91Èȱ¬

Once again Jake, a fabulous hosting of LIVE Silverstone coverage - second to none on the 91Èȱ¬. I remember back to the early 1980's when the 91Èȱ¬ used to show the start of the race LIVE, then swap to Golf for about half an hour, then pop back to the race to see how it was going on about lap 25! No practice, no qualy, just bits of the race. We mustn't take all this great coverage for granted so well done!

Shame about Red Bull's team orders - people pay a lot of money to get in, a fortune for some, they don't want to be deprived of great racing and a great finish by Red Bull's petty team orders. Shame on them.

Keep up the great work. Zoot!

I think it's funny that everyone is talking about Red Bulls team orders and no one has really mentioned the fact that the organisers broadcast Buttons pit commands to the world, so that Red Bull could know what they where up to. I love hearing some of the chatter, but the organisers seemed to have it in for McLaren. Broadcasting the pit signal and also Hamiltons fuel concerns.

Are their specific guidelines?

Apart from this, fantastic coverage as always. Thanks for a great Sunday afternoon.

Nice coverage - well done to all the team!

For next year's British Grand Prix, can you invite the legendary Murray Walker to be a third commentator alongside Martin and DC in the comm box? I so enjoyed his contribution to the coverage at the end of qualifying.

The BRDC, and Damon Hill in particular, are to be applauded for securing the future of the event. Relocating the pits and paddock was a bold move, which at first I thought would not work and spoil the 'feel' of the lap. I was proved wrong though - the new first sector works really nicely indeed.

And finally - AWESOME moving camera at Luffield this year!!! Can you ask FOTA for more of this kind of thing please? The cars and track looked great from above, and makes the action on track seem even more exciting than it does from the normal viewpoint.

Another top effort from all the 91Èȱ¬ F1 team. I really hope you guys extend the contract - I can't imagine anyone else doing a better job making the build up, or post-race analysis, so enjoyable to watch.

I just wish you guys provided content to Silverstone TV. This was my 6th time at the race and the format they use hasn't changed at all during that time and still broadcast over a terrible sound system!

As you say, F1 is about the fans, so I hope the BRDC is going to invest more in their in-house coverage of the race (sound systems and TV coverage) so the fans that do go to the race don't miss out on what is going on around the track.

Watching the programme back on iPlayer, I was really surprised by how much I had actually missed out on inc. diffuser rows and team orders etc.

It's all well and good building fantastic facilities like the new pits complex, but these service a select well-heeled few. We need you guys to give them a pep talk and show them how it should be done in advance of next year.

Great coverage once again and lovely to see Murray there too. As ever, you did a brilliant and professional job - a real 'it makes you feel proud to be British' time: how you manage cooly to talk to camera and have people rabbiting in your ear, beats me and then have to fill in time on the hoof as rain stops play, fantastic! I also greatly appreciate your fair, non-partisan and intelligent approach when discussing/describing events etc; F1 coverage would be not be the same without you [...so please stay..!]; thank you.

As always great blog Jake

I have to agree with RobbieBobbie about Silverstone Tv. I too was there and missed out on a lot of the content,and team radio. I did not even know about the penalty given to MS until i was talking to someone at home watching the race.

Think the new wing looks amazing. It all seems more spread out this year which was better in my view.

I'd just like to add that despite being associated with the sport for just three years, Mr Humphrey appears to be more popular with the Silverstone fans than 90% of the drivers too. Keep up the good work.

Hi Jake, I noticed the only part of Lewis' race you and the rest of the pundits were interested in was the last lap with Massa and as usual focusing on the chance of a penalty for Lewis as we have seen so many times already this season.

Lewis' amazing charge from 10th to 4th and overtaking Jenson on the way got barely a mention.

I can't help thinking if Jenson had Lewis' race you would be writing an article about that rather than what's happening off track.

I can't agree more with the Silverstone TV point, especially with the sound systems, i was in row 5 of Woodcote A on friday and was struggling to hear the tannoy before the Porsche practise session has started. I wouldn't of had much clue as to what was happening in the race if it wasn't for the Silverstone radio, which had 3 communtators situated around the track and seemed to not be given more information then the live feed we could see. Saying this, it has been a big improvement this year and i'm confident these can be addressed for next year! I'm hoping that next year the fans trackside will have access to more information e.g. the DRS zone, which sitting at Stowe for the race was hoping to be down the Hanger Straight. would've been interesting to see the results if there had been two on different parts of the track!

I guess I might be going against the grain here, but this is my honest opinion:

We got the point on Saturday - there were a lot of fans at Silverstone.

