITV!

Looking forward to the 91Èȱ¬s coverage - will have my finger poised on the red button to check out all the extras.
I suppose I'll have to install a TV in the bathroom, as there won't be any more breaks in which to spend a penny!
Good luck trying to please all of the viewers, all of the time...

Well good luck with the job! Really jealous that your going to be there in Melbourne and best of all getting paid for it! Was there last year and nothing like the start of the season! bit different this year stuck in scotland! :(

Excellent blog Jake, really looking forward to the new F1 season and the new 91Èȱ¬ coverage. I'm sure you'll do a great job. :)

Be nice to have a few new faces covering F1, providing us with different opinions and viewpoints. Will be nice to watch without having to worry about breaks at "crucial" times!!!! What do you think of all the Hamilton "bashing" that goes on? It's truly unbelievable how the Brits treat their sporting stars!!!! GOOD LUCK TO ALL THE NEW TEAM FOR 2009.

Good luck for this year Jake. From interviews I've read, you seem to have a good knowledge of the sport so you should be fine.

See you in Melbourne. ;)

Great to see F1 back on the 91Èȱ¬, hated all the advert breaks on ITV and looking forward to all the interactive stuff.

Can't wait! Good luck to everyone.

Looking forward to seeing your take on the F1 coverage, Jake, and looking forward to being part of this blogging community you speak of too. I was entering my teenage years as you started on C91Èȱ¬ and I'm now 19 - kind of graduated from C91Èȱ¬ like you! - and I'm sure you're going to be a great asset to the coverage.

Hi Jake. Congratulations on being offered the job, I look forward very much to watching you present arguably the greatest technical sport in the world.

Just one comment, like the guy commenting on standing outside the garages, please do not be biased towards Lewis Hamilton. As much as I like the fact a British person is winning, being biased is irritating. Also, please do not do what most media frontmen and journalists do and refer to Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button as an Englishman. I am fed up as a Welshman to have our sports people referred to as "Brits" and the English as "English". The FIA lists show them as British. Let's keep it that way.

Best of luck fella!

Hi Jake
Myslef and a bunch of friends are all talking about the Beeb and its coverage,and are delighted that it's back with you.
One thing I wanted to know, are you planning on tailoring your hairstyle for the whole season to be as resilient to the buffeting wind and weather as Steve Ryder's was?

Good luck for the season ahead.

Doc

About time the sport returned to where it belongs, and welcome, Jake. Got just one question so far, what's the chance of 91Èȱ¬ showing the races on the HD channel?

Great blog Jake, cannot wait for the season to start. I'm really pleased that coverage is back with the 91Èȱ¬, I also think that any sports coverage by the 91Èȱ¬ is better than itv, and with no more breaks in coverage of F1 I am counting down the 21 days til the first race.

Please show your knowledge and enthusiasm for the sport during coverage, there is nothing worse than a Presenter coming across as they have no interest in what is happening and doesn't know what is going on. I'm sure that there will be a lot of coverage of Lewis, and I'm a hugh fan of his, but please also cover other teams/drivers, such as Vettel, Massa, Kubica, as they have and will play key parts in the season. Also, please pronounce their names right, that is something that really annoys me when Presenters get it wrong!!

Good luck, I'm sure you will do a fine job!

From a girl in Ireland who has followed F1 for 13 years (remember the female fans!)Thx

Jake,

Excellent blog. I must admit I was surprised to hear the news that you had got the F1 anchor but then again I think that you did an excellent job at the Olympics and have been mightily impressed with you on the various bits of football coverage you have done.

I don't envy your job, sadly for you will always (for now) be compared to Des and Steve. People need to realise that you, Rishi and even Jonathan Edwards (now doing an excellent job in for Sue on the athletics) are the future of 91Èȱ¬ Sport. As you put it, you have gained the experience through C91Èȱ¬ and I would argue are much more qualified than the likes of Linekar when he started out on MOTD. And just because you did not start out presenting sport does not mean that you do not know your sport, does it? To suggest that is the case is plain stupid. Some have claimed you are like Adrian Chiles, this is not the case. Unlike Adrian, you are now solely a sports presenter thus you actually know your stuff.

Good luck Jake, I am in no doubt that you will do a great job at the 91Èȱ¬.

Jake, are you guys gonna be in the paddock for presenting then, or in an on-site studio?

Looking forward to Oz! ;)

Nice one Jake. Looking forward to watching the 91Èȱ¬ coverage, have you guys got a program coming up, just to give the low down on the testing period?

