Great tip there from Alianora. The Five Live commentary is good (in my opinion) but I do like Brundle. If only I could synch all the best bits together…

If this doesn’t work out, Jim, I would advise you to investigate who has the radio license to broadcast F1 closer to home. You may get a pleasant surprise as to the quality of whoever has the German radio rights.

ITV presenters (Martin Brundle excepted) need to acknowledge that there are 20 drivers on the grid other than Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, at least some of whom may be more relevant to a given matter in F1 than the aforementioned duo.

The FOM needs to get rid of the camera directors it has and get some more competent ones on board.

Starts need to be followed through the grid, not just watching the first 8 and then going to catch the leader.

Adverts must be more judiciously timed if they have to be used.

Official sites need to work (the formula1.com site rarely loads at all for me, and the FIA one doesn’t work too well either)

The FIA regulations need to be updated more promptly (they are over 24 hours late with the most recent changes) as well as more accessible (it shouldn’t require a librarian to explain to people how to access simple bits of information off that site…)

There needs to be a combination of free and paid video content on the internet. Users can submit their own free non-downloadable short clips, and the FOM can take responsibility for managing (and earning income from) a paid-for service. I’d prefer there to be both pay-per-view and subscription methods of paying, to cater to all types of user.

Sky Sports HD with Mutli-Angle.

Don’t get me wrong, that’s into expensive subscription TV territory, so the contract should be split give ITV the “terrestrial” rights, and Sky gets the chance to bid on a much more complex and advanced form of coverage – after all, they know how to do interactive, user controlled, multi-angle sporting coverage.

Of course, while the “feed” is controlled by FOM, there’s no hope of user controlled multi-camera coverage. I know that, but I can still dream

I would be really interested to see what Speed’s coverage is like. It sounds really good compared to what we get from ITV. The prospect that Peter Windsor is the most embarrassing person on Speed is brilliant. I was always under the impression that he was one of the best journalists around.

Formula1.com has really improved this year. Their tentative steps into video must be extended though. Ideally, a subscription service in the same vein as Bernievision would be the dream.

I think you’re a bit harsh on the website, Ollie. All of the important rules are right there in HTML on the F1 website here.

F1 is definitively a niche here in the states so Speed’s broadcasts are aimed towards real fans and not casual watchers… in fact, the few races that were transmitted via Fox (a much larger audience I believe), kinda sucked and were watered down compared to the regular Speed broadcasts; even with the same announcers.

My only complaint is that the announcers got blinded by Hamilton’s (amazing) success, and by mid-season they became a tad too biased.

Forza Ferrari!

I don’t think it’s ever going to be commercially viable to provide coverage for full-time fans on a main channel, but I fully agree with Ollie that internet coverage would be a huge asset.

I just looked into subscribing to Setanta for the Irish coverage, it’s lots better (David Kennedy, Gary Anderson) but they say it’s only available in Ireland. Unless I can do some unscrambling, I might get a Slingbox for my inlaws in Waterford.

How much text can these comment boxes take?

To keep it short, this is what I’d like from ITV:

1. No James Allen.
2. More Martin Brundle.
3. No Mark Blundell.
4. A more useful role for Louise Goodman.
5. Coverage of practice sessions – albeit on ITV4 or whatever.
6. A way of keeping us informed of the running order at the very least during ad breaks – it’s not always possible to use the FIA’s live timing while watching races.
7. Less biased coverage – it’s all aimed at whichever Brit is doing best at that moment, and the rest is normally taken up with items on whoever is leading the world championship (if that’s a different person).

What I’d like from FOM:

1. A dedicated subscription channel with no ad breaks so I don’t have to watch all the above in ITV as I know they will not listen to reason!