Was it really necessary to base the entire weekend's coverage on this? The people in the background of every shot were extremely distracting and in many ways made the show far, far worse than it could have been.

I really miss the ITV F1 days when Rosenthal, Palmer etc were in their own studio away from the public and were producing a professional programme. This weekend's output was just awful.

I want to see more features like the one about the Williams front wing. I really don't care about drivers on jet skis, bikes or in ice cream vans. I watch F1 because I like F1, not because I like comedy. But sadly, the pre and post race coverage is fast turning into a joke.

Jake, the point you made 'the privileged minority in the paddock with the drivers and cars whilst the fans are in a totally different place.' are really welcomed by fans like myself as I feel most GP's do have a huge gap between the paddock and the spectators. Lets be fair, you guys do always play up the glitz and glamour at one event in particular, when 99% of fans just pay extra to other GP's for a normal seat!

Lets hope other world class tracks take on Silverstone's view of the fans.

Really enjoyed the forum this week too, it was good to see you back in a relaxed and more orginised environment instead of just wondering down the paddock showing us the red bull garage - again. Can you return to this format in the future, like back in 09 when you were able to use each teams hospitality suite in turn?

Just to say that I love the 91Èȱ¬ coverage and I am chuckling to myself having just watched your tandem exploits. :-)

@ FishFingers. F1 is fun the current presentation is fun. If you don't like it switch on at the start of the race and switch off at the end. I suspect your real name is either Rupert or Rodney!

#10

I bet you're a barrel of laughs. The coverage on the 91Èȱ¬ is excellent and the aim of the coverage was to show the audience what the atmophere is like on race day. if the 91Èȱ¬ were to just make features about front wings and brake pads then I think the only people that would tune in would be you and your mates. So probably two in total.

@10 I agree on some points but the 91Èȱ¬ have to keep it balanced as an audience that size needs more than just tech articles. Think they are aiming their coverage to be more top gear in content rather than open university. As long as they do the odd techie piece as required or to help intro new viewers into the basics, then the odd water and bike exploits are fine. But yes, they are trying to play on the primary 3 presenters being a comedy act. i.e. tandem, lift(monaco) etc. and in some ways they are, only about 1.5 of them have a clue.

Martin Brundle said in his column this week that he and DC filmed a pit lane session with McLaren a few weeks ago (he posted pics on Twitter at the time) - do you know when is this going to be shown?

What a weekend. FP3 was commentated by Murray and the usual R5L chaps, and he joined in on quali too!
This was my first time at a GP, I was down at Stowe for the entire Sunday morning and afternoon. I have to say, it was simply amazing. The noise, weather (v hot), racing, action, smell...the lot.

There are a few things the organisers need to work on, specifically only 1 single "cash point" for the entire site? The map labelled 2, and we couldn't find any of them. No officials knew where they were, and even the information points had to enquire the map! That was a 15minute wait for cash when we eventually found it (the other had been "removed" from the circuit...)
But 20minute ques for the toilets? Seriously?
There also need to be more big-screen's for the fans. Although we could (just) see one way over by Club, we could only see the top half! We saw Jenson retiring and assumed engine problems because we couldn't see the tyre nearly falling off! On the far side of the track, by the old pit straight, I believe they didn't have any TV's at all.

I was pleased we could "invade" the track, even got some Pirelli marbles for souvenirs! Oh, and thanks for the waves below the podium Jake!

Certainly a weekend to remember. Going back next year, and can't wait!

As far as the current 91Èȱ¬ coverage goes, I can only fault 1 thing, and that it is how there seems to be less and less technical content. I like the current format, but we used to get MB on every Sunday (?) explaining some aspect of F1, whether it be flags, pits, tyres, whatever. What happened to this?

@10
I really hope you are joking about the ITV coverage being better. Apart from Jim whatsisname looking a bit bored and Tony Jardine trying to be a professional, we had ad breaks throughout the damn race. I think what the current team do is put us, the tv viewer there at the circuit, I have been to races and trust me when you are waiting, for something to happen, it can be a bit boring. So well done for entertaining the fans, who had to suffer from some miserable weather, I can tell you that they appreciated the chance to meet you all.

91Èȱ¬ F1 coverage in my opinion is fantastic! Can you imagine Canadian Grand Prix on ITV? They would have filled the red flag time with adverts, as opposed to some brilliant on the hoof material from the 91Èȱ¬ commentary box. Maybe it wasn't the best material, but it kept you entertained while the race was stopped, and at least you didnt miss the race restarting cause you were on an ad break!