Nice Blog. My Brother used to watch Bamzooki and so I did take note when you seemed to integrate yourself into the odd Football Focus or Match of the Day. You look at sport presenters today, Steve Rider, Gary Linikear, Richard Keys and the like, and you have to say none of them are that young, so I am pleased you got the job. I also must say I am impressed by the new F1 section. It looks special compared to the other sections now, before it was just a sub-heading under motorsport

Hello Jake and welcome to the wizzy world of F1.

I admit to being very skeptical of your appointment at first, but after seeing your interview with Lewis, im suddenly heartened by your arrival. Excellent approach to a man who is difficult to interview, keep it up!

As for your red light moment, dont worry too much about making an impression or being perfect, im sure all of us fans will give you time, just get the ball rolling and EJ will do the rest... lol.

All best for Melbourne and beyond.

Hi Jake, really looking forward to the season, 91Èȱ¬'s red button & your blog being a regular companion through what could be a great year!
Thinking about what you said about nerves with 10 seconds to go before the first transmission, just imagine the hairs on all of our collective necks will be standing on end as we hear "The Chain" in all its glory, for the first time in 12 years meaning things are back where they should be!!
All you need to do is make a comment like "How good is it to hear that again" and you're off & running with us all grinning from ear to ear!!!
Can't wait, Great to have a fellow yellow as the main man!! City to avoid relegation & Williams to challenge at the front in F1 again & I'll be a happy man!!

Great Blog Jake. You are a great presenter throughout 91Èȱ¬ Sport and as you are a fan of motorsport I was overjoyed when I heard that you were the presenter, and with the other members of the 91Èȱ¬ F1 Team the coverage should be immense. Good Luck with the presenting you will be fantastic.

I like the new 91Èȱ¬ F1 91Èȱ¬page and from the photos of the 91Èȱ¬ F1 Trailer that looks good as well

Hey Jake, congrats on getting the gig. Not jealous at all, honest..... I HATE YOU!!!

Really looking forward to the new season, nearly there now. Cant wait to hear the famous theme tune once more!

Will there be a preview show before the season starts?

Good luck an dkeep up the good work.

Good job, Jake... thanks for the blog!

Really excited about the new season and the 91Èȱ¬'s coverage!

Just to clarify... speculation in the press was that you would be presenting in a UK studio rather than from the track? What's the facts?

Enjoy!

Well, Jake I too was very suprised that you got the Job myself.
But you seem to know your stuff very easy and I am very happy you got the job ahead of another male presenter who was rumoured.
Of course, Lynam and Rider are big shoes to fill but do it in your style, give the critics the knock out punch and keep those two EJ and DC in line and yes, stand well away from the garages when the engines are revving...we do want to hear you!

"My surprise tip for the championship 'BenCedars'? I guess Kubica isn't a 'surprise', so i'd say either Webber or Vettel...I've high hopes for those boys."

Many thanks Jake,

there's always something really nice about getting ur comment responded to so thank you :D really appreciated.

And as far as ur surprise tips go... i agree. red bull boys should be very intriguing to follow. one other question if i may. Which in turn do you feel are the most beautiful and the most ugliest looking cars taking to the grid?

How did the fishcakes turn out, Jake?

Thanks for this post Jake,

I think I'm finally beginning to understand about how the online and radio coverage complement the TV broadcasting of all sports on the 91Èȱ¬. How good it is that you are prepared to blog and be so accountable.

I just want to echo the comments on here about how much I am looking forward to the new season and how pleased I am that you are presenting the coverage. I think you've done a grand job on the American Football, Olympics and Football programmes you've presented and I think you thoroughly deserve to get the gig, so congrats.

Good luck to all, I'm sure the beeb's coverage will start well and build from there. Looking forward to it.

A great introductory blog Jake. I must admit to being initially a bit puzzled at the 91Èȱ¬ choice of presenter but with half of the blog read it became quite clear. Congrats also career wise, that's quite a seat.
I hope you can also influence the direction of the banter that will follow - the 606 comments section with a few notable exceptions just always deteriorated into a clash of personalities and endless "my fave driver is better than yours".
Oh and this may be the 91Èȱ¬ (of which I am a fan in general) but your blog joins the ranks of some of the finest fan-blogs on the internet. Such as of course Keith's f1fanatic.co.uk. You have your work cut out.
Bring on the 2009 F1 season!

Good blog Jake..its going to be a whole new experience watching F1 on the bbc again, im certainly old enough to remember watching it on the beeb back in the 80s and 90s..one thing though..whats the opening theme tune going to be??? surely the beeb have to bring back Fleetwood Mac's "the chain"..i think this is the question on everyones lips at the moment.
Looking forward to a long and successful F1 season and hopefully we'll crown Lewis World Champion once again in 2009.

Great blog Jake well done! I too have evolved with you from C91Èȱ¬ and can say that I think you are doing a great job with the 91Èȱ¬ Sport and think that will continue with the F1 coverage.
Your handling of the Superbowl was fantastic again, even if you did have a slip of the tongue and call a touchdown a try. Even my American housemate forgave you by the end of the match and that is saying something!
Good luck and I look forward to seeing the coverage this summer.

really looking forward to the new season it will be intresting to see how the racing will be now were back on slicks again. Can't wait for melbourne that first race for P1 in a new season is allways exciting.

Yeah - not great for us at the moment, but still time to turn it round! Bonus kudos from here if you manage to get City mentioned in your first broadcast ;)

Good to see Ross Braun and Jenson staying in F1, would have been a shame to lose the Honda team entirely. Pleased that Rubens is getting a drive too, Senna Jr's time will come!

@scorfix - I can't wait for The Chain.

I remember the last thing Rider said on ITV's coverage was "the other side will have to go a long way to do better" (or something like that), well I'm sure you will. It's already enough to know that we won't be cutting to adverts with 3 laps to go!!

Great to read your blog and I am sure that you will referee the show much beter than some that have been seen at Norwich.
It loks like a great team setup for the beeb and cannot wait for the season to commence. As previous blogs have said, not stopping for adverts will enhance our viewing. It wil be an exciting and interesting season whilst the new regulations are implemented. Exciting because all the teams will start on a level playing field. Would like to see britain retain the championship. What about Brawn GP and Jason for team and driver championship?

Good Luck
from one of thr Gorefield gang.

I have been watching F1 forever, remember the Murry Walker and James Hunt days?, and love this sport. When I heard the news that ITV had grabbed the rights of the beeb I was gutted as I new what it meant, bloody adverts!!
Well ITV have done a great job over the years ( apart from the last 10 laps of the San Marino gp in 2005!) but I never got used the the enforced breaks and to find out that the 91Èȱ¬ had got the rights back was second only to Hamilton's title win as the moment of the year!! The new line up looks great and the promised coverage looks stunning. Good luck Jake, you seem like a proper motorsport fan, and see you on the 28th March, about 7am!!

Good luck Jake. I've watched you on Sports Personality and also the Lewis interview on here and I'm impressed :)

Good luck, Jake. You're a complete unknown to me (sorry!) but this blog has been a great introduction. I'm really looking forward to the start of the season, and to seeing F1 back where it belongs. It's great that you're open to being approachable via this blog too!

Hey Jake good luck with the new position. i think your NFL coverage is very good being a low priority sport in the UK i think you explain a lot of the aspects superbly. I hope this will continue into F1 as i feel there will be a lot of new viewers.

One question. How do you feel Brawn GP will get on this season? Im guessing they will have a lot less money than teams like Ferrari.

Hi Jake, can't wait for the new season to start! Please don't do any ITV style mess-ups and cut to something else when there's a big bit of drama on the track. Just a suggestion but I'm sure you won't!

Best of luck to you and the rest of the 91Èȱ¬ F1 team this season!

Congratulations Jake - well done on getting the job! I'm SO pleased that F1 is back on the Beeb - NO MORE AD BREAKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm looking forward to a less biased coverage of the sport and ALL drivers, NOT just a certain 2008 champion... and just to back up a previous post - please remember that there are a LOT of us ladies out there who are mad for F1 and who are pretty knowledgable on the subject!

Good Luck

Jake,

Good luck with this assignment, I wish you well. But please Jake, remember that this is Formula 1, not Moto GP or horse racing, so please don't try to excite us with false awful hyped up commentary moto GP style.

Well Jake, it's a big one isn't it :) Well done on landing the job.

And I'd like to echo the comments here on wishing you all the best for your time headlining the 91Èȱ¬ F1 coverage. Your Olympic coverage leaves us in no doubt you'll do sterling work mate.

One question though, will there be any post-race coverage? Anything like the 91Èȱ¬ MotoGP post-race show that was aired on the red button?
Maybe I've not searched hard enough on the 91Èȱ¬ sport page myself to get the answer, but it would be very interesting to get something like that going if it were possible.

Great blog, I'll be keeping an eye on it ;)

Hi Jake,
Would like to welcome you and all the bbc team into my sitting room for every race of the new season. i am really looking forward to the 2009 season on the bbc. No more pesky ad breaks. Yay! Lets hope its as exciting as 2008

Hello Jake,
Looking forward to new season. Have been watching f1 for over 30 years and still get a buzz at the beginning of each new season. Good luck to you and all the team. Great to have no adverts breaking the excitement. I feel the mixture of old and new will make the programmes watchable.