Hi Jake,

Excellent blog as always!

I was there at Silverstone on race day Sunday sitting in the Woodcote Corner area of the track which was fantastic. The crowds/atmosphere was superb. After the race we took a walk round towards the Silverstone Wing which looked amazing. Also it was brilliant of Silverstone to let the fans onto the track.

When I got home on Sunday evening I then watched back the race back which was fantastic and its amazing on how much went on that I didn't see. Jenson was looking very good for a podium thats for sure, until the team had problems with the wheel nut - real shame.

Finally how bizarre it was that Alonso was sent out on track in one of Bernie's old Ferrari's just before the race and he then goes on to win the British Grand Prix!

Anyway, looking forward to the German race and I shall end by saying that Vettel is the 2011 World Champion. Lets see who can finish 2nd etc.

Hi Jake,

Totally agree with you about Silverstone. I've been every year since 1999 and I wouldn't miss it for the world! Sorry I missed the ice-creams though I was getting soaked in a different part of the circuit at the time!

I went to Monaco this year also and I remember sitting in Luffield on Friday morning for free practice in layers of clothing sheltering from the rain and thinking that if there was an opposite to Monaco then this was definitely it!! Monaco has the glamour but Silverstone definitely has the passion for F1.

If there was one thing that Silverstone could do however it would be to make the drivers more accessible. In Monaco I saw most of the drivers up close every single day. At Silverstone it was just the drivers parade and the after race party. They should do a pitwalk on the Thursday like they do at other races and do more driver appearances. As we have the best fans in the world I think we deserve it!

Hi Jake,

I think its great that you try and get the fans involved etc and go and see them, however I was rather disapointed that you did nothing on the new pitlane and wing, I only found about the new exit/grass areas/steps at one end from pics on twitter from various other journo's & teams.

Surely you should have done a piece on the new wing, pit lane being partially lower etc than riding a bike/selling ice creams!?! Yes im sure it was fun to do and was fun to watch but not exactly interesting when there was this brand new, shiny building and pitlane to investigate...

p.s. I have asked several times via email and twitter during the forum (I know you get loads) on why the DRS is allowed to be used everywhere in practice/qualifying but not in the race? It seems ludicrous to me and surely should be something a good presenter/journo should be investigating or explaining to the public!?

@ 16 I heard that too and was expecting it last weekend, also when is the feature Martin did on the tyres going to be shown? He keeps talking about them but nothing appears!?

2. At 19:18 13th Jul 2011, bambi851 wrote:
I think it's funny that everyone is talking about Red Bulls team orders and no one has really mentioned the fact that the organisers broadcast Buttons pit commands to the world, so that Red Bull could know what they where up to. I love hearing some of the chatter, but the organisers seemed to have it in for McLaren. Broadcasting the pit signal and also Hamiltons fuel concerns.

Are their specific guidelines?

=====================================

Really good point. It did seem that McLaren's strategy was being broadcast to the world!

Do the teams only hear the radio messages that we hear, or do they get to hear a lot more?

If they only hear what we hear, then I completely agree that announcing JB's pit strategy and then Lewis' fuel issues was a touch unfair!

@#2 and #24

All team messages are broadcast between all the teams via race control.
What we hear are just snippets, so the JB message would have been heard 1 or 2 laps sooner than us.

Great blog Jake. Im luck enough to have been flown into Silverstone by helicopter in 97. And even as I fan I have to agree with DC. I felt somewhat disconnected from the fellow fans. But when I went in 98, 99 and 2000 I was stuck in traffic, going in and out but wouldn't change it for the world. You cant beat passing the time chatting to F1 fans in miles of traffic.

[Quote]It's our job to get you as close to Silverstone as possible.[/quote]

I'm glad you do it becuase it was my first year here and first ever F1 Grand Prix experience live! As much as I enjoyed it you can't get close to much other than the other spectators and the track! Not like WRC or anything where you can get close to the cars and drivers etc! At Silverstone they all just hide in their little island in the centre of the track - I guess thats F1 though!

As for the race etc I had a great weekend! Even with the rain!! Excellent time and I'll probably return next year! Thanks for the blog too Jake! Great read! I'm off to watch it again on the iplayer now while I still have chance! :)
To all the F1 fans! I think we all had a great weekend! I hope so anyway! So gald it was action packed and not one of the parade races! =D

I work 35hrs a week at a job I hate for 7.50 hr. We spent almost £500 on our tickets to Silverstone and camped in the rain, queued in the rain for the showers, queued for the toilets and queued for entry (with my Australian flag) just to hear that Webber had to "maintain the gap." Do I feel silly or what? To quote Vettel "Now that's what I'm talking about". As others have pointed out they didn't have to crash. Vettel could have been asked to move over.
Secondly, I too would like to know who decides which pit messages are going to be broadcast.