Good Luck

Hi Jake! Congratulations on your coverage of the first GP of the 2009 season. I must apologise for never having heard of you before today - but after seeing you at the Melbounre F1, I am most impressed and immediately after the race checked the 91Èȱ¬ web site to find out who you are!!! Regards Maxine

Congratulations to the 91Èȱ¬ team on your first fantastic coverage of the opening F1 GP. Lots of interesting interviews capturing all the excitement. My only critisism, and I admire the man enormously but Martin Blundell when on camera at least look as though you are enjoying being there and being employed by the 91Èȱ¬.(on the F1 Forum you looked fed up) I thought that was a great end to the program, maybe Martin does not?

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

I think you did a great job Jake. Really impressed.

In fact I was impressed with everyone except Eddie Jordan who was absolutely awful.

What a pontificated duffer he is. Sooner he is gone the better.

Jake are you NOT running a blog on this GP or is just me & cant find the link :

Keep up the great work & 91Èȱ¬ your F1 website is the bee's knee's

Well Done Jake. Excellent job on what was a difficult GP. Keep the good work up.

While I welcome 91Èȱ¬ Sport TV return to F1 coverage, please do not make the same mistakes as your recent network competition in the past. Namely, don't think that you have to be talking or rambling on all the time during the race coverage itself (Jake Humphrey please take note). Comments like a "the concrete wall being unforgiving" during recent coverage of the Melbourne Grand Prix are just obvious and unnecessary. Leave the expert coverage to the experts i.e. DC,EJ and of course MB they have been in most of the situations in F1 and can illustrate the situations far better. Thanks

Back when MTV first started there was a character called Max Headroom. I first thought he disappeared into Television oblivion, but little did we know he actually went on to be a mediocre Formula one driver,who has since retired from Red Bull in 2008.He is now part of 91Èȱ¬'s F1 team.He really is Max Headroom,isn't he ?

Hey Jake not a bad job so far,
one thing.....if you keep taking p**s out of Coulthard
I think he will give you a Glasgow Kiss XX

Hello Jake

I was surprised to hear you felt a little out of your depth in Monaco, being as you are from Norfolk. Looking at the boats in the harbour, I immediately thought of the staithe at Rockland St Mary! Congratulations on turning F1 into an entertaining sport, you're a marvellous presenter along with your old mates.

Just want to say that while the 91Èȱ¬ seems to have what is on paper a very strong team of presenters, in practice it isn't working.

Jake, could you be any more condescending toward your fellow presenters and interviewees?! Smart jokes and inane comments made to some of F1's most knowledgeable people just serve to make you look like a real 'try hard'. Its astonishing that the 91Èȱ¬ even considered someone with virtually no motorsport background to host the F1 show.

Hi Jake, at long last am able to talk to you.Great blogs,always look forward to them.The 91Èȱ¬ is just a breath of fresh air.DC well what can I say I was a member of his supporters club for 10 years.Guess my age Jake [62 this month]SO WHAT.I love F1,.Been lucky enough to do 4 visits to Melbourne to the opening fabulous.E.J.a great guy lots of laughs.Looking forward to MONSA.Hope your tummy upset is better.Love to Harriet.I have met D.C. HE SIGNED MY PHOTO ALBUM.Take care Kath xx

Hello Jake,

My very first Blog on any website. It reaaly is good to see F1 back home on the 91Èȱ¬ and your presentation is excellent. It's good to see David has found a new career presenting, I hope he enjoys it, his insites are invaluable and comparable to the voice of race commentry Martin Brundle. Eddie seems to be finding his feet but provides the final piece of the jigsaw with his insight into F1 management.

My only gripe....the opening titles, they are awful and I hope plenty of people complain. Yes it's new and things should change, change is good. But let's be honest, it's just a gloified cartoon, racing fans tune in to see the reality of racing and I much prefered the opening titles of race clips from previous seasons of F1 coverage. These can be kept fresh by showing the highlights of the previous race backed by Fleetwood Mac's excellent The Chain.

I am not against CGI,it is an excellent tool for showing the grid line up and track layout. It is equally impressive as a tool to help Marting with his F1 car insights. But just because it's available does not mean the 91Èȱ¬ have to use it.

Thank you (and any ne else who has bothered to read my debut blog.

Cliff

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

Thee 91Èȱ¬ generally gives an informed and opinion of the sport they are commentating on; however it appears that David Coulthard has a real problem with the possibility that Jensen Button winning the title, is this because he never cam close himself?

Eddie Jordan has done a brilliant job imparting his knowledge and being prepared to stick his neck out to predict results.

Regards

Nick

Bernies up to his old tricks again,, Britain certainly does need a GP
We run the manufacturing side of this "sport" Bernies only in it for the money. The sooner he retires the better.

Blair was taken in by Bernie, but the Establishment was not.
Pay back time has arrived.
We have lost are GP..........
A terribly blow to our Country