Just read that all pit messages can be heard by everyone. If that's so did Button and McLaren have a secret code which told Jenson that although they were telling him to come in he wasn't really meant to and it was just to fool Red Bull? Or did RB just see McL getting ready for a pitstop?
I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend at Silverstone except for the bit I mentioned earlier but I too hope that the tannoy system improves. I was at Stowe and thought it was the heliport nearby that was stopping me hearing the tannoy. The E-Zone behind me seemed to have a good microphone. I heard every word she said! The screen was too far away to read as well but I don't see what they can do about that without spoiling the view of the track which was great.

Great blog again and great coverage as always.
I love the humor that the guys bring to our screens every bit as much as the tech aspects, I admit I do a lot of research whenever new parts/rules etc... are introduced as I like to know what's what before the race so I can enjoy it fully.
I'd hate to see it go back to itv, I wasn't watching F1 then, but I was watching the total shambles they made of the world cup coverage!!!

I (sadly) wasn't there this year but plan to be next year. In answer to all who said they watched on the iplayer when they got home, I've been to many football matches and have always re-watched the match later.

Had the best weekend. Sat on the front row of on the small stand at club was superb to see the last lap duel between Massa and Lewis. A real ding dong. Real pity about Jenson. This time next year! See the last lap battle that I was lucky enough to capture on my digi cam.

Great blog Jake.

Changing tack slightly, does anyone know who will replace Ted Kravitz for the next 2 races? Will it be Lee McKenzie or someone from Five Live like Mike Sewell?

I was there at Sliverstone this weekend, and the atmosphere was electric, the race was fantastic, we we sat at club corner and got to witness some fantastic over takes, Button on Massa and Massa and Hamilton. Although I have to say anyone who watched it at home didnt get the best coverage of this. I watched the race back on iplayer when I got home and the camera angles of that chicane were poor, but thats not the 91Èȱ¬'s fault.

However once again Jake and the team did a great job. I'm sorry I missed you on the Thursday I didnt arrive until later in the day! The build up and after race coverage with the forum is becoming as unmissable as the race itself. Good work guys!

Jake, love your blog and coverage as usual.. but I have a question to ask (if anyone can answer).. when it rains and the cars are out behind the safety car, is there a hole in the cockpit so that it drain away or are the driver sitting in the wet for the duration?

@10

Totally with you on the backdrop of idiots (i.e. anyone over the age of 10) on mobile phones trying to get themselves in shot which was irritating in the extreme. SniffPetrol on twitter summed it up describing Jake, EJ and DC as "the Pied Pipers of Gawping Morons".

Hi there. The fans are FANTASTIC, as Murray would say. I was listening on the radio and I understand Mr Walker was just sitting at the back of their commentary box but just couldn't resist joining in with Crofty and Ant on Radio 5Live. It was awesome to hear him. I believe he even made a classic Murrayism at one point.

Having been lucky enough to go the FOTA Fans Forum the week before the race, at McLaren Technology Centre, I can tell you that all the teams can hear all of each other's broadcasts. It didn't used to be like that - they used to employ top secret technology to hide their communication. The team principles at the event said that they provide all of their team broadcasts to FOM TV and it is the 'rights holder's choice what is broadcast on the TV footage or not. The team principles said they wouldn't mind at all if all the radio broadcasts were provided to the fans - what a cool idea huh?

Just one thing. I understand Prince Harry was on the grid to promote what looked like a very worthwhile charity but I couldn't really hear or see the details. Could you post a link somewhere? Thanks

xJess

Who paid for you lot & the millionaire drivers to jet skiing... was it us?

It really was just the best weekend ever! Me and my mum were at Stowe and Sunday in particular was just electric...really agree with some comments, TV did not do the Hamilton/Massa battle justice...to see how quickly Massa closed, only for Hamilton to somehow resist was incredible, the grandstand literally erupted when he re-took 4th...but what TV never showed was that Massa got the run into the final chicane because Lewis had a seriously sideways moment on the exit of Stowe, hence why Massa closed in...to see this live was just so speacial :) Also worth a mention is that the GP3, GP2 and Porches all provided excellent support action...to watch GP3 at 8:25 am from Club with a pint was for me priceless, i wouldnt have wanted to be at any other circuit in the world...proud to be British.

Oh p.s. Alonso's 2nd lap in the '51 Ferrari was truly special & his interview on the 'parade' lorry straight after was the most upbeat/excited ive ever seen him...i thought this carried into his drive and his post-race interviews...the happiest ive ever seen him, really think he realised the magic of Silverstone that day

HI JAKE LOVED IT ALL ON SUNDAY.WOW THE BIKERIDE THROUGH SILVERSTONE WAS JUST GREAT,MADE ME LAUGH..YOU 3 ARE SUCH A WOW AND JUST TEAM TOGETHER SO NATURAL I LOVE YOU ALL TO BITS. KATH XXX

I'm finding myself looking forward more and more to Jakes's, Eddies and DC's antics every week. F1 is a sport, yes, but it should also be entertaining or else its just an excersice in physics and science.The racing has definately improved this season for the most part, still need less downforce and more power though. Also, lets have some burnouts and doughnuts by the winner a la NASCAR please. For me though, the biggest surprise is DC and how he has come on as a presenter, he has a natural flair and is fun to watch (possible top gear presenter when compo, foggy and cleg decide to retire)? keep up the good work beeb.

I would like to see a little more balance in the show to be honest Jake.
Riding around on the bike with DC and Eddie was great light entertainment but it needs to be balanced with some more serious F1 journalism.
More team interviews (other than Whitmarsh and Horner) and more features like the one about Williams making their front wings.
Another pet hate is the lack of information about positions and gaps during races.
I realise you have to take FOM feeds but it seems to be getting worse on that score.
Finally, just wanted to say i was disappointed with Brundle's blog where he seems not to appreciate fans views with respect to whether team personnel should keep their jobs. I'd just like to say we, the fans, pay the licence fee which keeps you in business and pay out hundreds of pounds on race tickets. We have a right to our say.

@41 Markj161.. agree with lack of information about positions.. especially after a round of pitstop.. instead of showing the gap between driver, they show the number of pitstops they had.. I don't care if they had a million pits stop, I just want to know how close they are in front or behind someone and how fast they are closing.

Totally disagree with fishface @10 coverage is brilliant all round loved it!!!! Wish the beeb had put Alonso legging after the lorry when they started without him though, have to say he was a good sport, supprised me!! Have to agree with those finding the tanoy system poor, it was really poor. Rest of it was big improvment so well done Silverstone!!!!!

Great show as ever Jake and another good race for F1, I don't know whether it's tyres or DRS or a combination of both but the racing this year has been fantastic.

I just wanted to voice my support of you and the whole F1 production team given the rumours of the 91Èȱ¬ dropping their F1 contract because of cost saving. As a huge fan of F1 I've followed it for years and can say without a shadow of a doubt that the current 91Èȱ¬ coverage is by far the best.

I recently wrote to the 91Èȱ¬ Trust to express my dismay at the rumours surrounding F1 being dropped by the beeb and I'm delighted to say I actually got a reply. Though of course it was rather non-committal as no decision has been made, it was great to see that these emails are read.

I would encourage any F1 fans new or old, who enjoy Jake and the rest of the F1 team's efforts to send your own thoughts to the 91Èȱ¬ Trust (trust.enquiries@bbc.co.uk), it is after all our license money and therefore our 91Èȱ¬ so make your voices heard.

Lets keep F1 on the 91Èȱ¬ and ad-free!

My thanks to the whole team Jake for all of your work and I look forward to Germany in a week.

Having read all these comments, quite a few were about the lack of information from the circut tv and radio. I have been three times now and each time i hire a fanvision (kangaroo) tv. Allthough pricey at £60 for a week end, if you split the cost with mate/s its good value. you can switch from the silverstone commentry to the 5 live crew, 2 different timing screens, in car footage etc. Also you can select your favorite driver and get extra info during the race. This works all weekend and for the support races. there is also a web type news screen where you can read up on up to the minute breaking news, which allowed me to follow the whole blown diffuser row. Well worth it. You dont miss a thing this way.

F1 is pretty good and I do enjoy watching it but for the sake of dropping a half an hour from each show every week then the 91Èȱ¬ could have afforded to keep 606 - the Olympic broadcaster that's cut the most broadbased single sports based fan/participent content ever seen IMHO.....

@43 Have to agree with you re Alonso missing the truck, it was pure comedy, I was sat in the Pit Straight grandstand and the crowd loved cheering him on his little jog! I really think all the Hamilton fans are warming to him now since Vettel's dominance. The grandstand erupted in cheers when he overtook Vettel in the pits.

As always fantastic Jake!!! Keep it up everyone involved!